Ok, I'm pullin' the trigger on a power station........

[bullfrog]

Glad you finally.made it! I’ll be watching to see what gets thrown away! Lol!!!

 

[Sofisintown]

View attachment 32860

View attachment 32859

Jonny boi good to go with the new Delta2 Solar panel Ecoflow……

Jonny boi more McGivverish than me.
Same conncept, but I had the panels, I had a bunch of 2x4s, and I framed them. Then it was too heavy for my old back so I found some wheels and now it rock and rolls.

 

[Sofisintown]

And on the van I put a wood rack for 2 panels, made with 1x6s, primed and painted and dolled up, and it looks mighty cool, if I say so myself.

 

[Tom_M]

It looks great, but in my opinion overkill. The center cross piece that goes gutter to gutter is not needed. Also the boards that go front to back are not needed. The solar panel frames are not going to flex. Panel glass is tempered so even if they did flex they would not break.

 

[bullfrog]

Just so you know the wind often rips or bends the 3” or so area of the panels aluminum frame when door hinges are used to angle them with out positively securing them. A few extra mounting bracket isn’t a bad idea.

 

[INTJohn]

Nice shade of MICHIGAN blue…….
Any room 4 a Maize colored Block M?
intjonny

 

[magentawave]

Congratulations on your new Delta 2. I just got the original Delta at Costco to try it out. Turns out the original Delta only has an 800 charge lifespan and the new one has 3000. For some reason the old one still costs more on the Ecoflow site than the new one! I am returning the Delta to Costco and getting the Delta 2. I did want to see how loud the fans were, how long it would power a 110v AC small fridge and if it would really truly charge up in one hour. Surprisingly it isn't loud at all, and it really did charge up in one hour. Now I just have to figure out if my Odyssey alternator can charge it up at idle through an inverter. Supposed to be a 130 amp alternator, but that is with the engine throttled up. I wonder how high I can set the charging watts?

I've been living on the road full time for 1.5 years with two Delta 1300's charged by two fixed 100 watt Renogy panels. (My next build will have 600 watts and panels that tilt. Stove is alcohol and lights are AA battery powered pucks. Biggest energy suck by far is my Iceco VL60 fridge/freezer.)

Question... Does anyone know how that 800 cycle thing is supposed to work with the Delta 1300? (Delta 1300 is not LifePO4 but is lithium.) I have drained mine down to zero maybe 10 times each at which point I charge with 110 volt AC. I think the idea theoretically is that after 800 cycles you'll have 80% capacity vs 100% when it was new. But how does that work when every day you draw down some and then (hopefully) charge back up to 100% with solar? I have asked around about the 800 cycles and have never gotten a definitive answer - even from Ecoflow. Anyone know?

 

[INTJohn]

I've been living on the road full time for 1.5 years with two Delta 1300's charged by two fixed 100 watt Renogy panels. (My next build will have 600 watts and panels that tilt. Stove is alcohol and lights are AA battery powered pucks. Biggest energy suck by far is my Iceco VL60 fridge/freezer.)

Question... Does anyone know how that 800 cycle thing is supposed to work with the Delta 1300? (Delta 1300 is not LifePO4 but is lithium.) I have drained mine down to zero maybe 10 times each at which point I charge with 110 volt AC. I think the idea theoretically is that after 800 cycles you'll have 80% capacity vs 100% when it was new. But how does that work when every day you draw down some and then (hopefully) charge back up to 100% with solar? I have asked around about the 800 cycles and have never gotten a definitive answer - even from Ecoflow. Anyone know?

First off I’m a Geodetic Engineer not an Electrical Engineer and I don’t pretend to be an EE either but since no1 else better qualified has given u a prompt response l’ll try to confirm your inquiries……..

As I understand it:
your example of “800 cycles” is yes to 80% capacity of initial battery rating. So a 100 ah li bat after 800 cycles in theory would have an 80 ah capacity. To prorate ; after 400 cycles said battery would be at approximately 90%ish.

A “cycle” is 100% charge to 20% charge. Thus if you only use 20%(discharge) and then charge to 100% this would constitute 1/4 of a “cycle”;
20% x 4=80% discharge……. All of this is strictly approximation.

Caveat: ratings are based upon complete lab controlled conditions the likes of which only the individual battery manufacturers & scientists define. There is no universal definitive set of testing conditions & standards that differing labs & manufacturers adhere to.

So at best all of this is scientific guesstimate none of which necessarily has anything to do with how any individual (you or me) actually uses or abuses said battery in their personal use.
Best to run with products having a well established runtime real world reputation and treat said products nicely.

Any battery EE’s out there care to jump in the corral?
INTJohn

 

[Sofisintown]

It looks great, but in my opinion overkill. The center cross piece that goes gutter to gutter is not needed. Also the boards that go front to back are not needed. The solar panel frames are not going to flex. Panel glass is tempered so even if they did flex they would not break.

Yea, it may be overkill, (also hard to steal) but I don't wanna fret every time I go over 60.
The middle cross piece carries 2 extra brackets . 2 outside, 3 inside for each panel. I'm fixin' to put a wind deflector in front of it too, so the air doesn't go under much. It's on the making.

 

[Sofisintown]

I have asked around about the 800 cycles and have never gotten a definitive answer - even from Ecoflow. Anyone know?

The ecoDelta batteries have NMC chemistry, which means the cathode is made of nickel, manganese, and cobalt. It is the kind you have in a laptop of a phone. The LiFePO4 (Lithium-Iron-Phosphate) have much longer life, but lower energy density than the Cobalt ones. If you don't discharge them much they will live longer like boi said.

Ecofllow is making the newer batteries Lithium Iron

 

[INTJohn]

Ancient Philosopher Proverb:
Kunfuzhun Said:
When wanting to kill something it’s often difficult to ascertain the exact force necessary at the precise moment in time to achieve “kill”; hence tiz always better to overkill than to underkill as if you underkill then the underkilled may come back and overkill you…….

Me & Kunfuzhun go way back.
Sayin…….
intjonny overkillin it

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

.....
As I understand it:
your example of “800 cycles” is yes to 80% capacity of initial battery rating.

A “cycle” is 100% charge to 20% charge .....

Not an EE either (MSME). But from my research:

80% seems to be the standard for quoting life for all Li-ion chemistries (probably because most BMS shut down at 20%). LA uses 50% because bean counters in the 60's used that to determine large battery bank size.

There seems to be no standard on what determines a discharge cycle; marketing departments quote whatever is most favorable to their product.

In reality life the of Li-ion (and all other chemical) batteries is dependent on depth of discharge (among other factors). This graph is from a paper published in Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy, 10/14/2016, by Wang, et.al, Argonne National Laboratory:

The other big factor is heat; no battery chemistry does well in heat.
And Li-ion batteries seem to have ~ 20 year shelf life.

 

[INTJohn]

Update on usage re the Delta2:

I use it primarily to run my fridge at night while I’m sleeping. 8 2 10ish hours. Fridge is a whynter 45 qt pulls about 65 watts/ 6ish amps.

Depending on nighttime temp (50 2 70 degrees F) the Delta 2 is depleted 25% to 30% capacity per night so every 3 days I charge it back to 100% capacity.

I power several other items from time to time but it’s minimal. Primarily just the fridge at night.
Am satisfied thumbs up
intjonny boi

 

[bullfrog]

Mines is running the camper trailer, propane heater blower motor and keeping my old house batteries at 12.5 volts using less than 70 watts at any one time at night. Ciggy plug outlet is rated for 84 watts I believe. Coldest night so far has only run it down to 67%. I disconnect it during the sunny days as my Solar keeps everything working during the day. Takes less than an hour to fully charge it with my 3500 watt generator in the morning while making breakfast. It takes a couple of hours after sunset for my old batteries to get down to 12.5 volts then I reconnect the Delta 2 to the 12volt bus bar in the camper. Really very pleased the way it is working out so far.

 

[Debrajoy54]

What can I say?
I'm an old skool flood acid bat man and its time to retire my truk house Trojan j185. Had it for 7 years and I'm sure I can get one more winter out of it but I'm not waiting till its no longer useful. I'll team it up with the 185 I have 12 volting The Box and probably get 3 more years or 4 from the pair. Bought them both over 7 years ago.

SOooo, been researching the ******* out of agm's, life4's & power stations, etc and its been hard to wanna let go of the $$$ to, you know, join the 2020's but after go n down all the trails to all of the options, back tracking' so many times, weighing' this and thinking' "damn tha just don't make sense or add up" and then haven' to gotta turn around and say, "damn maybe tha just dooo make alotta sense" this way, that way and $$$ way....

WHEW!!!!!!!!

........and then I've my 120 watt solar panel that has no li4 setting so I'ld need to buy a new charge controller if I went Lif4; but power station $$?? when I already have a 1200 watt pure sine inverter too that can handle all my stuff.
.......sooo, maybe just get a damn good gam or a lif4?, you know, tie it to my inverter on 1 side and the panel on the other? but I'ld need to get a smart charger to hook up to my gen. cobble this hook up that.... I'm getting took old 4 this ****! sayn......
........and then I blew the cobwebs off my old boat portable generator: Coleman Pulsemate 1850 watt that doesn't have over 300 hours on it tho its over 30 tears old, sayin. Damn? but ****, where m i gonna tie this down conveniently? and hell! do I wanna carry a 2 1/2 gallon gas can, do I? Well yeah, I can do that but man, do I really wanna?

Aint't gittin' any younger either and even tho I'm healthy as hell even for a 30 yr old but man when ur crowding' 70 one can go to hell in hurry but m thinkn can be good till 80? 11+ years, yep. have great genetic history on both my father and my mother's side.... so, in that sense they both lived into their 90's and their parents lived into their 80's & 90's as well as my great uncles & great aunts on both sides - and medical science & technology then wasn't anything like it is today.........? the a bunch healthy ole coots, sayin So, maybe i'm good till long past 80 to still be vehicle livin, saying! hopin

Hell with it, he says, time to just trash all this old tech, except for myself haha, and shell out them$$$ once & for all and i'll most likely be done with it till I'm done or dead or both!

WHEW!!!

So after a shitload more of researching the ******* out of power stations; I'm pulling the trigger on that new Ecoflow Delta 2 when it comes out in a week complete with the 400 watt solar set up..........

My current suitcase 120 watt solar panel, with 1200 watt ps inverter along with that 1850 watt lil generator I'm just gunna give it to somebody. I know some young peeps around me that are trying to get their van liven lifestyle off the ground and they can git me a big bottle of gin & i'm going to give that **** to m till they git $$$ to buy what they want.

WHEW!! Geeshin it big time.......
Sayn, jonny boi, out

Wow! I need to figure out what I'm going to do for my tiny little travel trailer. I'm 68 and not that it matters but I am a girl! Who sucked at Math!! I have the advantage of living in Oceanside California, and I don't really travel much if I do I will just take my van. The other advantage I have is friends, that will be happy to let me hook up my solar power station to charge it. Plus I have a couple of small little things that will keep my phone going. Any suggestions from any of you brainiacs out there? Now I know it's February 2023 so a few things may have changed.

 

[Debrajoy54]

Mines is running the camper trailer, propane heater blower motor and keeping my old house batteries at 12.5 volts using less than 70 watts at any one time at night. Ciggy plug outlet is rated for 84 watts I believe. Coldest night so far has only run it down to 67%. I disconnect it during the sunny days as my Solar keeps everything working during the day. Takes less than an hour to fully charge it with my 3500 watt generator in the morning while making breakfast. It takes a couple of hours after sunset for my old batteries to get down to 12.5 volts then I reconnect the Delta 2 to the 12volt bus bar in the camper. Really very pleased the way it is working out so far.

With all that said, sounds like you two are happy with your purchase! Good to know! I want to find a small fridge basically for condiments and a couple of drinks. Don't cook did that and I'm done.

 

[Debrajoy54]

Might want to build in some attachment points for anchors or sand bags, I have had them blow over occasionally!

Stupid question, are solar panels interchangeable to use on different solar chargers, or do you have to get the same brand?

 

[Debrajoy54]

And on the van I put a wood rack for 2 panels, made with 1x6s, primed and painted and dolled up, and it looks mighty cool, if I say so myself.


View attachment 33296View attachment 33297

I love white! I'm going to plant the walls in my little aristocrat I just got white. The space is so small it can use all the help it can get!

 

[bullfrog !]

There are a couple of types of solar panels with different voltages and amperages and controllers sized to work with them. Best to start researching and asking questions after you determine how much power you will need. There are several threads here to help educate you.