Had my heat pump water heater installed last week. It's in the garage, and while not "loud," the sound of the compressor easily goes thru walls. So we can hear it in the the adjacent bedroom, kitchen, upstairs as a noticeable "hummmm." Just in case you plan on doing filming in the next room, it's something to keep in mind.
I have a simular issue. When my parents installed theirs, we used an isolated stand (not connected to any walls) and had them use PEX. This solved the hum transfer issues.
Ditto to this comment. Single story home, hpwh is in the garage against an interior wall, and we can hear the hum down the hall. Not the end of the world, but imagine if it's in the same workspace or next to your work space it could be annoying.
Really good video. Thanks. -- I currently use 2 DP+EB setups daily. In summer, one runs my RV while I go boondocking (half the summer), and the other powers a mini-split.
How about, instead of connecting your old ecoflows to the panel, use them as battery backup units for servers or perhaps refrigerator or freezer in the main house?
Great equipment, wish I could afford it all. Hey your framer doesn’t seem to understand drywall. Look at your corner, blocking in but no drywall backing. 👍
You can get to net zero with just solar panels. With this setup, you're on your way to energy independent, and helping stabilize the grid while you're at it! Very cool.
We help stabilize the grid and get charged a $16 solar fee and a $7 higher flat fee for being connected to the grid... They just screw us over no matter what we do.
You can it's just not logical. If you are making a positive impact for your power grid, you kinda expect to not pay 40% more on base fees. But they lump everyone with solar into the large fee category when only the people without battery backups for their solar are the ones causing grid issues.@@BLKMGK4
Can the solar side handle dump loads? When generating more power than you use and the batteries are full, can you send extra power to an old style resistance water heater plumbed in front of your heat pump water heater, or to a battery charger in the main house. With a huge array you will have extra solar at times, can you put it to use? I'd think the best uses would be heating &/or cooling through a secondary system. A window unit heat pump in the battery room?
Use a Heat Pump HVAC that can provide hot water too by taking the hear that would to to wast is now making hot water for free. I would recommend Water Furnace
I think the technology is interesting. However, the 90kw system is around $60,000. How long would it take to offset the purchase and installation cost?
I doubt that 90 KW is in the future for what he has there so you can probably figure on about half that size, and half the cost. Take the 30% federal tax credit and whatever else California offers along with SREC credits and you’re probably down to offset in about $20,000. With electric rates at $.42 per kilowatt hour, if his place uses the average of about 30 kW per day then he is somewhere between four and five years breakeven. Not bad for system. It’s got that much flexibility and use.
Great video! I my country it’s almost impossible to go net zero, winter has multiple times there is no proper sunlight for weeks. My solar does produce 1kwh a day that compared to my heatpump that uses 40kw, im looking into heat storage in summer to use in winter:)
40kWh per day? Wow, that's some expensive heat. Long term heat storage is an interesting concept that has no good solutions right now. If you solve that you'll be famous.
On Ecoflow’s website it states the Smart Home Panel 2 cannot be a main panel or service equipment? Are you able not have it be a sub panel because you are not connected to the grid? I have a smaller home and was hoping to have the Smart Home Panel 2 replace my 100A main panel.
Glad you got the delta pro ultra! I was hoping you would do a review! Can't wait to see the next videos! I do want to see the delta pros hooked to the SHP2. I have the delta pro and want the DPU and SHP2! Lol
Looking forward to watching this series... EcoFlow keeps constantly updating its systems, making it difficult to know just when to bite the bullet and purchase one.
Super nice , super convenient ! ............ convenience costs though ! EG4 5.2 klwh for 1500. ....... 6kwh for 2700.....l..ya right . 6kw EG4 6000xp 1400......... more wiring, not as sci fi, but wow, Ecoflow is expensive, but beautiful !
Great video Ricky. Can you confirm if when the Ultra is connected to the smart panel if the outlets on the inverter can be used? Another youtuber said they cannot be used when connected to the smart panel and I just want to confirm. Thanks.
I am thinking that your dream home will be new construction ;) _Mine will be steel "Barndo" with subfloor radiant heat and tons of solar on the roof._ Thanks for showcasing the *ecoflow* equipment!
specific question. I have solar on my roof, and I am leasing it and I can't "touch any of the equipment" I am charging my DPU by waiting for the sun to outpace my home use and then I turn on charging for the DPU. Is there a way to do this with the SHP2? I mean it would be manual but basically "charge now" and "stop charging"? because my rate falls a bit at night so I'd rather charge at night when I have to, but solar all the way if I can. It's just has to be manual since I can't really tap into any of the net metering and all that fun... lease is for another 2 years 🙂
Happy for you and your team for getting kind of independent from the national grid. Personally I'd never choose those batteries because having loose cables like that would get me mad.
Although i applaud your efforts and support this direction, companies like ecoflow and tesla serve a very limited market. Until prices drop with equipment such as this, it will remain for those lucky few. The rest of us will have to diy and grab what we can, and many around the world will simply do without and build resentment.
I wouldn't put that heat pump water heater under the window if you can offset it just a bit just in case the fan gets noisy, my fridge and GE Turbo washer's fans aren't terrible but I like that I can't hear them when I'm working
Great info on the new EcoFlow products. My home has two electrical panels and they are not near each other. So would I need two sets of the Smart panel and Inverter/Batteries - each set associated with each panel? Thank you.
still think id go with the rack mounted at half the price, i wonder why you chose this method which is clearly more expensive, whats the upside except ease!
For heatpump water heater..... plan to vent to outside and pull out of attic..... Thus place your Heat Pump Water heater to minimize the work of venting.... For me, I vent to the outside in the Winter and vent to garage in the summer ( free airconditioning )
You are removing heat from someplace and putting that into the water... i.e. the purpose is to heat the water.... in this case.... the "waste product" is cold air in this case.... even in the winter....@@sdas683
Great Video! New sub! I'm looking forward to how the Delta Pros integrate into this. I have 2 DP's with a dual voltage hub and a 10 circuit manual transfer switch for emergency home power backup. Looking forward to the next video.
This is awesome tech. When I finally buy my forever home for my family we will be totally off grid with a combination of solar and batteries. That said, I dont believe in fully electrified vehicles and only see plug in hybrids in my future. If I was to buy a fully electric vehicle, I'd run a combination of solar, batteries and grid. I have to....
I wanna move off grid asap. I plan on burning some wood in passive solar design. I was looking into Phius certificates. I do construction for a living. We sub out plumbing and electric. I decided to go with a d.c. solar electric system more like a boat or r.v. than a house. Trying to avoid inverters. The boat fridges and freezers are ac/dc and usually better insulated than household appliances. I do need at least one or 2 inverters for power hunger tools. Which will have a super capacitor bank with battery bank to help with hard cycles on batteries from tools. D.C. electric devices seem to use less electric as technology improves. Also gonna separate systems. Like led lights and smoke detectors will be stand alone with backups. Utilities bills always seem to go up in price. Less bills the better. Personally thermal breaks and ventilation is what makes or breaks an air tight house. Thermal breaks around windows and doors to stop condensation zones in studs. I recommend spray foam or mineral wool around windows and doors and bays next to them. Moisture in kitchens, showers, basements, and rim joist pockets needs to be addressed. My tips from build modern air tight houses.
13:20 with the amount of solar power in CA, it seems crazy to me that TOU plans still have the cheapest power at night. Best prices should be between 9am and 3pm. And, seriously, no TOU for larger property owners?!? Madness. More reality-based time of use pricing would go a long way in stabilizing the CA grid, reducing curtailing, and decreasing the overall cost of the grid system.
Thank you for your video. I’m reading the install manual for the Smart Panel and it says it uses two 100 amp breakers (not supplied) to connect to your main panel. It also lists the brand and type of breakers approved for the SP. It lists Square D Home but not QO breakers. I have QO and wonder if they’ll work?
At this rate, there will be even a better version next year. They keep on making better and better products. We just have to wait and wait and wait for the next next next new one.
So Ricky, with this system on a sub panel specifically designed to cover devices associated with your businesses are you effectively creating a microgrid?
Just curious what the outlay is in terms of cost for the batteries vs. ROI? Have you computed when you break even? I have been tempted to get batteries but feel like the payoff is not worth it?
It's fairly expensive, $10K for one inverter, battery and smart panel. You can simply have a grid tied solar system to get the most efficient payback via net metering if you don't need the auto backup capability. There are cheaper units you can use just for emergency power.
@@ChrisP978 I think the only real situation where this system "makes sense," aside from engineer types who can afford it and think it's cool, is when you have a piece of property that is not on the grid and would be $50k or more to tie in. Then a system like this starts to make sense. But if you are starting on the grid, the whole battery thing just doesn't pay back.
@@ChrisP978 I just recently bought an Ecoflow Delta 2 to function as a backup for my refrigerator. I tested it out to 12+ hours. Hopefully the grid doesn't go down longer than that. ( I live in Southern AZ and the grid is pretty stable)
I would do this in a heartbeat, but I live in mid-Michigan and the solar input is not great. I do have 15-400 watt pant. It helps to subsidize my electricity bills but will take longer than I wish to pay for it. Adding a battery would help but again, in my location it would take a Loong time to pay off. The only advantage I have to add a battery is to give me time to roll out my generator. At this point in time, in my location, it’s hard to justify the cost of going full solar. If I lived in more southern states which have higher solar rates, I’d go full speed ahead with solar and batteries.
42¢/kWh flat rate is quite eye-watering 🥺 ouch, sorry dude. Our "demand rate" here is weekdays 4-8pm and is "only" (compared to yours) about 25¢/kWh (normal & weekend rate is 11¢, overnight is 7¢) taxes and riders included. Shoot, I would be super stoked with just say 12 kWh of battery capacity to run my 2-ton AC for the 4 "demand" hours, then have it slowly recharge from the grid at overnight rates. (I know that's still not Net-Zero, nobody lecture me LOL 🙂) *_bUt I jUsT rEnT_* 🤪 and my landlord is so afraid of "BIG batteries starting fires" that her last lease renewal included a clause that EXPRESSLY FORBIDS (LOL?) charging EVs and "BIG batteries" in the garage...
And again an Ecoflow video. That company really knows how to get there products promoted. Similar texts as if Ecoflow wrote your script. Getting a little Eco overflowed.
Nice video. I'm impressed by the advancements being made in batteries, smart panels, and solar. My question, though, is what is the payback period? You've spent tens of thousands of dollars in solar panels, batteries, electrical panels, and wiring, not to mention increased insurance premiums and ongoing maintenance costs. Don't get me wrong. I'm looking into all of this for my own home, but at what point in time does the savings in grid power bills exceed the original and ongoing costs of the solar/battery installation? I realize this will be different in different areas. Our grid cost per kilowatt-hour here is less than half of yours. Other things that come to mind are roof replacement costs when the roof is covered in solar panels, vs a plain roof. Also, batteries are getting better and better, but they are an expendable item. They all gradually loose max capacity, and at some point in the future will need to be replaced. Are those costs factored in? (I worked in the cellular phone industry for many years, and the massive battery stacks in the cell sites had to be changed out on average every ten years.) I'm still thinking more along the lines of a natural gas fired all-house standby generator, instead of battery/solar.
The Ecoflow Ultra still uses the same old fashion, high frequency, transformerless inverter design that's used in low cost, lightweight, Harbor Freight, high frequency inverters. That provides absolutely no galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage and its AC output. Without this critical safety feature, I would never consider install this inverter into my home's electrical system.
Nice video, but as others have asked, I would also like to know the cost of a setup like this. Also I watch another youtuber and the way he explains a net zero house isn't just about power usage, but to get a true net zero certification you would need to perform some tests on the house and reach a certain score. Can you please 🙏 go over what your plan is? Are you looking for net zero certification or just setup as much as off grid as possible? Just looking for more information. Thank you and appreciate all that you do.
What an awesome video, thank you so much for sharing. I gain a great deal of inspiration from you videos. I do have a quick question. The panels on your roof are using "micro inverters", which if I'm not mistaken output "a/c" current. How do you store that energy to a "DC" battery. Are you going to use a different group of "DC" solar panels to charge up the Ecoflow batteries? One more question. I have DC solar panels installed on my roof that connect to two string inverters. At the time I did not install a battery backup, since I had Net Metering. The rumors are that I will eventually have to go to a TOU billing System. My System is a lease through SunPower. I am wondering if I can install an Ecoflow system as my battery backup. Would I have to replace my current inverters? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. Keep the inspirational videos coming.
This system is nearly double the $/kwh as rack mounted batteries and all-in-one inverter chargers, but boy does it look so much easier. Also, Ecoflow has been pretty dedicated to supporting their past equipment better than almost anyone else, so there's less worry about something going out of date before the warrantee ends.
The support from them is dismal. The delta pro has been waiting on the firmware update to the "99 days" issue for multiple weeks..... apparently sales is a lot more important.
@@tlteal I concur. It's bottom tier at best. Took 2+ months and 20+ messages to get a refund after sending back a product within the return period. Borderline dishonest. Will never buy anything from them. The product itself is not bad.
@@spacerabbit1619I thought I was the only one but apparently not. There is another crowd saying their level of support is amazing. I can't help but wonder if there are tiers of support that align with how much you spend or something?
i hate when companies use proprietary connectors. I already have a 96KWhr battery in my F150 lightening and have no interest in buying more batteries or an inverter. I would love to have a smart panel that i could use the 10KW inverter from the truck.
This will be EPIC - long awaited, finally arrived! Congrats on this, it looks like timing of your build together with EcoFlow product line update was spot on :)
Bravo Ecoflow, Ricky, and the Two Bit Davinci team! I plan on doing the same thing except with a small off grid home that my wife and I will retire in...in one of our kids ' backyard of course. Sign o' the times. 😁
What kind of engineer are you? structural, mechanical, electrical? If you're an electrical engineer, then you should know that the high frequency, transformorless inverter tech that's used in this unit is not suitable for permanent installation in a residential application. The Chinese made. lightweight, high frequency inverter tech in these light duty units is not only short lived and offer a weak 1.5 X (150%) surge capacity, when compared to conventional, heavy duty, low frequency, off grid inverters, they can also be dangerous. Since the early 1990s, high frequency, transformerless inverters gained the reputation of being the poor man’s inverter and were meant only for short lived, temporary installations. They were never designed nor meant for permanent installation to safely power a home’s appliances. First of all, these units are NOT UL-1741 listed, so unless you’re living in a tiny home, good luck obtaining a permit to install this unit into your home’s electrical system. In addition, without a UL-1741 listing, you won’t qualify for many of the state rebates and tax credits that are available. Even today, after more than 25 years of product development, You'd be lucky to get even two to three years of service from these Chinese made high frequency inverters, especially when powering high inductance loads like full sized refrigerators, large power tools, portable AC units or large microwave ovens. The reason for this is that all of these lightweight, high frequency inverters lack a very critical component. That critical component is an iron core, copper wound output transformer. Without an output transformer to act as a buffer to absorb the electrical surges provided by the “Flywheel Effect” inherent in the physical amount of a transformer’s iron, these surges and damaging reverse voltage spikes must be handled directly by the inverter’s MOSFET transistors, essentially shortening their life. You might be able to start and run some high surge loads when these high frequency inverters are new, but every time you fire up one of those inductive loads, you're shortening the life of the MOSFETs in these inverters. To make things even worse, lightweight, high frequency inverters run much hotter and their internal components are far more stressed due to their high switching speeds and use of high voltage components, These two factors makes the low cost, off spec, Chinese made components such as capacitors, MOSFETs, diodes, resistors and ICs that are used in these inverters, far more prone to early failure. Simply put, high frequency inverters are better suited for like duty, electronic devices, and low frequency inverter are better suited for heavy duty, high peak power appliances. Another major consideration with many of these lightweight, high frequency, transformerless inverters is safety. First of all, high frequency inverter don’t have Isolation between the Neutral and Line which increases the risk of a shock hazard. And second, during a catastrophic of the failure of the inverter’s circuitry, all it would take is for the AC output monitoring circuitry to fail and one of the MOSFETs in the inverter's H-Bridge circuit to short to ground, and these high frequency inverters can send dangerous, high voltage, high amperage DC current straight to your connected AC loads which will not only damage most AC appliances but can also set those AC appliances on fire. Another issue with most of these high frequency solar generators and inverters is that, rather than go into an overload shut down, the units will lower its output voltage, creating a brown out, which can drop its voltage to as low as 80 Volts which can cause damage to your home’s electronics. Brownouts can also cause damage to insulation and cause unexpected electronic failure in the future. A sustained brownout could cause damage to electronic motors that are in everyday appliances, including washing machines, dryers, fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers. US appliances are designed to operate at a nominal voltage of 110 to 120 VAC not 80 VAC. What these cheap, high frequency inverters are doing, is sacrificing your appliances to protect itself. Another consideration that is never mentioned by those TH-cam high frequency inverter affiliate hucksters, is that the vast majority of these inverters are non-repairable. After the warranty runs out, you're not going to be able to ship these units back to the manufacturer in China and have them repair them. And at a typical shop rate of $125 per hour here in the US, with no schematic and limited parts availability, it won't make economic sense to even attempt to repair one of these units. Once the FETs have fried and have burned a good portion of the inverter's PCB, (And trust me, sooner rather than later, they will fry.) they basically become a brick. A much better choice would be to invest in a UL-1741 listed hybrid inverter and a bank of LFP batteries or power station that uses low frequency, transformer based technology in its design. Low frequency inverters can handle high surge loads for at least 3x (300%) their continuous rated capacity and they can do this repeatedly, without sustaining damage to their MOSFET transistors, for minutes, rather than the milliseconds that a high frequency inverter offers. That's why the big name brand inverter manufacturers like Schneider Electric, Outback Power, Sigineer Power, Magnum Energy and others, all use a low frequency topology in their design.
Please forgive my pessimism. Kind of looks like you sold out to the marketeers. Have you yourself actually paid for all this equipment or is it being donated for marketing purposes?
By way of feedback, I have been a longtime fan of your work and your channel. But the last few months you have become an untrustworthy shill for various products and brands. You now come across as a fanboy and a biased promoter. I'm going to take a break from your channel for a while and hope you become the quality neutral creator that you used to be. See you in a while.
Can you stop paying your local power utility? Here in AZ, where we have maximum sun hours, we can't disconnect from the grid. You can, but you still have to pay all the base fees. For me that amounts to about $45/mo. With solar I can knock most of that out in the winter months. Batteries weren't really viable when I added solar and I had to sign a 10 year contract with the local power company to get anything at all. If I even change out a panel I have to redo the contract. Those contracts are mostly one-sided. At that, the AZ Corporation Commission is considering letting the power companies renege on the contracts we signed. If I could drop the power company I would likely be all over this.
I gotta say, these smart home panels are a TERRIBLE idea. It is entirely unnecessary for any function of the home. And all of this EcoFlow-specific equipment... trying to keep this all maintained over the next 100 years is going to be a disaster for the home owner. Once you have enough inverter output to power everything across a power-fail switch-over or whatever, you DO NOT NEED a smart panel switching loads off for you. All you need to do is turn off the loads you won't want to burn energy on when then grid is out... which in most cases just amounts to not using something in the first place. Also, these "fancy" ecoflow-branded batteries are stupidly expensive. It makes no sense whatsoever to spend $2800 a pop for a 6 kWh battery ($466/kWh). IN WHAT WORLD DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE! An EG4 rack-mount LL-S battery is $1600 for 5.2 kWh ($308/kWh). And there are other offerings that clock in at $250/kWh. I will only repeat, the last thing you want to do is use a semi-portable power station and battery system with proprietary cables, interconnects, and communications to power a house. Really. That is the very last thing you should be doing. A couple of (for example, one out of many examples) EG4 6000XP's and one or two racks of batteries and REGULAR panels/sub-panels will do the job far better, and be more maintainable, at half the cost. -Matt
The battery and inverter cost is subsidized by people who are able to DIY and not need an electrician. That doesn't explain the smart panel which most DIY types cannot handle. For people who can DIY roll-your-own battery banks and inverters (not hard and getting better) the EcoFlow lock-in and cost makes NO sense.
It feels like a critical mass of DIY folks are reaching the "how hard can it be?" tipping point. At least in terms of the amount of videos and sufficient (correct) guidance out there. I think the overall trend is for DIY solutions to become more like integrating PC components. Once the standards settle out, there will be a race to the bottom on costs. The trick will be to keep the decent suppliers and quality products from being obliterated by the Chinese.
Wow. Wish you'd shown more of the wiring process (B-roll?). Wonder what complexity is hiding behind all of that plywood? a) Don't want to put my $$$$ battery stack on a cheap plastic dolly. (I *hope* that's not supplied by EcoFlow. Ever hear of 16ga steel and hard rubber wheels?) b) Would want to have them bolted down to something (earthquake, theft) I hope you're getting a big vendor subsidy. Too rich for my blood.
ecoflow must be down on their sales. They have everyone pimping this sh2 panel out along with their "ULTRA". Sure wished ecoflow would actually support their products. Oh and what about all your data on chinese networks --- is it safe?
Had my heat pump water heater installed last week. It's in the garage, and while not "loud," the sound of the compressor easily goes thru walls. So we can hear it in the the adjacent bedroom, kitchen, upstairs as a noticeable "hummmm." Just in case you plan on doing filming in the next room, it's something to keep in mind.
I have a simular issue. When my parents installed theirs, we used an isolated stand (not connected to any walls) and had them use PEX. This solved the hum transfer issues.
Ditto to this comment. Single story home, hpwh is in the garage against an interior wall, and we can hear the hum down the hall. Not the end of the world, but imagine if it's in the same workspace or next to your work space it could be annoying.
Also need a large volume of air to grab the heat from, that small room will cool down quickly
This looks very good. When you're done perhaps you can go over the cost of each component and the total. Thanks.
Riki, I really like the direction you are going. Congratulations!
There is solar hot water heater from Portugal call Soltier I believe makes hot water Rain,Snow ,shine day or night
Really good video. Thanks. -- I currently use 2 DP+EB setups daily. In summer, one runs my RV while I go boondocking (half the summer), and the other powers a mini-split.
How about, instead of connecting your old ecoflows to the panel, use them as battery backup units for servers or perhaps refrigerator or freezer in the main house?
Great equipment, wish I could afford it all.
Hey your framer doesn’t seem to understand drywall. Look at your corner, blocking in but no drywall backing. 👍
Very slick. Time to redesign my equipment room to accommodate this tech. Good thing I haven't started building.
Ecoflow equipment is not listed on the Approved California Solar Equipment List. How are you able to get permits and have it legally installed?
My favorite you tubers are pumping this thing. EcoFLow must have given away dozens of them. I hope they are good
CONGRATS 🎉🎉🎉 RICKI, I HAVE HAD THE SAME DREAM 💭 SINCE THE LATE 60’s ,WAITING All this time for the tech 🤗 and my budget 😬💚💚💚
You can get to net zero with just solar panels. With this setup, you're on your way to energy independent, and helping stabilize the grid while you're at it! Very cool.
We help stabilize the grid and get charged a $16 solar fee and a $7 higher flat fee for being connected to the grid... They just screw us over no matter what we do.
@@Robulite Let me guess, they won't let you legally disconnect from the grid either right?
You can it's just not logical. If you are making a positive impact for your power grid, you kinda expect to not pay 40% more on base fees. But they lump everyone with solar into the large fee category when only the people without battery backups for their solar are the ones causing grid issues.@@BLKMGK4
14:05 Cybertruck could serve as a generator, right? Big ecosystem pick: all this or Powerwall/Universal Wall Charger
wow nice i want it
Why not evacuated tube water solar heater? It uses the least amount of energy and is very long term stable. Then maybe a smaller backup water heater
Expectations are the thief of joy, not the key to happiness 😉
Great Video, thanks for showing us what the Ultra can do.
Correction - I think each Ultra can use only 5 Batteries, not 6 Batteries.
Can the solar side handle dump loads? When generating more power than you use and the batteries are full, can you send extra power to an old style resistance water heater plumbed in front of your heat pump water heater, or to a battery charger in the main house. With a huge array you will have extra solar at times, can you put it to use? I'd think the best uses would be heating &/or cooling through a secondary system. A window unit heat pump in the battery room?
Use a Heat Pump HVAC that can provide hot water too by taking the hear that would to to wast is now making hot water for free. I would recommend Water Furnace
I think the technology is interesting. However, the 90kw system is around $60,000. How long would it take to offset the purchase and installation cost?
id imagine the 90kW systems are not meant for single-homes, and more for multi-family or condo/apt. complexes
You can build a diy system with 12kw output and 90kwh for less than 30k
I doubt that 90 KW is in the future for what he has there so you can probably figure on about half that size, and half the cost. Take the 30% federal tax credit and whatever else California offers along with SREC credits and you’re probably down to offset in about $20,000. With electric rates at $.42 per kilowatt hour, if his place uses the average of about 30 kW per day then he is somewhere between four and five years breakeven. Not bad for system. It’s got that much flexibility and use.
Sorry your electricity is so expensive
The load management is super cool as is weather monitoring
Awesome video! looking fwd to the next episode
Highest cost of electricity and worst power grid. Makes no sense.
@Robulite get what you pay for right?
*Borat Voice* ... ... ... NOOOOOT
Great video! I my country it’s almost impossible to go net zero, winter has multiple times there is no proper sunlight for weeks.
My solar does produce 1kwh a day that compared to my heatpump that uses 40kw, im looking into heat storage in summer to use in winter:)
40kWh per day? Wow, that's some expensive heat. Long term heat storage is an interesting concept that has no good solutions right now. If you solve that you'll be famous.
On Ecoflow’s website it states the Smart Home Panel 2 cannot be a main panel or service equipment? Are you able not have it be a sub panel because you are not connected to the grid? I have a smaller home and was hoping to have the Smart Home Panel 2 replace my 100A main panel.
Glad you got the delta pro ultra! I was hoping you would do a review! Can't wait to see the next videos! I do want to see the delta pros hooked to the SHP2. I have the delta pro and want the DPU and SHP2! Lol
why do solar only go on roofs cant the be the outer skin walls? or hang on the side ? especally above a second floor
Looking forward to watching this series... EcoFlow keeps constantly updating its systems, making it difficult to know just when to bite the bullet and purchase one.
Buy the one that fits your need, I have one ECO FLOW for camping on the road trips, I'm going to but the new one for the house.
Good news is with your old Delta pros, You can integrate it with a smart home panel 2 But require a new double voltage hub
The Delta Pros currently do not work with the Smart Home Panel 2, despite their advertisements. They say this will be fixed in a firmware update.
Super nice , super convenient ! ............ convenience costs though ! EG4 5.2 klwh for 1500. ....... 6kwh for 2700.....l..ya right . 6kw EG4 6000xp 1400......... more wiring, not as sci fi, but wow, Ecoflow is expensive, but beautiful !
Interesting , Thank You .
Love it. I want to do something similar
Great video Ricky. Can you confirm if when the Ultra is connected to the smart panel if the outlets on the inverter can be used? Another youtuber said they cannot be used when connected to the smart panel and I just want to confirm. Thanks.
What's the price
Nice system.
Wyndmoor PA USA
I am thinking that your dream home will be new construction ;) _Mine will be steel "Barndo" with subfloor radiant heat and tons of solar on the roof._ Thanks for showcasing the *ecoflow* equipment!
specific question. I have solar on my roof, and I am leasing it and I can't "touch any of the equipment" I am charging my DPU by waiting for the sun to outpace my home use and then I turn on charging for the DPU. Is there a way to do this with the SHP2? I mean it would be manual but basically "charge now" and "stop charging"? because my rate falls a bit at night so I'd rather charge at night when I have to, but solar all the way if I can. It's just has to be manual since I can't really tap into any of the net metering and all that fun... lease is for another 2 years 🙂
It's been almost 10 months since this video, are you still making part 2 and 3?
Happy for you and your team for getting kind of independent from the national grid. Personally I'd never choose those batteries because having loose cables like that would get me mad.
Does the smart panel2 connect to the main panel before or after the meter?
Although i applaud your efforts and support this direction, companies like ecoflow and tesla serve a very limited market. Until prices drop with equipment such as this, it will remain for those lucky few. The rest of us will have to diy and grab what we can, and many around the world will simply do without and build resentment.
Why not TANKLess water heater? It only uses power when you are running hot water rather than keeping a tank of water hot continuously?
I wouldn't put that heat pump water heater under the window if you can offset it just a bit just in case the fan gets noisy, my fridge and GE Turbo washer's fans aren't terrible but I like that I can't hear them when I'm working
Great info on the new EcoFlow products. My home has two electrical panels and they are not near each other. So would I need two sets of the Smart panel and Inverter/Batteries - each set associated with each panel? Thank you.
How does this compare to the Span panel?
still think id go with the rack mounted at half the price, i wonder why you chose this method which is clearly more expensive, whats the upside except ease!
How far does the Ecoflow conduit wire go? I’m looking if I can install it in the backyard, but the breaker is in the front garage.
Why is there only 12 circuits.. thats not enough for a whole house..
How good are thlse delta pro batteries when it comes to run time or cycle life compared to a Tesla powerwall.
You must live in Hawaii as it is only place in USA with rate over $.40. If not then your adding distribution cost which may not change
For heatpump water heater..... plan to vent to outside and pull out of attic..... Thus place your Heat Pump Water heater to minimize the work of venting.... For me, I vent to the outside in the Winter and vent to garage in the summer ( free airconditioning )
Why wouldn't you vent to the house for free heat during the winter as well?
You are removing heat from someplace and putting that into the water... i.e. the purpose is to heat the water.... in this case.... the "waste product" is cold air in this case.... even in the winter....@@sdas683
Great Video! New sub! I'm looking forward to how the Delta Pros integrate into this. I have 2 DP's with a dual voltage hub and a 10 circuit manual transfer switch for emergency home power backup. Looking forward to the next video.
This is awesome tech. When I finally buy my forever home for my family we will be totally off grid with a combination of solar and batteries. That said, I dont believe in fully electrified vehicles and only see plug in hybrids in my future. If I was to buy a fully electric vehicle, I'd run a combination of solar, batteries and grid. I have to....
I wanna move off grid asap. I plan on burning some wood in passive solar design. I was looking into Phius certificates. I do construction for a living. We sub out plumbing and electric. I decided to go with a d.c. solar electric system more like a boat or r.v. than a house. Trying to avoid inverters. The boat fridges and freezers are ac/dc and usually better insulated than household appliances. I do need at least one or 2 inverters for power hunger tools. Which will have a super capacitor bank with battery bank to help with hard cycles on batteries from tools. D.C. electric devices seem to use less electric as technology improves. Also gonna separate systems. Like led lights and smoke detectors will be stand alone with backups. Utilities bills always seem to go up in price. Less bills the better. Personally thermal breaks and ventilation is what makes or breaks an air tight house. Thermal breaks around windows and doors to stop condensation zones in studs. I recommend spray foam or mineral wool around windows and doors and bays next to them. Moisture in kitchens, showers, basements, and rim joist pockets needs to be addressed. My tips from build modern air tight houses.
13:20 with the amount of solar power in CA, it seems crazy to me that TOU plans still have the cheapest power at night. Best prices should be between 9am and 3pm. And, seriously, no TOU for larger property owners?!? Madness.
More reality-based time of use pricing would go a long way in stabilizing the CA grid, reducing curtailing, and decreasing the overall cost of the grid system.
Always love the work that you do!! Great show!! But isn't the Tesla power well easier? and cheaper?
Thank you for your video. I’m reading the install manual for the Smart Panel and it says it uses two 100 amp breakers (not supplied) to connect to your main panel. It also lists the brand and type of breakers approved for the SP. It lists Square D Home but not QO breakers. I have QO and wonder if they’ll work?
did you build a mega 18650 charger years back?
Five TH-camrs in one day reviewing the pro ultra, sales must be low
Have you studied EMF from panels and inverters? I have two inverters in my garage, while you have microinverters everywhere.
At this rate, there will be even a better version next year. They keep on making better and better products. We just have to wait and wait and wait for the next next next new one.
So Ricky, with this system on a sub panel specifically designed to cover devices associated with your businesses are you effectively creating a microgrid?
Just curious what the outlay is in terms of cost for the batteries vs. ROI? Have you computed when you break even? I have been tempted to get batteries but feel like the payoff is not worth it?
It's fairly expensive, $10K for one inverter, battery and smart panel. You can simply have a grid tied solar system to get the most efficient payback via net metering if you don't need the auto backup capability. There are cheaper units you can use just for emergency power.
@@ChrisP978 I think the only real situation where this system "makes sense," aside from engineer types who can afford it and think it's cool, is when you have a piece of property that is not on the grid and would be $50k or more to tie in. Then a system like this starts to make sense. But if you are starting on the grid, the whole battery thing just doesn't pay back.
@@ChrisP978 I just recently bought an Ecoflow Delta 2 to function as a backup for my refrigerator. I tested it out to 12+ hours. Hopefully the grid doesn't go down longer than that. ( I live in Southern AZ and the grid is pretty stable)
I would do this in a heartbeat, but I live in mid-Michigan and the solar input is not great. I do have 15-400 watt pant. It helps to subsidize my electricity bills but will take longer than I wish to pay for it. Adding a battery would help but again, in my location it would take a Loong time to pay off. The only advantage I have to add a battery is to give me time to roll out my generator. At this point in time, in my location, it’s hard to justify the cost of going full solar.
If I lived in more southern states which have higher solar rates, I’d go full speed ahead with solar and batteries.
I worry that the closer one gets to Net Zero, the less the insurance industry wants to provide loss coverage due to thermal runaway concerns.
42¢/kWh flat rate is quite eye-watering 🥺 ouch, sorry dude. Our "demand rate" here is weekdays 4-8pm and is "only" (compared to yours) about 25¢/kWh (normal & weekend rate is 11¢, overnight is 7¢) taxes and riders included.
Shoot, I would be super stoked with just say 12 kWh of battery capacity to run my 2-ton AC for the 4 "demand" hours, then have it slowly recharge from the grid at overnight rates. (I know that's still not Net-Zero, nobody lecture me LOL 🙂)
*_bUt I jUsT rEnT_* 🤪 and my landlord is so afraid of "BIG batteries starting fires" that her last lease renewal included a clause that EXPRESSLY FORBIDS (LOL?) charging EVs and "BIG batteries" in the garage...
I need 2 hoymiles inverters. Can you help me please? 8 oanels in a shed. 4 in series. Please help me get them. Thx
And again an Ecoflow video. That company really knows how to get there products promoted. Similar texts as if Ecoflow wrote your script. Getting a little Eco overflowed.
Nice video. I'm impressed by the advancements being made in batteries, smart panels, and solar. My question, though, is what is the payback period? You've spent tens of thousands of dollars in solar panels, batteries, electrical panels, and wiring, not to mention increased insurance premiums and ongoing maintenance costs. Don't get me wrong. I'm looking into all of this for my own home, but at what point in time does the savings in grid power bills exceed the original and ongoing costs of the solar/battery installation? I realize this will be different in different areas. Our grid cost per kilowatt-hour here is less than half of yours.
Other things that come to mind are roof replacement costs when the roof is covered in solar panels, vs a plain roof. Also, batteries are getting better and better, but they are an expendable item. They all gradually loose max capacity, and at some point in the future will need to be replaced. Are those costs factored in? (I worked in the cellular phone industry for many years, and the massive battery stacks in the cell sites had to be changed out on average every ten years.)
I'm still thinking more along the lines of a natural gas fired all-house standby generator, instead of battery/solar.
The Ecoflow Ultra still uses the same old fashion, high frequency, transformerless inverter design that's used in low cost, lightweight, Harbor Freight, high frequency inverters. That provides absolutely no galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage and its AC output. Without this critical safety feature, I would never consider install this inverter into my home's electrical system.
I thought he was Kobe Bryant at first 😮
🤣
Nice video, but as others have asked, I would also like to know the cost of a setup like this. Also I watch another youtuber and the way he explains a net zero house isn't just about power usage, but to get a true net zero certification you would need to perform some tests on the house and reach a certain score. Can you please 🙏 go over what your plan is? Are you looking for net zero certification or just setup as much as off grid as possible? Just looking for more information. Thank you and appreciate all that you do.
What an awesome video, thank you so much for sharing. I gain a great deal of inspiration from you videos. I do have a quick question. The panels on your roof are using "micro inverters", which if I'm not mistaken output "a/c" current. How do you store that energy to a "DC" battery. Are you going to use a different group of "DC" solar panels to charge up the Ecoflow batteries?
One more question. I have DC solar panels installed on my roof that connect to two string inverters. At the time I did not install a battery backup, since I had Net Metering. The rumors are that I will eventually have to go to a TOU billing System. My System is a lease through SunPower. I am wondering if I can install an Ecoflow system as my battery backup. Would I have to replace my current inverters? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. Keep the inspirational videos coming.
You didn't mention that Ecoflow uses LFP batteries which will last much longer and are much safer than NMC batteries.
Netzero = Fantasy.
So is thinking we can burn fossil fuels forever. Also fantasy
@@TwoBitDaVinci The thing that irritates people is that the same politicians pushing for net zero are the same people invested in renewables.
This system is nearly double the $/kwh as rack mounted batteries and all-in-one inverter chargers, but boy does it look so much easier. Also, Ecoflow has been pretty dedicated to supporting their past equipment better than almost anyone else, so there's less worry about something going out of date before the warrantee ends.
The support from them is dismal. The delta pro has been waiting on the firmware update to the "99 days" issue for multiple weeks..... apparently sales is a lot more important.
@@tlteal I concur. It's bottom tier at best. Took 2+ months and 20+ messages to get a refund after sending back a product within the return period. Borderline dishonest. Will never buy anything from them. The product itself is not bad.
@@spacerabbit1619I thought I was the only one but apparently not. There is another crowd saying their level of support is amazing. I can't help but wonder if there are tiers of support that align with how much you spend or something?
Nicola would be proud. Just imagine if we were allowed to have his wireless power. But net zero solar will have to do for now. 🤔🤫
i hate when companies use proprietary connectors. I already have a 96KWhr battery in my F150 lightening and have no interest in buying more batteries or an inverter. I would love to have a smart panel that i could use the 10KW inverter from the truck.
This will be EPIC - long awaited, finally arrived! Congrats on this, it looks like timing of your build together with EcoFlow product line update was spot on :)
Are you now trying to compete with Hibbert Home Tech?
Good luck!
😅
I knew I should have waited. I hope Ecoflow can give us Delta Pro owners a break. Looks like should out do a Tesla Power wall.
Bravo Ecoflow, Ricky, and the Two Bit Davinci team! I plan on doing the same thing except with a small off grid home that my wife and I will retire in...in one of our kids ' backyard of course. Sign o' the times. 😁
++ Hardwired networking.
++ Life goals.
:( Cost out of my (and most peoples) range.
Genuinely good video, thank you. Please keep up the quality
Interesting, but it would take over 5 years to recuperate the cost of this.
What kind of engineer are you? structural, mechanical, electrical? If you're an electrical engineer, then you should know that the high frequency, transformorless inverter tech that's used in this unit is not suitable for permanent installation in a residential application. The Chinese made. lightweight, high frequency inverter tech in these light duty units is not only short lived and offer a weak 1.5 X (150%) surge capacity, when compared to conventional, heavy duty, low frequency, off grid inverters, they can also be dangerous.
Since the early 1990s, high frequency, transformerless inverters gained the reputation of being the poor man’s inverter and were meant only for short lived, temporary installations. They were never designed nor meant for permanent installation to safely power a home’s appliances.
First of all, these units are NOT UL-1741 listed, so unless you’re living in a tiny home, good luck obtaining a permit to install this unit into your home’s electrical system. In addition, without a UL-1741 listing, you won’t qualify for many of the state rebates and tax credits that are available.
Even today, after more than 25 years of product development, You'd be lucky to get even two to three years of service from these Chinese made high frequency inverters, especially when powering high inductance loads like full sized refrigerators, large power tools, portable AC units or large microwave ovens. The reason for this is that all of these lightweight, high frequency inverters lack a very critical component. That critical component is an iron core, copper wound output transformer. Without an output transformer to act as a buffer to absorb the electrical surges provided by the “Flywheel Effect” inherent in the physical amount of a transformer’s iron, these surges and damaging reverse voltage spikes must be handled directly by the inverter’s MOSFET transistors, essentially shortening their life.
You might be able to start and run some high surge loads when these high frequency inverters are new, but every time you fire up one of those inductive loads, you're shortening the life of the MOSFETs in these inverters. To make things even worse, lightweight, high frequency inverters run much hotter and their internal components are far more stressed due to their high switching speeds and use of high voltage components, These two factors makes the low cost, off spec, Chinese made components such as capacitors, MOSFETs, diodes, resistors and ICs that are used in these inverters, far more prone to early failure. Simply put, high frequency inverters are better suited for like duty, electronic devices, and low frequency inverter are better suited for heavy duty, high peak power appliances.
Another major consideration with many of these lightweight, high frequency, transformerless inverters is safety. First of all, high frequency inverter don’t have Isolation between the Neutral and Line which increases the risk of a shock hazard. And second, during a catastrophic of the failure of the inverter’s circuitry, all it would take is for the AC output monitoring circuitry to fail and one of the MOSFETs in the inverter's H-Bridge circuit to short to ground, and these high frequency inverters can send dangerous, high voltage, high amperage DC current straight to your connected AC loads which will not only damage most AC appliances but can also set those AC appliances on fire.
Another issue with most of these high frequency solar generators and inverters is that, rather than go into an overload shut down, the units will lower its output voltage, creating a brown out, which can drop its voltage to as low as 80 Volts which can cause damage to your home’s electronics. Brownouts can also cause damage to insulation and cause unexpected electronic failure in the future. A sustained brownout could cause damage to electronic motors that are in everyday appliances, including washing machines, dryers, fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers. US appliances are designed to operate at a nominal voltage of 110 to 120 VAC not 80 VAC. What these cheap, high frequency inverters are doing, is sacrificing your appliances to protect itself.
Another consideration that is never mentioned by those TH-cam high frequency inverter affiliate hucksters, is that the vast majority of these inverters are non-repairable. After the warranty runs out, you're not going to be able to ship these units back to the manufacturer in China and have them repair them. And at a typical shop rate of $125 per hour here in the US, with no schematic and limited parts availability, it won't make economic sense to even attempt to repair one of these units. Once the FETs have fried and have burned a good portion of the inverter's PCB, (And trust me, sooner rather than later, they will fry.) they basically become a brick.
A much better choice would be to invest in a UL-1741 listed hybrid inverter and a bank of LFP batteries or power station that uses low frequency, transformer based technology in its design. Low frequency inverters can handle high surge loads for at least 3x (300%) their continuous rated capacity and they can do this repeatedly, without sustaining damage to their MOSFET transistors, for minutes, rather than the milliseconds that a high frequency inverter offers. That's why the big name brand inverter manufacturers like Schneider Electric, Outback Power, Sigineer Power, Magnum Energy and others, all use a low frequency topology in their design.
Oh a thousand dollars per kilowatt instead of five kilowatts per one thousand. What a dealbreaker
nice
Please forgive my pessimism. Kind of looks like you sold out to the marketeers.
Have you yourself actually paid for all this equipment or is it being donated for marketing purposes?
Yeah remember all the adds for the Lomi composter…..
By way of feedback, I have been a longtime fan of your work and your channel. But the last few months you have become an untrustworthy shill for various products and brands. You now come across as a fanboy and a biased promoter. I'm going to take a break from your channel for a while and hope you become the quality neutral creator that you used to be. See you in a while.
Can you stop paying your local power utility? Here in AZ, where we have maximum sun hours, we can't disconnect from the grid. You can, but you still have to pay all the base fees. For me that amounts to about $45/mo. With solar I can knock most of that out in the winter months. Batteries weren't really viable when I added solar and I had to sign a 10 year contract with the local power company to get anything at all. If I even change out a panel I have to redo the contract. Those contracts are mostly one-sided. At that, the AZ Corporation Commission is considering letting the power companies renege on the contracts we signed.
If I could drop the power company I would likely be all over this.
If you are prepared for a zombie apocalypse, you are prepared for anything.
What happened to Franklin? In the last video I watched you were raving about Franklin battery storage...
AFAIKT, he makes no claims to be an independent unbiased reviewer. Nothing wrong with a little naked capitalism.
Lol at least this wasn’t a ground breaking revolutionary game changer.
Love this solar and off grid stuff!! Make sure you have enough to power a PS5 and a TV (^_-)
I gotta say, these smart home panels are a TERRIBLE idea. It is entirely unnecessary for any function of the home. And all of this EcoFlow-specific equipment... trying to keep this all maintained over the next 100 years is going to be a disaster for the home owner.
Once you have enough inverter output to power everything across a power-fail switch-over or whatever, you DO NOT NEED a smart panel switching loads off for you. All you need to do is turn off the loads you won't want to burn energy on when then grid is out... which in most cases just amounts to not using something in the first place.
Also, these "fancy" ecoflow-branded batteries are stupidly expensive. It makes no sense whatsoever to spend $2800 a pop for a 6 kWh battery ($466/kWh). IN WHAT WORLD DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE! An EG4 rack-mount LL-S battery is $1600 for 5.2 kWh ($308/kWh). And there are other offerings that clock in at $250/kWh.
I will only repeat, the last thing you want to do is use a semi-portable power station and battery system with proprietary cables, interconnects, and communications to power a house. Really. That is the very last thing you should be doing. A couple of (for example, one out of many examples) EG4 6000XP's and one or two racks of batteries and REGULAR panels/sub-panels will do the job far better, and be more maintainable, at half the cost.
-Matt
The battery and inverter cost is subsidized by people who are able to DIY and not need an electrician. That doesn't explain the smart panel which most DIY types cannot handle. For people who can DIY roll-your-own battery banks and inverters (not hard and getting better) the EcoFlow lock-in and cost makes NO sense.
It feels like a critical mass of DIY folks are reaching the "how hard can it be?" tipping point. At least in terms of the amount of videos and sufficient (correct) guidance out there.
I think the overall trend is for DIY solutions to become more like integrating PC components. Once the standards settle out, there will be a race to the bottom on costs. The trick will be to keep the decent suppliers and quality products from being obliterated by the Chinese.
I had a dream. Yah? What's your dream? To have a dream! Hjahjahha
That battery pack is over-engineer, you should spend money on a good hybrid system and not be locked in to one manufacturer
Wow. Wish you'd shown more of the wiring process (B-roll?). Wonder what complexity is hiding behind all of that plywood?
a) Don't want to put my $$$$ battery stack on a cheap plastic dolly. (I *hope* that's not supplied by EcoFlow. Ever hear of 16ga steel and hard rubber wheels?)
b) Would want to have them bolted down to something (earthquake, theft)
I hope you're getting a big vendor subsidy. Too rich for my blood.
Random comment for channel interaction.
Reply to comment to satisfy algorithm.
ecoflow must be down on their sales. They have everyone pimping this sh2 panel out along with their "ULTRA". Sure wished ecoflow would actually support their products. Oh and what about all your data on chinese networks --- is it safe?
😁