Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus questions & answers

[Gaijin2]

I've had solar hooked up for about five days now, and everything has behaved perfectly and exactly as I would expect and want. I have a 550w panel plugged into each LPV port and a 3.6k array plugged into the HPV. I have seen as much as 3800 watts of charging, not bad for mid-October. The 5000+ is on firmware version 1.3.

Then today happened. No idea what happened, but I got hit with two F6 errors, and an F0, and the HPV shut itself off. I couldn't power off the 5000+ either. The app said to disconnect the load (there was no load) and a communication error and whatever else.

Coincidentally(?) there was a red dot on the app in the upper right icon, which said there was a firmware update available. Curious.

I turned off the HPV, disconnected the LPVs, and disconnected from the STS. Doing that, I was finally able to power the unit off. After resetting it and installing the new 1.4 firmware that it notified me about, everything is working again.

No idea what happened, why the sudden onset of errors, and it's curious as to why there was a firmware update available at that exact same time. But it's back in action.

Observations after nearly a year of 5000+/STS usage and five days of full solar:
1. LPV Is The Way.
Jackery's been making LPV power stations for years, and the 5000+ is their first (and, IINM, still their only) HPV product. Pretty much all the complaints we've seen about system behavior have been tied to the use of the HPVs. While I think that those issues are likely now resolved with the latest firmware updates, I gotta say, the LPV is solid. Even when I was having the F6-fest this morning, the LPVs just kept churning away. They were only delivering about 130 watts in total (those are West-facing panels, not too productive in the morning!), but they kept working through all the errors and efforts to fix them. They just work.

I think it's wise practice to have the LPVs maxxed out on your 5000+. It's just great redundancy if nothing else. If you've already got a 4k array of 10 400-watt panels plugged in the HPV, you might want to consider if you can detach a couple of panels from that string and route each of them to an LPV input. You'll still have 4000 watts, but now you'll have redundancy, and if for any reason your HPV goes down or hiccups or whatever, you'll still have that reliable LPV quaffing 800 watts. If you're designing a new system, I'd recommend putting in a couple of 550-600W panels so you can max out the LPV. Just remember the cardinal rule: if you're using both LPV ports, they need to be fed from identical sources. Don't put a 400w on one LPV and a 600W on the other, use either two 400W or two 600W panels.

2. Wasted Solar. My 5000+ is connected to a potential of 4700 watts of solar (3.6k HPV and 1.1k LPV). With that, I find that a tremendous percentage of my solar is just wasted. The 5000+ is set up to discharge all the time, with a 20% reserve for emergencies. Almost all of my household circuits are on the STS (but not the big energy hogs, the electric dryer and the whole-house air conditioning), and during normal everyday living it uses between 300 and 1100 watts of usage, depending on if the whole-house fan is blowing or the refrigerator compressor is running.

So the plan was for the sun to keep the 5000+ charged all day, and then the 5000+ battery discharges all night. With usage around 400 watts, I figured I'd get 11 hours of battery. But the reality is: the solar charges the 5000+ up within a few hours of the sun coming up, and then for the rest of the day the incoming solar is just thrown away. Once the battery hits 100%, the HPV and LPV inputs are shut off. And will stay off, until the battery is drained down to 99%, at which point the 5000+ turns on the solar inputs and I see it charge itself with 3000+ watts for about 30 seconds, and then when at 100% it shuts off again.

Over the course of a full day, the 5000+ generates about 10kWh of solar power. The arrays it's connected to are capable of 4700w and we get about 4.5 hours of peak sun during October here, so the panels are capable of generating up to 22kWh of power daily, but the 5000+ is only able to utilize less than half that. If we were in June, we get 5.5 hours of peak sun, so the panels should be generating up to 26kWh, but the 5000+ will still only be able to use about 10.

And I'm finding that the battery in the 5000+ isn't lasting nearly as long as I thought; I guess that blower fan in the HVAC is running a lot more than I thought. The 5000+ battery is generally drained down to the backup reserve by maybe 11:00 p.m., so we go back to the grid after that, and it sits there until the sun kicks in the next morning. And I mourn the loss of that wasted solar.

The only ways out of this is more batteries, and more usage. If I moved the whole house A/C onto the STS, I probably wouldn't have any wasted solar, but the battery wouldn't last more than an hour at that rate. Instead, if I got an expansion battery, that would cut my wasted solar to about half, and the system might be able to last through the night, so that sounds good, but -- those batteries are ridiculously priced. At $999 I'd buy one, but at $2500 it's too much for what you get, and there are what I consider to be much better alternative solutions.

3. Instead Of An Expansion Battery...

The Explorer 5000+ is going for around $2500 on a good day when there's a sale and you use the VIP7 or OFFER7 coupon, but an expansion battery is also $2500! That's absurd. And I've never seen the price drop even a dollar on those batteries. The only way to get a lower price is to buy it as an add-on battery ($2099), you add a 5000+ to your cart and add an expansion battery, then delete the 5000+, and you'll get the $2099 price. But even then, and with the 7% coupon, $1952 is the lowest I've seen them. Frankly it makes more sense to me to buy a second 5000+ than it does to buy an expansion battery. With a second 5000+ you get double the battery, double the solar input, another 7200w inverter, you upgrade your STS to 60A output, and you get redundancy. Way better value than an expansion battery.

To me it makes a lot of sense, if staying within the Jackery ecosystem, to just get the second 5000+. Only substantial difference is that you'd have to split up your solar array between them, since solar connected to one 5000+ cannot be seen by the other, so you'd split that 4000 watt array in half and feed each of them 2000 watts. And with 60A of STS, now it becomes much more practical to move the whole-house A/C onto the STS, so there really shouldn't be any wasted solar at all.

But I'm going a different way. For just $2,000 I got a GrandTech SRNE SEI-12K-UPRO whole-house all-in-one (AIO) inverter. I'm a big fan of redundant systems, so adding this inverter lets me power my whole electrical panel (including the STS) from up to 9k of solar. Any otherwise-wasted solar can be sold back to the grid (at cheap rates, yes, but better than being wasted). And high-quality UL-listed batteries for the AIO are less than half the price per kWh than the Jackery batteries, and if you're comfortable using unlisted batteries you can get as much battery storage as three Jackery expansion batteries ($7,500 worth) for about $1,800.

I put 9.4k of solar on the roof with the intention of having two 4.7k systems for two Explorer 5000+ units. But with the SRNE AIO, it makes more sense to feed the SRNE about 7.2k of solar, and give my one 5000+ about 2.2k. That way the 5000+ should still be able to finish the day with a basically full battery, but none of that 9.4k will be wasted. The big inverter will easily handle the dryer, the A/C, any other miscellaneous circuits, and can sell excess power back to the PoCo. But the fun part is, because the AIO is feeding the main panel, the STS will think it's "the grid". So if I need to charge the 5000+ from "the grid", it'll actually be charging from the solar output of the AIO. The 5000+ system becomes grid-independent. And it's still a portable power station that can be disconnected and taken other places and used on trips or job sites or whatever. While the 5000+ is away, the STS will get its energy from "the grid", which will actually still be solar during the day and stored solar (from the big battery) during the night. And if anything ever goes haywire with the grid or half my solar array or the big AIO inverter, I still have a completely independent Jackery grid with its own solar, its own battery, its own inverter, to serve the purpose I originally got it for: emergency backup and power outages. And if the Jackery ever goes HPV-crazy, my house's power needs are still fully covered by the AIO and solar.

Anyway, sorry for the encyclopedia-length post, these are just my takeaways from having a 5000+/STS for most of a year and finally getting solar hooked up. My plans have been drastically accelerated due to the expiring solar credits in a couple of months, as I'm sure many of you are feeling too.

 

[semiexpert]

I've had solar hooked up for about five days now, and everything has behaved perfectly and exactly as I would expect and want. I have a 550w panel plugged into each LPV port and a 3.6k array plugged into the HPV. I have seen as much as 3800 watts of charging, not bad for mid-October. The 5000+ is on firmware version 1.3.

Then today happened. No idea what happened, but I got hit with two F6 errors, and an F0, and the HPV shut itself off. I couldn't power off the 5000+ either. The app said to disconnect the load (there was no load) and a communication error and whatever else.

Coincidentally(?) there was a red dot on the app in the upper right icon, which said there was a firmware update available. Curious.

I turned off the HPV, disconnected the LPVs, and disconnected from the STS. Doing that, I was finally able to power the unit off. After resetting it and installing the new 1.4 firmware that it notified me about, everything is working again.

No idea what happened, why the sudden onset of errors, and it's curious as to why there was a firmware update available at that exact same time. But it's back in action.

Observations after nearly a year of 5000+/STS usage and five days of full solar:
1. LPV Is The Way.
Jackery's been making LPV power stations for years, and the 5000+ is their first (and, IINM, still their only) HPV product. Pretty much all the complaints we've seen about system behavior have been tied to the use of the HPVs. While I think that those issues are likely now resolved with the latest firmware updates, I gotta say, the LPV is solid. Even when I was having the F6-fest this morning, the LPVs just kept churning away. They were only delivering about 130 watts in total (those are West-facing panels, not too productive in the morning!), but they kept working through all the errors and efforts to fix them. They just work.

I think it's wise practice to have the LPVs maxxed out on your 5000+. It's just great redundancy if nothing else. If you've already got a 4k array of 10 400-watt panels plugged in the HPV, you might want to consider if you can detach a couple of panels from that string and route each of them to an LPV input. You'll still have 4000 watts, but now you'll have redundancy, and if for any reason your HPV goes down or hiccups or whatever, you'll still have that reliable LPV quaffing 800 watts. If you're designing a new system, I'd recommend putting in a couple of 550-600W panels so you can max out the LPV. Just remember the cardinal rule: if you're using both LPV ports, they need to be fed from identical sources. Don't put a 400w on one LPV and a 600W on the other, use either two 400W or two 600W panels.

2. Wasted Solar. My 5000+ is connected to a potential of 4700 watts of solar (3.6k HPV and 1.1k LPV). With that, I find that a tremendous percentage of my solar is just wasted. The 5000+ is set up to discharge all the time, with a 20% reserve for emergencies. Almost all of my household circuits are on the STS (but not the big energy hogs, the electric dryer and the whole-house air conditioning), and during normal everyday living it uses between 300 and 1100 watts of usage, depending on if the whole-house fan is blowing or the refrigerator compressor is running.

So the plan was for the sun to keep the 5000+ charged all day, and then the 5000+ battery discharges all night. With usage around 400 watts, I figured I'd get 11 hours of battery. But the reality is: the solar charges the 5000+ up within a few hours of the sun coming up, and then for the rest of the day the incoming solar is just thrown away. Once the battery hits 100%, the HPV and LPV inputs are shut off. And will stay off, until the battery is drained down to 99%, at which point the 5000+ turns on the solar inputs and I see it charge itself with 3000+ watts for about 30 seconds, and then when at 100% it shuts off again.

Over the course of a full day, the 5000+ generates about 10kWh of solar power. The arrays it's connected to are capable of 4700w and we get about 4.5 hours of peak sun during October here, so the panels are capable of generating up to 22kWh of power daily, but the 5000+ is only able to utilize less than half that. If we were in June, we get 5.5 hours of peak sun, so the panels should be generating up to 26kWh, but the 5000+ will still only be able to use about 10.

And I'm finding that the battery in the 5000+ isn't lasting nearly as long as I thought; I guess that blower fan in the HVAC is running a lot more than I thought. The 5000+ battery is generally drained down to the backup reserve by maybe 11:00 p.m., so we go back to the grid after that, and it sits there until the sun kicks in the next morning. And I mourn the loss of that wasted solar.

The only ways out of this is more batteries, and more usage. If I moved the whole house A/C onto the STS, I probably wouldn't have any wasted solar, but the battery wouldn't last more than an hour at that rate. Instead, if I got an expansion battery, that would cut my wasted solar to about half, and the system might be able to last through the night, so that sounds good, but -- those batteries are ridiculously priced. At $999 I'd buy one, but at $2500 it's too much for what you get, and there are what I consider to be much better alternative solutions.

3. Instead Of An Expansion Battery...

The Explorer 5000+ is going for around $2500 on a good day when there's a sale and you use the VIP7 or OFFER7 coupon, but an expansion battery is also $2500! That's absurd. And I've never seen the price drop even a dollar on those batteries. The only way to get a lower price is to buy it as an add-on battery ($2099), you add a 5000+ to your cart and add an expansion battery, then delete the 5000+, and you'll get the $2099 price. But even then, and with the 7% coupon, $1952 is the lowest I've seen them. Frankly it makes more sense to me to buy a second 5000+ than it does to buy an expansion battery. With a second 5000+ you get double the battery, double the solar input, another 7200w inverter, you upgrade your STS to 60A output, and you get redundancy. Way better value than an expansion battery.

To me it makes a lot of sense, if staying within the Jackery ecosystem, to just get the second 5000+. Only substantial difference is that you'd have to split up your solar array between them, since solar connected to one 5000+ cannot be seen by the other, so you'd split that 4000 watt array in half and feed each of them 2000 watts. And with 60A of STS, now it becomes much more practical to move the whole-house A/C onto the STS, so there really shouldn't be any wasted solar at all.

But I'm going a different way. For just $2,000 I got a GrandTech SRNE SEI-12K-UPRO whole-house all-in-one (AIO) inverter. I'm a big fan of redundant systems, so adding this inverter lets me power my whole electrical panel (including the STS) from up to 9k of solar. Any otherwise-wasted solar can be sold back to the grid (at cheap rates, yes, but better than being wasted). And high-quality UL-listed batteries for the AIO are less than half the price per kWh than the Jackery batteries, and if you're comfortable using unlisted batteries you can get as much battery storage as three Jackery expansion batteries ($7,500 worth) for about $1,800.

I put 9.4k of solar on the roof with the intention of having two 4.7k systems for two Explorer 5000+ units. But with the SRNE AIO, it makes more sense to feed the SRNE about 7.2k of solar, and give my one 5000+ about 2.2k. That way the 5000+ should still be able to finish the day with a basically full battery, but none of that 9.4k will be wasted. The big inverter will easily handle the dryer, the A/C, any other miscellaneous circuits, and can sell excess power back to the PoCo. But the fun part is, because the AIO is feeding the main panel, the STS will think it's "the grid". So if I need to charge the 5000+ from "the grid", it'll actually be charging from the solar output of the AIO. The 5000+ system becomes grid-independent. And it's still a portable power station that can be disconnected and taken other places and used on trips or job sites or whatever. While the 5000+ is away, the STS will get its energy from "the grid", which will actually still be solar during the day and stored solar (from the big battery) during the night. And if anything ever goes haywire with the grid or half my solar array or the big AIO inverter, I still have a completely independent Jackery grid with its own solar, its own battery, its own inverter, to serve the purpose I originally got it for: emergency backup and power outages. And if the Jackery ever goes HPV-crazy, my house's power needs are still fully covered by the AIO and solar.

Anyway, sorry for the encyclopedia-length post, these are just my takeaways from having a 5000+/STS for most of a year and finally getting solar hooked up. My plans have been drastically accelerated due to the expiring solar credits in a couple of months, as I'm sure many of you are feeling too.

I agree the expansion batteries are too expensive. I decided a second 5000+ hooked to my STS was better decision than an expansion battery, due to getting the inverter redundancy and the additional solar for less than $400 vs expansion battery . Also FYI, I did install of STS myself, it passed the rough-in inspection and the final inspection is next week. Your post on installing the STS was very helpful and since the STS is less than 2 feet away from the main panel it was a pretty easy install .

 

[Gaijin2]

Firmware updated to version 1.93. Hopefully no more F6's or other odd occurrences...

 

[Gaijin2]

Working fine, hope it stays that way.

Been thinking about why Jackery sold the 5000+ as a whole home, integrated, rooftop solar solution, but appears to have backed off of that recently and their marketing is pushing the two SolarSaga 500X panel bundle so prominently.

In the early days of the 5000+, it was marketed as a whole-home system, which is why I bought in. And after firmware 1.93 getting installed, it's working as exactly that and I've got to say I'm pretty darn happy with the whole system. But I think Jackery had bigger plans (including their own "MC4-compatible" cables and connectors, and of course the Solar Roof) and they were planning on the 5000+ being their flagship product. Then the US repealed the solar rebates. Seems like that may have derailed Jackery's bigger plans.

Since then, we've seen more of a push from Jackery to use their own solar panels, specifically the 500X. Support pushed me hard on that, and didn't relent until I pointed out that they advertised the 5000+ as "compatible with rooftop solar", and nobody is going to go stapling SolarSaga 500X's on their roof(!)

I had thought my implementation would be an STS, two 5000+ units, and 9400 watts of solar (each 5000+ getting 4.7k of solar, consisting of a string of 3600w on the HPV inputs and a couple of 550-watt panels, one for each LPV input). And I could still go with that plan; I have that 9.4k of solar on my roof arranged exactly like that, but ... I don't think it's the right way to go. And I think this chart will sum up why.



That's a screenshot from the Jackery App, documenting my solar input yesterday. As you can see, the solar starts rolling in at 9, and gets downright strong at 10, it peaks at 11:00, then it goes to measly for the rest of the day. This is what every day looks like. And this is because the 5000+ doesn't use solar to power its loads, it can only use its battery to power the loads. So when the solar's rolling in at 2500 to 3000 watts during 11:30 a.m., the battery gets fully charged and the solar gets shut off. Lost. The 4.7k array connected to the 5000+ will in theory be producing about 24kWh throughout a full day, but because the 5000+ can only use solar to charge its battery, it means I actually only get the benefit of about 9kWh every day.

So what would happen if I added a second 5000+ to my STS? The same thing. The 4.7k of solar would also deliver only a usable 9kWh, and even then I would have to move massive circuits over (being my whole-home A/C, and/or my electric dryer).

Now, I could optimize my system by adding more batteries. With a total of 8 expansion batteries, I should be able to harness and keep all the solar each array produces, but ... even at the new lower price of $1899 for each battery, that's still over $15,000 in batteries, and I do believe it would basically work, but that seems a bit crazy to me.

If we go back to the initial promise of the 5000+ as a critical loads backup unit, my 5000+ powers basically my whole house other than the 4-ton HVAC and the electric dryer. It uses between 350 to about 1000 watts at any given time on a normal day. The solar powers the battery fully by noon, and then we enter a cycle of solar shutting off, discharging down to 99%, and solar coming back on to recharge to 100%. That's why the solar production you see in the chart is so paltry from 1:00 until the end of the day -- the panels are producing around 4,000 watts, but the 5000+ can only utilize it for a minute or two before the battery's recharged and they shut off.

So now it makes a lot more sense as to why they push those SolarSaga 500X panels as a solution. Down here we get about 5.5 peak sun hours a day, and two 500w panels are going to produce about 6,000 watts during a good sun day, which is enough to refill the 5000+'s battery to the top. If you're truly using the 5000+ for critical loads, all you actually might need is 1000 watts of panels to keep it charged and working every day. And the 500X is their own proprietary panel so they get to keep all the money. And since the HPV inputs have shown to have some challenges, I bet Jackery's technical support costs on the 5000+ are higher than they expected, but people who don't use the HPV probably have very little reason to contact tech support.

The Jackery Solar Roof would have been a very interesting product to launch, if they had followed through with it (or, for that matter, if they do someday bring it to market). The 5000+'s inability to make use of excess solar input to directly power the loads would mean a whole lot of wasted solar power from the roof. Perhaps they pulled back/delayed because they realized they really need to fix that issue to make a whole system that makes sense. Maybe there'll be a forthcoming Jackery Explorer 6000+ someday that will use excess solar to directly power the house loads.

In the meantime, Jackery's pushing the 3000 Pro and 3600 Pro for home backup solutions. The 5000+ is still listed and available, but the price is coming down some (it's now frequently available for $2800 and if you catch one of the better sales it's about $2500).

Which is all to say, a 5000+ probably isn't the cornerstone you want to build a whole house/offgrid solar installation around. I still love it, it does exactly what it is supposed to, and I'm happy with it. I'm just not going to build out the proprietary Jackery infrastructure much more. Maybe I'll get one expansion battery if they start clearing them out at under $1500; with that one added battery I think my 5000+ would be able to serve my house loads around the clock. But the STS isn't likely to see that second connection filled with another 5000+, as there are drastically more efficient ways to power the whole house using conventional AIO inverters.

But who knows, maybe they'll do something very surprising, maybe they'll make a new top of the line unit (like my speculated-upon 6000+ or whatever) and make it compatible with the existing STS. If they do that, I'll be very very interested to see what they come up with.

 

[cord4quat]

Thankyou, Gaijin2, your forum thread has been so helpful for setting up the 5000+ / STS in my house.

I received this email response from Jackery tech support on Friday and wanted to include it within this dialog. L1 and L2 refer to STS input power connections from the Electrical Panel. Hopefully it is helpful for anyone who was planning on connecting any 240V appliances (like an Air Conditioner) as part of their backup scheme:

Important Notes for Electricians
Jackery outputs 120V single-phase, not 240V split-phase.
So, when the STS connects to a Jackery, L1 and L2 are bridged internally to deliver 120V across both legs.
That means only 120V circuits are powered during backup mode , 240V appliances (like dryers or well pumps) will not operate.
Proper neutral-ground bonding is crucial , the Jackery inverter is a floating neutral system, so grounding must follow NEC standards (often through the STS).
The STS is intended for partial home backup , typically up to 10–15A per circuit , not for whole-home or heavy-load systems.

Summary
L1/L2 = Hot lines for split-phase connection
In grid mode: L1/L2 are standard 240V legs
In Jackery mode: L1/L2 are internally tied, providing 120V to both
Purpose: allows the STS to handle either 120V or 240V configurations safely

Edited 12/4/25: removed boldface type

 

[Trailblazer2025]

I am so glad I found this forum, and all the information provided by @Gaijin2. Thank you.

Here is what I would like to do. I already have a 9.6kW solar system installed in my home. I just bought a Jackery Explorer 5000 for emergency use. It is not integrated into the solar panels, and I don't have the Smart Transfer Switch. I do have a Generator Power Inlet into the main breaker box. In the event of a power failure, I connect the J5000 to the Inlet port, and turn off the grid breaker. So the J5000 provides power to the whole house.
I also have an electric car, Hyundai Ioniq 5. It can provide 120V 15A AC power through it's port. In the event of an extended power failure, I would like to use this output to recharge the batteries of the J5000, while it is still providing power to the house. I know I can't plug the AC output of the Ionig 5 directly into the AC port of the J5000 while it is providing power. So how do I use the power from the Ionig 5 to recharge the J5000 batteries through the solar input port?

I am an electrical engineer, so not afraid to rig something up.

 

[Gaijin2]

You can accomplish what you want, with perhaps a hoop or two to jump through, and perhaps in a few different ways.

I've powered my house by using the 5000+ plugged into a 50A generator inlet/interlock switch, so that's definitely fine. But recharging through an AC cable introduces some hurdles. It can be done, but you have to know what the gotchas are.

I know I can't plug the AC output of the Ionig 5 directly into the AC port of the J5000 while it is providing power.

Well, actually you can... that's where the gotchas come in.

First, plugging in an AC cable into the 5000+ disables 240V output. The 5000's 240V output port doesn't shut off; it will still supply 120V output, but it won't be 240. That can be a problem, a non-issue, or a big problem, depending on your use. Basically it means that when you want to charge the 5000+ from the Ioniq, you basically HAVE to shut off all two-pole breakers in your main panel, and most especially you have to shut off any MWBC circuits (most commonly the dishwasher and garbage disposal will be wired as an MWBC, and if the electrician did it properly, there will be individual breakers for each but they'll be linked together so that if you shut off one, you shut off both). Feeding an MWBC with 120V is a good way to start a fire, and feeding 240V appliances 120V is not good for them either, so shut off all the 2-pole breakers in your panel.

Second, plugging in an AC cable cuts your power output from the 5000+ quite a bit. Normally the 5000+ can output up to 30A/7200W, but plugging in the AC cable changes things. It puts the 5000+ into "bypass mode", where the maximum output is only about 1440 watts. The battery doesn't discharge in bypass mode; instead it takes the AC input and uses that to "bypass" the battery, and directly feed that electricity out its outputs (and, if there's any left over, it will use it for charging the battery). So the more power you use, the less will be available for charging. If the Ioniq is supplying 15A (1800 watts) and the 5000+ isn't powering anything, it will charge the battery at the full 1800 watt rate (so about 3.5-ish hours for a full charge). But if the 5000+ is supplying power to anything else, two things happen: the available power drops from 1800 to about 1440, and that power gets divided between the output and the charging. So let's say you're powering 450 watts worth of stuff; in that case 990 watts will go to charge the battery. If you're powering 1300 watts of stuff, only 140 watts will go to charging the battery.

Which is all to say: if your emergency load is less than about 1400 watts all together, and you shut off all the 240v & MWBC breakers, then yeah, just plug the 5000+ into the generator inlet and plug the AC cable into the Ioniq, and you're good to go. But if your load exceeds 1400 watts, the 5000+ will shut down.

So how do I use the power from the Ionig 5 to recharge the J5000 batteries through the solar input port?

The good news in all this is that DC charging doesn't affect the 5000+'s output at all. If you're charging through DC, the full 240V/7200W capability is always available, and you don't have to shut off your 2-pole breakers either.

You can use something like a regulated DC power supply to output an absolute max of 1200 watts at no more than 60V to the 5000+'s LPV input ports. I asked Jackery about this, and they weren't exactly recommending it (because of course they'd rather you use the solar inputs for their solar panels) but they did acknowledge that it could be done. I myself plugged in a laptop power supply that output a claimed 135 watts at 24V and it did charge the 5000+, and the 5000+ even claimed that it was receiving 158 watts. Not sure I believe that part, but with the MPPT in there, maybe...

In any case, you have to understand the nature of the LPV ports. There are two ports, but they both connect to the same MPPT. So if you're using both ports, the input should be identical on each. Each port is rated at a max of 600 watts. I watched a youtube where a guy plugged in a 1000 watt supply into the 5000+ through one port and it did work briefly, but I'd definitely recommend against it. If you had two <=600w regulated DC power supplies (ideally same make/brand/mfr/model number) then I believe (but have not tested) that you could just plug both of them into the Ioniq's outlet and plug each into an LPV port and you'll get up to 1200 watts of charging. And it won't be a continuous 1200W draw either; the 5000+ only draws what it needs, so if its battery's at 100% it shuts off the inputs entirely and won't start them up again until the battery drops to 99%.

The other way to charge from DC is, of course, is to use actual solar input. I'll give you two ideas that you've probably already considered, but hey, typing's cheap:

First if you're comfortable with adjusting the wiring and you know what you're doing, and you don't have microinverters on your panels, you could detach a couple of panels from the 9.6k array. I'll assume you're using 400w panels, so you'd be converting your 9.6k array into an 8.8k array, and you'd have two panels on your roof that aren't connected to each other or to the rest of the array. If it is just for temporary/power outage purposes, you could use some metal flex cable to run wires down to the 5000+, and then connect the +/- wires to DC8020 adapter cables to plug each panel into the LPV. Free solar charging whenever the sun's out, even though your (assuming) grid-tie inverter has shut the rest of the array down. If it's for temporary outage purposes, and depending on your local laws etc, this could be a quick and easy way to get free solar power even when your main system is down. But if you have microinverters, it's not gonna work, and if you have rapid shutdown it's probably not gonna work either. Just throwin' it out there in case it's something you'd want to consider.

The second way is even easier; just pick up an extra pair of solar panels. Jackery wants you to buy a couple of $800 Solar Saga X panels, but a cheap (even used) 400w panel works just fine. Store 'em against a garage wall until you need them. Then during an outage, just lay 'em right on the ground, and use an "MC4"->DC8020 adapter cable to plug each panel directly into an LPV port. You won't get optimal power from this arrangement, but it's a temporary way to get free power during an outage when your grid-tied system is shut off.

 

[Trailblazer2025]

I live in upstate New York, and we mostly lose power during the winter months because of ice and snow. And we don't get much sunlight in the winter months. So I don't want to depend on solar to charge the batteries. With my 9.6 kW solar mounted on the roof, I would be lucky to get 200 kW generation for the entire month in December and January. So let's rule out solar.

I don't want to lose the ability to generate 240V, so that rules out the AC port on the J5000.

So that leaves using the DC8020 ports. Do you have a recommendation on which DC power supplies I should use. This seems like the most reliable solution, and it is just for cases where we lose power for an extended period of time.

 

[Gaijin2]

I don't have a recommendation for any specific model, no. I would just say that a quality, reliable benchtop power supply would be what you'd want to look for. Because there's an MPPT in the Jackery, you don't want to use something like a battery charger that can adjust voltage in case the two devices end up fighting each other. So something that's completely regulated and delivers a constant reliable stream of DC, at (preferably) as close to 57V as you can get (without going over 60V!) The ports claim that when used together they can draw as much as 21A, and that when used together they max out at 1200W, so 57 volts should get you optimal power input.

I looked briefly at getting one but the prices made it impractical. Lots of cheapo Amazon products out there but I have serious doubts that they could come anywhere near their 1000W or 1200W ratings for a continuous hours-long charging session.

Of course, you can go with a smaller power supply if you don't need the maximum charging rate. I don't know anything about it, but I did see that Current Connected (one of Will's recommended dealers) sells a $59(!) battery charger that can be set to constant current or constant voltage and deliver up to 300W. Maybe when set to constant voltage it'd be okay to use with the MPPT? I don't know, you'd probably know a lot more about that than I do. If it's reliable and if it's clean power and if it's able to sustain 300W continuously, you could get one for each LPV port. Heck, while we're getting a little wacky, you could maybe even connect two of them together in parallel to feed each port, and get close to 600W for each port. At $59 each, that'd be $240 for a near 1200W solution if it worked. But I don't want to be the guinea pig on that test. Maybe that's something we could talk @Will Prowse or HoboTech into testing.

 

[Trailblazer2025]

@Gaijin2 , thank you so much for all the information you have provides. After careful consideration, I have decided not to use the Jackery 5000. I believe their design, to provide the same phase of power on the generator plug when an AC cable is plugged in for charging, is dangerous, and maybe not in compliance with the electrical code. This could ruin 240V appliances, and maybe cause more damages.
I am going with the Ecoflow Delta Pro

 

[Gaijin2]

Not sure why you'd consider it dangerous; the design meets the UL standards and has been tested and certified, and all its competitors at the time (like the Anker F3800 and the original Delta Pro) can't output anything on the 240V output when the AC cord is plugged in. At least the Jackery can keep 120V flowing.

But, as I said before, you do have to be aware that with the AC plugged in the 240V outlet on the Explorer 5000+ can only output 120V, so you have to shut off all your two-pole breakers in your critical loads panel, and you don't want 240V loads connected to the 240V output if you're charging with AC. If someone didn't know that, yes it's possible to create a dangerous situation especially if your house has MWBCs.

The Delta Pro is an older unit and can't output 240V at all unless you use a parallel device to connect two Delta Pros. I assume you meant the Delta Pro 3? It can output 240V, but it cannot output 240V and 120V simultaneously, so all the 120V outlets (30A RV plug and the regular 15A/20A plugs) all go dead when you put it in 240V mode. Might work for you anyway since you're using a transfer switch to power house circuits IIRC. But it also describes "bypass mode", which is what causes the Jackery's output to drop when charging, so you'll want to be certain of what the DP3's 240V outlet outputs during AC charging; I didn't dig too deep into it so I don't know.

I briefly cross-shopped the DP3, Anker, and Jackery units before making my choice. The Smart Transfer Switch was a major selling point for me, so I dismissed the others. In your case maybe one of the others would be more suitable than the Jackery. Good luck and happy shopping!

 

[Gaijin2]

delete

 

[Trailblazer2025]

I finally decided to go with the Ecoflow Delta Pro 3.

It was delivered, and I tested it for my application. I connected it to the Inlet Generator port, and it was able to run my whole house, including my 220V Heat Pump Water Heater with no problem. I connected the output of my Ioniq 5 (120V at 15A) into the charging port of the DP3 and it charged the DP3 while the DP3 was powering the house with 220V. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Gaijin2]

Glad you found a perfect solution!

 

[pfarrelle]

I'm new and have a question regarding the Jackery STS with a pre-existing solar system.

I am on-grid with a solar system on my roof that is tied into my panel via AC. This system turns off automatically in a power outage for safety issues and I don't want to inadvertently energize the grid in such a situation.

I have an Explorer 5000 Plus and ordered an STS last night.

However, I'm now concerned that I won't be able to use the STS in my situation.

The question is "is it possible, and if so how" to connect the STS into a panel that has an inverted solar input into one of the panel breakers?

 

[Gaijin2]

I am confident that you can definitely use the STS, no problem. The STS connects to your main panel just like any other electrical device, through its own breaker. And the STS never feeds power into your main panel, so it won't conflict with the power company or your existing solar system.

The STS is a smart transfer switch, which holds 12 circuits. You move those circuits out of your main panel and over to the STS. It's an independent system; it's its own little off-grid world (which can also use the grid for power). I put all my most-used circuits in my STS, and everything works like it always used to. Before, the grid powered the circuits directly, now the power flows from the grid through the STS and out to the circuits.

The magic begins when the grid goes out. The STS switches over to the 5000+'s battery and uses that energy to power the home circuits. When the grid comes back online, the STS switches back over to using grid power (if that's what you've told it to do; it has other options too).

In your case, without knowing all the details, my quick guess is that your solar system feeds its input into the main panel through a backfed breaker, and that power will then flow to all the circuits that are in the main panel. Once installed, the STS becomes one of those circuits, through its own 100-amp breaker. So solar input from your existing system should flow through the whole main panel and into the STS 100A breaker and then right to the STS and power your house, just like it would if grid input were available. And if there's no solar input and no grid input, then the STS will use the 5000+'s battery to continue powering your house.

So adding the STS means you'll have a whole home backup for up to 12 circuits. You can leave the battery in standby, waiting for a time when the grid goes out, and then the battery power will kick in. I'm assuming that's what you were looking for.

But there's other options too. You can program the STS to do peak shaving, charging the battery at night if you have peak/off-peak pricing from your power company. If your existing solar system makes enough power to supply more than your house needs during peak times then peak-shaving is probably not for you, but it's something that can be done.

Another way to go is to power the 5000+ through its own solar directly, so that during grid outages when your main panels are forced offline, you can connect some portable solar panels or even another rooftop array straight into the 5000+. This (new) rooftop array wouldn't be part of your existing solar, and it would be an "off-grid" array, so it wouldn't be disabled during grid outages. In that case, you'd effectively have a grid-tied system and a complete off-grid system (which can use the grid if it's there, or be self-sufficient when the grid's not there).

Or, for that matter, you can use the 5000+ as basically adding a battery to your solar system so that at the end of the day when the sun's gone down, the 5000+ will have a full charge and it can power your house without having to use the grid at all. Of course, how long the 5000+'s battery will last is dependent on how many circuits and appliances you have it power, but if the overnight load is under about 300 watts, it should last about 13 hours, possibly long enough until the sun comes up again, in which case you'd have a zero power bill for those days.

 

[pfarrelle]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer. Your explanation filled in a couple of gaps for me. I'm excited to get this installed now!

 

[pfarrelle]

I do have one follow up question.

The 5000+ and STS are intended to provide backup for a sub panel that powers key circuits like the gate, water pumps, and internet for the whole property. That sub panel also has the breaker for the solar from the roof.

The sub panel connects back to the main panel through a 70A breaker.

So, I'm assuming that the STS breaker should be 70A not 100A, and that would be ok?

 

[Gaijin2]

EDIT -- let me restart this from scratch.

I hadn't realized the backfed breaker was in your existing subpanel, I thought it was in the main panel, so that changes things.

First things first: you say the subpanel is on a 70A breaker, right? And that it has the backfed breaker in it. Well, the STS has to be downstream of that backfed breaker, so that means you need to install the STS breaker in your existing subpanel.

Second things second: are you doing the work, or is an electrician? And is there a city/county/AHJ permit process involved?

If a licensed electrician is doing the work and/or there is a permit involved, the work needs to be done according to the state electrical code, which is almost certainly a version of the National Electrical Code, and the NEC says you have to install equipment according to the manufacturer's instructions. Jackery's STS instructions call for a 100A breaker and #2 wire. But it makes no sense to install a 100A breaker in a panel that's wired to a 70A breaker, so my GUESS (you'll have to ask your installer and inspector) is that you'll have to upgrade the breaker and wiring between your main panel and subpanel to be at least 100A. If you already have #2 or larger wiring between the main panel and subpanel, then the upgrade is basically just adding a 100A breaker so it could be no big deal at all. Even upgrading the wiring might be fairly simple, so long as the subpanel is fairly close to the main panel and the existing conduit can support the size of three #2 wires and a #6. (a 1&1/4 conduit would fit those wires, so if your existing wiring between the main and subpanel is in a 1&1/4 conduit you should be good, unless it's also stuffed with other wiring).

The truth is that an STS with a single Jackery 5000+ is never going to draw more than 50 amps. The STS is made to support two, but if you're only using one, its maximum draw is 46.7 amps, and if you never do fast-charging (4000W AC) into the 5000+, then in actuality the STS would never draw more than 30A. But you have to provide for the full 100A because someday you (or a future owner) might add a 2nd 5000+ and fast-charge both of them, which would be almost 94 amps! You could maybe avoid that by permanently blocking the AC2 port on the STS, thus rendering it an (at most) 50A connection. Or maybe you will want (or need) a second 5000+; in that case it'd be wise to plan on a 100A connection (#2 wires and a 100A breaker).

In general, the idea is that you would put the STS after your subpanel (grid -> main panel -> subpanel -> STS). Then you would move as many circuits out of your subpanel and put them in the STS, so that they're backed up by the 5000+. When we talk about that, we need to establlish some facts, so please correct me if I get this wrong:
1) The subpanel is connected to your main panel through a 70A circuit breaker.
2) The subpanel receives power through that 70A breaker, but also through a backfed solar breaker. How big is that breaker?
3) The subpanel powers critical loads including the gate, water pump, and internet, and perhaps other circuits.

In general the idea is to connect the STS to the subpanel, and then move all the circuits out of the subpanel and into the STS.

Now comes the questions:
1) What circuit breakers are installed in the subpanel? I assume it has 15's, 20's, and 30's. If any circuit breaker is bigger than 30, the STS cannot power that, so it would need to stay in the main panel and be not-backed-up.
2) Have you done an audit of the power usage in your subpanel. You said the subpanel is connected by a 70A breaker, but -- how much power actually flows out of the subpanel? Does it ever fully utilize all 70A? Or is it a case of, like, you said the internet was connected; I imagine that has a 15A breaker but the actual usage will probably be around 1A, right? So we'd need to know how much total amperage is used, especially on a rainy/cloudy day when the solar breaker isn't contributing anything. If you have a clamp meter you could find out by turning everything on in the subpanel, shut off the solar breaker, and measure the power flowing through the main lug or through the hot wires connecting the 70A breaker to the sub.

Once you know how much actual power you have to back up, you can decide which circuits in the sub are most important and will total no more than 30A of actual usage, and move those circuits into the STS.

If your actual needs are more than 30A, then you'd need a second 5000+, which would get you up to 60A of total backed-up power.

And, again, remember that you can't put a breaker bigger than 30A in the STS, so if one of the breakers in the subpanel is a 40 (or larger), that breaker can't be backed up by the STS.

Finally, you said water pumps. Are we talking about a large well pump here? Because well pumps are rated for a certain electric draw, but they (and all big motors, like an air conditioner) have massive startup surges. You'll have to look at your pump's electrical plate to see how many LRA amps it needs. If it's more than 60, then a single 5000+ won't be able to start that pump (or, if there are multiple pumps you'll have to use at least the largest pump, but if multiple pumps could be started simultaneously then you'll have to add all the LRAs for those pumps together). If that total LRA is more than 60 (plus whatever other things the STS is powering), then a single 5000+ can't do that. It has a maximum surge capacity of 60A. With two 5000+ units that rises to the STS having a maximum surge capacity of 120A. So you'd need to know what your pumps and such draw. The LRA on the nameplate is the easiest way to find out, but again, if you have a clamp meter (specifically one designed to measure inrush amps) then you can find out exactly what yours uses.

 

[pfarrelle]

Thanks for the detailed response. I'll get back to you when I have had a chance to do a little homework on my end.

 

[pfarrelle]

Well, my main problem is that I have a 60A breaker in the sub panel that powers the gate and pumps that I want to back up. The gate and each of the two pumps are on 20A breakers downstream, so there is no individual device requiring 30A or more.

I could replace the 60A breaker with 3 20s if I replace the current wiring with home runs to those three devices, otherwise this isn't going to work if I understand you correctly.

The pumps are 1-½ hp booster pumps. The water comes from the city, not a well, but I need the boost because I have several buildings on a 5 acre ranch as well as irrigation requirements.

I don't understand the startup current from the plates on the pumps, so I have attached an image.

Finally, you asked about the solar input. It connects into the sub panel through a 40A breaker. The sub panel is some distance from the main panel which is in a different building. I haven't checked if the wire is #2 yet, to allow the 100A breaker, if that becomes a requirement.

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[Gaijin2]

You got the right photo of the specs; problem is we need someone who knows well pumps well enough to interpret that. I can read an air conditioner label and know what's up, but I don't have experience with well pumps. From what I could google around, it looks like a 1.5-horsepower pump typically draws up to around 50 amps on startup, and around 10 amps for continuous running. But the amps on the pump are not shown in a way I'm familiar with, so we need a well pump expert to weigh in.

I'm not following you on the 60A circuit. Are you saying that the main panel has a 70A breaker that powers the subpanel, and that the subpanel has a 60A breaker in it, and that breaker powers - what, a sub-subpanel? You said the gate and pumps are on 20A breakers downstream. How do those 20A breakers connect to the 60A in the solar breaker subpanel?

But yes, if you can wire those three 20A breakers directly to breakers in the STS, and if the full startup draw for each of those devices is less than 60A, and if the pumps don't turn on at the exact same time, then it sounds like the STS will be able to back up those circuits.

 

[pfarrelle]

Yes, there are a myriad of sub panels and sub sub panels on the ranch. The main panel connects to the guesthouse via a 70A breaker; that panel then connects to a sub panel at the gate via a 60A breaker. The Gate sub panel powers the gate via a 20A breaker, and another sub panel at the pumps via a 40A breaker. The panel at the pumps is the end of the line where there are two 20A breakers, one for each pump, and a smaller utility breaker for a local outlet.

 

[solaraficionado]

Purchase a 5000 a little of over a week ago but still on the box and considering returning to Costco...not exactly buyers remorse but reading about issues and bugs with this unit have me thinking it's not a finished product and users are actually doing the QC, at least the testing.....the issue with solar pass thorough is one bothering me, it's inability to do 240v with 120V input is another one, and then the seemingly bugging software...is there any chance these two issues are fixable by FW or they are lacking hardware to fix them and probably incorporated in a future product.....I didn't planned to use it with the ST panel for the moment, just with a manual transfer switch, On|Off that I presently use with my Bluetti AC200L...

I realize this is a Jackery thread but can anyone comment on the experiences with other products, such as Bluetti Apex, or Ecoflow Ultra for example...or direct me otherwise....I was planning on an upgrade to a 240v power stations but not sure at this moment that Jackery is the right solution for me...I do like the hight output inverter and battery, though and I did research and not until I got to this forum was able to get the ins and outs from actual users that so many "reviewers" didn't even mentioned...so I am appreciative of that...

This is my first post and don't have too much to contribute at the moment, and those few questions are some of my main concerns

 

[Gaijin2]

but reading about issues and bugs with this unit have me thinking it's not a finished product and users are actually doing the QC, at least the testing.....

There's only one bug that I know of. The 5000+ struggles when you have it set on a charge/discharge plan with weak solar input (usually in the morning or late evening). It happens like this: let's say you have your battery backup reserve set to 20% - when the battery's below 20% it won't discharge any power to the house, it will only charge. But in the early morning, you might only have 100 watts or so of solar coming in. So when the battery gets to 21% (i.e., more than your backup reserve of 20%) then it goes into "discharge" mode, powering the house. But if you only have 100 watts coming in, and your house load is 500 watts, what happens? It discharges 500 watts, which makes it fall below the backup reserve level, so it shuts itself off, and tells the grid to power the load. It then charges itself a bit more, maybe 101 watts this time, until it hits 21%, and the cycle starts over again, and after a few times getting stuck in this loop, it throws an F6 error.

This doesn't happen at all if you have solar input that exceeds the house load. Mine ran for weeks and weeks with zero issues (and no clouds in the sky). On cloudy days, it started happening. It's annoying, but I think it is probably just a logic processing error and I think it's something that can probably be fixed by a firmware update.

I didn't run into this for the first year I had the 5000+. Once it started happening to me, I set out to find out if I could identify the problem. Some people say it's an HPV issue, but I think HPV has nothing to do with it, for reasons that I observed in my debugging testing. Should end users be debugging? Of course not, but that's the way every manufacturer is now in just about every market, whether it's Tesla or Android TV or anything computer-based. Heck, I just got another recall on my Toyota, something about airbags not deploying. I think that's the fourth recall so far, and Toyota is (or once was) one of the most reliable brands on the road. Don't even get me started on the engine troubles Harley had with their 2017 Milwaukee 8 models. This early-adopter = beta tester formula is everywhere now.

Other than that, frankly, I think the 5000+ is fantastic. Nothing comes close to it (that I know of) in terms of capacity, inverter output, charging speed, solar input, and price. Sure, others will do some things better than the 5000+, but I don't think anybody to this day makes something that is truly competitive with the 5000+/STS combination, at its price point.

True, it doesn't do solar pass-through. And it doesn't output 240V if you have the wall socket AC cord plugged in, but it outputs 240V if you have it plugged into the STS (and charges at 4000 watts, instead of ~1800 like the AC cord).