Off Grid Power with SanTan Solar and the Delta EcoFlow Pro

[@mrwonderfullgj]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with these products. Every little bit helps. As a newcomer, I welcome all information that can help and guide me and others in this new technology.

[@LouJustlou]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@Thejakegee]

I’m a few miles away from Santan Solar in AZ. I need to check this place out and pick up some panels.

[@LouJustlou]

Plenty of sun too. My uncle used to live in Greer. My panels are two months old and doing fine.

[@Vigo327]

Good stuff. I have 10KW of the absolute cheapest panels SanTan sold earlier this year and im running my house off of them with NO grid connection. I also have one of those Midea 8k units in my bedroom which is the only AC i run overnight (in South Texas in summer you still have to run AC all night, for the most part) off batteries. When it is on low and near the target temp, it runs about 150w whereas a 'regular' window unit runs at least 400w with the compressor on, for 5k units. I am very skimpy on batteries so far because i plan to buy a used EV and integrate that as part of my storage, but my entire family of 4 gets air conditioned all day down to ~72 degrees inside, when it's been 106-108f outside for the last several days (and 'normal' is 100), entirely off the sun. Yours will grow.. and you'll be hooked. :)

[@LouJustlou]

Have to show this comment to my wife! Already planning additional battery and another 500 watts! Thanks for sharing!

[@gregory4154]

Well done. You are ten steps ahead of most folks.

[@namenotfound8172]

It's good to see that the Delta Pro will work with any solar panel.

[@LouJustlou]

Indeed.... panels get expensive. Glad I could buy used from SanTan.

[@shelley131]

Good video , thank you for sharing. I believe in redundancies so I still believe in gas generators . I have two Honda 2200's that I've had to use recently due to the freeze we had in Texas and to the tornados. What I like about using the Hondas is when times are cloudy that could be several days and render solar panels useless, I use the Hondas to charge my Eco Flow power units (delta max) and other power packs. This way you only run them a few hours and not through the night saving you fuel while being able to power appliances of necessities with the power banks/solar generators.

[@LouJustlou]

That's a cool approach. I've seen those Honda generators running at craft shows. Amazing how quiet they are.

[@rebellucy6200]

Good to have both options. The gas generators are the best, but at night lock them up and go with your solar power generators to stay under the radar. The government wants to eliminate gas generators over the next few years. That will make us extremely vulnerable. That is the plan.

[@tk72231968]

Excellent video. I'm in the process of doing the exact same thing here in Georgia. I already have 1kw of Solar panels and I'll be getting the 10k btu Media to run off a Ecoflow Delta pro during the hot parts of the summer days. Like you the primary purpose is to have backup power for storms(mostly winter for my area), but I'll take the savings in the summer A/C(even if it's only $20 month).

[@LouJustlou]

We are enjoying ours immensely! It's keeping the room cool and most of the kitchen that connects to it. I'm also charging the mower batteries....so we have solar yard care now too. Good luck!

[@cullinthemost]

I run my Midea 12k btu daily for about 10 hours with the delta pro and 2 renogy 320 watt panels in north Georgia.

[@deejohnson5163]

Very good video. Great speaking voice. Great information.

[@LouJustlou]

Thanks!

[@thefiwstwowmgetssnappedeaw849]

Thanks for sharing. Learned something and will try it out with my Delta Pro.

[@LouJustlou]

Great! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@doodieman4009]

Great video. I really am liking the Delta Pro.

[@LouJustlou]

Me too!

[@sh839c]

Good video and an intelligent setup.

[@LouJustlou]

Thanks!

[@violentnewworld]

Solar with battery is the way forward.

[@LouJustlou]

I agree!

[@bucknaykid5821]

I can drive up to Savannah from Ocala much cheaper than having it shipped. Thanks for the info!

[@LouJustlou]

My panels from them are doing great one month in.

[@1sthawkfeathers547]

I'm just North East in A Small town Melrose.

[@cgwworldministries83]

I'm going to buy a few because of you. I'll talk to them and tell them you referred me. Who knows maybe they'll send you free stuff

[@LouJustlou]

Thanks!

[@anthuer5355]

Did you ever think about getting a Bluetti solar?

[@LouJustlou]

I did...it was down to the EcoFlow Delta pro and the Bluetti AC 200 Max. The Delta had a bit more inverter power. I needed that for running the AC and refrigerator at the same time. It would be nice to vertically stack them though

[@joanbush4283]

That pretty cool! No pun intended.

[@LouJustlou]

LOL

[@violentnewworld]

I have a similar situation except I'm in Britain. We have more clouds to deal with lol. I'm happy for when they are working though.

[@LouJustlou]

Yes pretty sunny here most of the time. I 🙂

[@Myyt6908]

this is exactly why I ordered my EcoFlow Pro from Costco as well. I went ahead and got the WAVE AC, so we'll see how well it cools my room in emergency use in SW Florida! I may go with the AC unit you have. thanks for the review.

[@LouJustlou]

Awesome! I've actually have been using it to charge my battery powered lawn equipment too. I'll be doing a review of that soon. Let me know about the wave....seems like an easier install.

[@uhjyuff2095]

Does the window unit produce heat when its cold outside or is it only cold air unit?

[@LouJustlou]

Cold air only.....not much heating needed here!

[@ericsmith8363]

Thanks for the video! We are trying to figure out what solar panels to use with our EcoFlow Delta Pro. You mentioned 1800 w max solar input charge however pretty sure it's 1600w. I watched another youtuber try to charge his and all he could manage was 1400w solar input. What have you found to be the max you can solar charge? Trying to figure out which solar panels will be best for our needs to charge the Delta Pro before adding more batteries.

[@LouJustlou]

Hi Eric. Yup you are right. It is only 1600 watts. With these SanTan panels I could in theory get to 1 250 watts. I didn't need that much so I settled for 4 and I have hit the full 1000 they are rated for on sunny days. The trick is staying below the 150 volt and 15 amp limits. These panels produce 30 volts each at a little over 8 amps so 5 in series would be the limit. I think folks have pushed those limits. That's not for me! This thing is expensive! Hope this helps a bit. Oh yeah if I remember watts law correctly at 150 volts and 15 amps it should be able to take 2250 watts....weird.

[@thechamp66]

@@LouJustlou The 15 amps spec is NOT a limiting factor for the DP. You could have 40 amps available but the DP will only accept 15 amps (1,605 watts) The actual value is actually 15.9 based on results I have seen from other users 15A is the maximum the DP can use. The extra amps are simply ignored. This is how all electricity works. Voltage is “pushed”, current is “pulled”. Extra voltage will push and fry electronics, but a load will only pull the current it needs from a supply and no more. This is why you can plug a 0.1A device into a 15A wall outlet, for example, and the device will simply pull what it needs. .However, you are 100% correct that one MUST NOT EVER exceed the 150 volts limit or it WILL fry the DP. So one must be careful to factor in lower temps the solar panels might operate in so they don't exceed the 150 volts.

[@LouJustlou]

@@thechamp66 thanks for the detailed answer that makes much more sense. I might get a couple more panels and hook 3 of them together on parallel. At that point I should use a combiner box rigjt?

[@etxhooligan5026]

Have you had any issues with the infamous 121 error? I know people were experiencing it with pass through charging with the AC I believe ?

[@LouJustlou]

No I have not....but then again have only used AC charging once and not as pass through.

[@etxhooligan5026]

@@LouJustlou are you updated to the latest firmware .96?

[@LouJustlou]

@@etxhooligan5026 I see a new firmware out there. I'm at 0.3.6 and latest is 0.4.8. I don't see anything like that version number.

[@etxhooligan5026]

@@LouJustlou I follow the group on Facebook and this is what they said on that specifically. Delta Pro WiFi Update If you see the 0.4.8 update available under firmware for your Delta Pro, this is an update for the WiFi component. I have an older batch DP that this update was available for and a newer batch DP that it did not appear for. Both DPs were at 1-0-0-96 firmware prior to this update appearing. I believe newer batches of DP have slightly different components so not all component "sub-updates" like this will apply to every DP. I'm posting a time compressed video of how to apply this update as it is a little different than some prior firmware updates in that you download it, then connect to DP via IoT procedure, then load it to DP. The whole process takes several minutes (the view is only 45 seconds) and you'll need to be near your DP to complete the process.

[@LouJustlou]

@@etxhooligan5026 ahhh I was wondering what that was for.

[@millenium2003]

You still need a generator. On cloudy days you'll need it to recharge the ecoflo.

[@LouJustlou]

Shelly makes a comment below on her plan to use generators during the day and her EcoFlow at night. I like that approach.

[@dontenbrook2858]

We're in South Florida and looking for this type of set up. But our windows move sideways, not up and down, so the U-Shaped air conditioner doesn't fit. We had been looking at portable air conditioners (like the EcoFlow Wave, but at 4000 BTU, it's too small). Any ideas?

[@LouJustlou]

Midea does make a standard inverter window unit. Midea 12,000 BTU Cooling Inverter Window Air Conditioner a.co/d/iEfEB64

[@MrRobbyp97]

Great video Lou! Lou did you ever think about getting a second one and try and power the whole house? Get away completely from the utility company! Ha. I'm seriously thinking out it . Rob

[@LouJustlou]

That's funny, was just talking to a friend who is thinking of doing the same thing. The cool thing about EcoFlow vs Tesla PowerWall is that you can expand the EcoFlow as budget allows. Modern batteries and solar start making off grid look more doable every year.

[@JWTX]

Doesn't the Deltra Pro accept 1600 watts of solar? Thanks for the video.

[@LouJustlou]

Yes that's right. I got that wrong in the video. I thought that limit was s bit odd since it can take 150 volts at up to 15 amps. That's 2250 watts. It must be able to limit somehow.... Thanks for catching that.

[@voltron5128]

Very cool

[@LouJustlou]

It hit 95F yesterday and we ran the AC at 70F....worked great. Thanks!

[@miamiSincar]

this is the way

[@LouJustlou]

Works pretty well for me.....and .... this is the way. 😆

[@edmojica1943]

Hi, I have a question, do you run that AC all night with the delta pro? I saw people trying that and the ac runs just a couple of hours.

[@LouJustlou]

We do....it's a small room and as long as we keep the unit set around 72 its fine. Usually get to about 30% available by morning.

[@philipdove1705]

How do I get ahold of some of these eco flow units? I live in alaska and home depot doesnt ship here

[@LouJustlou]

I just searched by name on Amazon and they appear to have them.

[@michaeldavidson1146]

Most people would have to ship the solar panel, over $200.00 for 1 panel.

[@LouJustlou]

I agree...I know some folks have gotten together with others to have a larger purchase and lower the per panel price. I'm lucky that I'm relatively close.

[@lukefarmer5391]

Nice video. I would kill for 15cent kw. I live in California and am paying 57cents.

[@LouJustlou]

I feel for you guys.....it will probably keep going up here too. Thanks!

[@hardymichael533]

2 EcoFlow DELTA Pro Smart Extra Battery test it out on KZbin

[@LouJustlou]

Those are pricey! I think Will tried them out over at DIY Solar if you are looking for a review. Thanks!

[@ashforkdan]

35 bucks each

[@LouJustlou]

Was that for panels Dan?

[@danielteegarden8982]

$ 4,000.00 is a lot of electric bills. And easier to cut grass.

[@LouJustlou]

I agree....quite a bit of money for what it is. The AC off the grid is fun though. A friend in Texas is looking into the AC unit I used...not sure how they plan to power it.

[@kimmer6]

We pay Pacific Graft and Extortion, PG&E, 31 cents a kilowatt hour for residential Tier 1 usage. About 3 weeks into the month our pathetic allowance is done and they bill us 39 cents a kilowatt hour for Tier 2. They even have a Tier 3. You guys have cheap power. When stuff hits the propeller, our power will be super expensive and will be as reliable as a 3rd world grid. It's coming your way, too.

[@LouJustlou]

@@kimmer6 we have seen some fuel surcharges pop up here as well. Nothing compared to yours, but probably not going away any time soon.

[@tjs114]

13 to 15 cents per kWh? Oh, poor you... Try the metered rates of California 34 cents/kWh off peak and 38 cents/kWh peak is the lowest rate we have available.

[@cullinthemost]

Just got mine setup this week, still deciding where I’m going to permanently locate the panels. Here’s mine at work kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ6ofJiqmcqei8U

[@LouJustlou]

Awesome! I'll check out the video!

[@danielteegarden8982]

Why did you send me over to that kids channel ? WRONG !

[@LouJustlou]

Both of those links reviewed the Eco Flow Pro and gave me the idea to power AC using it.

[@morpher44]

you spend more than 2 grand and then call it "free". 🙂

[@LouJustlou]

You are not the first person to point out the irony in my statement! 😆