free2enjoy
New Member
What a journey!
Disclaimer: I’m a newbie overall. No doubt there are much better ways to do what I’ve done here.
I originally wanted to have a battery backup for the house and recharge the batteries from a generator, saving tons of fuel in a power outage. I didn’t know what that was going to look like. I had some experience with solar 12 years ago and recently made my camper off grid with 500w of solar and 5.2kwh of lithium.
Late last summer, I was helping a couple friends with their new campers to convert for dry camping. But they didn’t have the skill set to do what I did to mine and I wasn’t going to convert theirs. So I looked at the Delta Pro for an easy solution for them. But then I discovered the EcoFlow Smart Home Panel (SHP). Eureka! I saw the pathway to my home battery system and that adding solar to the project would allow me to power part of the house off grid and save money in the electric bill. It also obviously reduces the need of a generator to recharge the Delta Pros.
So I found two DP’s on eBay for $1750 each, got the SHP and ordered B-grade 380w panels from Santan Solar, a whole pallet. Originally I was going to use six panels for each DP but then said, “I got the panels cheap, I have the roof space, find another way to use the extra 14 panels.”
So then it was brainstorming how to get those 14 panels to feed the DP’s. I really, really like the SHP!
On this forum, someone mentioned feeding DC power to the MPPT and I rolled with the assumption that would work. I saw server rack batteries were the form factor that made sense and bought 6 aolithium batteries for $1000 each, no tax, free shipping and they included all the cables. I was looking at the EG4 500v MPPT to harness the 14 panels (2 strings of 7) to charge the server rack batteries.
I did find a DC to DC converter that, if it worked, would send about 750w continuously to each DP through the MPPT in the EcoFlow. I wanted to raise the volts from the server rack batteries so the 15a limit would yield a higher amount of watts. But prior to trying the converter, I connected a server rack battery to the DP’s MPPT and after momentarily showing 100w of input, it shut off. Oops.
Next idea: I got a used EG4 3000 Solar inverter and the idea was to use that as the MPPT to harness the 14 solar panels that charger the server rack batteries. And the method to deliver that power to the DP’s goes like this:
The SHP has a circuit for charging the DP’s from the grid. (Sidebar: For some reason, I’m only able to charge each DP at 1500w while the circuit for each DP is 30a. Trying to find out from EcoFlow why). I turned the EG4 into the grid and the server rack capacity is now able to transfer to the DPs with a 7% loss I think. Also, when the EG4 sees the server rack battery volt at the discharge limit, it will switch to the grid (if available) to keep charging the DPs.
I just got this setup yesterday and it’s working great! But unfortunately, if I try to charge both DPs at the same time, the inverter is at 120% load and shutoff. I didn’t expect this because 2x1500 should’ve put me at 100% load.
So I looked last night at the EG4 6500 EX or the new 6000 but the MPPTs is dual and I would have to do another cable run to the roof, which isn’t that hard but I’m trying to avoid it. The 14 panels are about 5500w of potential solar power. The MPPTs in the 6500 are limited to 4000w each.
The DPs each have their own cable run to six panels each (2 sets of 3 panels in series).
I looked at an older EG4 split phase but don’t like the 115w idle consumption. Horrible.
So I’m trying to find a way to be happy with the EG4 3000. If I can figure out how to charge the DP faster than 1500w, for example charge one at a time at 2500w or whatever takes the inverter to the limit, that would be good enough.
The downside to this abomination is that when the DP is charging the batteries, it’s not able to power any circuits off grid. But if I only charge one DP at a time, the DP not charging can power the circuits on its phase. If I didn’t do a split phase setup with the SHP, I could let one DP power the circuits off grid while the other DP charges. I chose the split phase so my well pump would run. I may rethink this but would need a separate split phase setup, like a second EG4 3000 and a small manual subpanel.
I’m keeping six Solar panels each charging each DP directly to minimize conversion losses and because that reduces the amount of time transferring power from the server rack to the DP. If I’m charging the DP at up to 1600w from the solar and 1500w from the EG4 setup, that’s 3100w charge rate per hour.
Once spring gets here, I should be able to easily recharge each DP from these panels. There’s a total of 10,000w of potential power on the roof but I’m guessing I won’t see more than 8000w on the best summer day at peak sun. Winter sun peaks out for a few hours at 3000w.
I do need to find more ways to use the excess solar which makes me consider another subpanel for the HVAC upstairs. But I’m sticking with the EcoFlow package for the SHP for now.
I’ll post pics next.
Here’s the equipment list:
2 Delta Pros ($3500) (refurbs off eBay)
2 DP Extra Batteries (two reduce how often I would need to charge from the EG4). I got one battery for $1100 and searching for a deal on the second one.
SHP ($1000)
26 380w solar panels (b-grade, $3600 shipped free Santan Solar)
6 aolithium server rack batteries (all in $6000)
EG4 3000 inverter, used ($520)
300’ of solar wire ($360)
SnapNTrac TopSpeed solar panel mounts ($6 each shipped from eBay seller, $500)
Miscellaneous stuff (guessing $500)
Minus tax credit.
I did all the labor except hired a guy to help me out most of the panels on the roof ($300)
As I learn more and as more products and solutions become available, I’ll see able improvements or modifications to this.
Disclaimer: I’m a newbie overall. No doubt there are much better ways to do what I’ve done here.
I originally wanted to have a battery backup for the house and recharge the batteries from a generator, saving tons of fuel in a power outage. I didn’t know what that was going to look like. I had some experience with solar 12 years ago and recently made my camper off grid with 500w of solar and 5.2kwh of lithium.
Late last summer, I was helping a couple friends with their new campers to convert for dry camping. But they didn’t have the skill set to do what I did to mine and I wasn’t going to convert theirs. So I looked at the Delta Pro for an easy solution for them. But then I discovered the EcoFlow Smart Home Panel (SHP). Eureka! I saw the pathway to my home battery system and that adding solar to the project would allow me to power part of the house off grid and save money in the electric bill. It also obviously reduces the need of a generator to recharge the Delta Pros.
So I found two DP’s on eBay for $1750 each, got the SHP and ordered B-grade 380w panels from Santan Solar, a whole pallet. Originally I was going to use six panels for each DP but then said, “I got the panels cheap, I have the roof space, find another way to use the extra 14 panels.”
So then it was brainstorming how to get those 14 panels to feed the DP’s. I really, really like the SHP!
On this forum, someone mentioned feeding DC power to the MPPT and I rolled with the assumption that would work. I saw server rack batteries were the form factor that made sense and bought 6 aolithium batteries for $1000 each, no tax, free shipping and they included all the cables. I was looking at the EG4 500v MPPT to harness the 14 panels (2 strings of 7) to charge the server rack batteries.
I did find a DC to DC converter that, if it worked, would send about 750w continuously to each DP through the MPPT in the EcoFlow. I wanted to raise the volts from the server rack batteries so the 15a limit would yield a higher amount of watts. But prior to trying the converter, I connected a server rack battery to the DP’s MPPT and after momentarily showing 100w of input, it shut off. Oops.
Next idea: I got a used EG4 3000 Solar inverter and the idea was to use that as the MPPT to harness the 14 solar panels that charger the server rack batteries. And the method to deliver that power to the DP’s goes like this:
The SHP has a circuit for charging the DP’s from the grid. (Sidebar: For some reason, I’m only able to charge each DP at 1500w while the circuit for each DP is 30a. Trying to find out from EcoFlow why). I turned the EG4 into the grid and the server rack capacity is now able to transfer to the DPs with a 7% loss I think. Also, when the EG4 sees the server rack battery volt at the discharge limit, it will switch to the grid (if available) to keep charging the DPs.
I just got this setup yesterday and it’s working great! But unfortunately, if I try to charge both DPs at the same time, the inverter is at 120% load and shutoff. I didn’t expect this because 2x1500 should’ve put me at 100% load.
So I looked last night at the EG4 6500 EX or the new 6000 but the MPPTs is dual and I would have to do another cable run to the roof, which isn’t that hard but I’m trying to avoid it. The 14 panels are about 5500w of potential solar power. The MPPTs in the 6500 are limited to 4000w each.
The DPs each have their own cable run to six panels each (2 sets of 3 panels in series).
I looked at an older EG4 split phase but don’t like the 115w idle consumption. Horrible.
So I’m trying to find a way to be happy with the EG4 3000. If I can figure out how to charge the DP faster than 1500w, for example charge one at a time at 2500w or whatever takes the inverter to the limit, that would be good enough.
The downside to this abomination is that when the DP is charging the batteries, it’s not able to power any circuits off grid. But if I only charge one DP at a time, the DP not charging can power the circuits on its phase. If I didn’t do a split phase setup with the SHP, I could let one DP power the circuits off grid while the other DP charges. I chose the split phase so my well pump would run. I may rethink this but would need a separate split phase setup, like a second EG4 3000 and a small manual subpanel.
I’m keeping six Solar panels each charging each DP directly to minimize conversion losses and because that reduces the amount of time transferring power from the server rack to the DP. If I’m charging the DP at up to 1600w from the solar and 1500w from the EG4 setup, that’s 3100w charge rate per hour.
Once spring gets here, I should be able to easily recharge each DP from these panels. There’s a total of 10,000w of potential power on the roof but I’m guessing I won’t see more than 8000w on the best summer day at peak sun. Winter sun peaks out for a few hours at 3000w.
I do need to find more ways to use the excess solar which makes me consider another subpanel for the HVAC upstairs. But I’m sticking with the EcoFlow package for the SHP for now.
I’ll post pics next.
Here’s the equipment list:
2 Delta Pros ($3500) (refurbs off eBay)
2 DP Extra Batteries (two reduce how often I would need to charge from the EG4). I got one battery for $1100 and searching for a deal on the second one.
SHP ($1000)
26 380w solar panels (b-grade, $3600 shipped free Santan Solar)
6 aolithium server rack batteries (all in $6000)
EG4 3000 inverter, used ($520)
300’ of solar wire ($360)
SnapNTrac TopSpeed solar panel mounts ($6 each shipped from eBay seller, $500)
Miscellaneous stuff (guessing $500)
Minus tax credit.
I did all the labor except hired a guy to help me out most of the panels on the roof ($300)
As I learn more and as more products and solutions become available, I’ll see able improvements or modifications to this.
