I'm a total newbie in the camping solar space and because of a recommendation, I've ended up with an EcoFlow River portable power station https://au.ecoflow.com/products/river-portable-power-station
I know there are things like compatibility to worry about, so I really have no idea what solar panel to get. I'm looking to spend $200-300 and obviously get the most bang for my buck.
Any recommendations?
"most bang for my buck." would be second hand, so try gumtree or ebay.
The Kings one from 4WD Supercentre has worked well for me. It has the regulator built into the line
The manufacturer's web site for that product says 200W, 10-25V, 12A max.
Solar panels come in two voltages, "12V", and "24V". But those are nominal voltages, not actual. "24V" panels are used mostly on rooftop home solar installations, are certified and approved for that use, and produce up to 36V. A second hand one of those would be an obvious cheap option, but you can't use one because the voltage is too high. So you need a "12V" solar panel, which is not approved for home rooftop use, and advertised for sale for use only for other purposes, like caravans and camping.
And it needs to be a maximum of 200W output. But if you go onto ebay, most of the 12V solar panels sold there have wildly exaggerated power outputs. So you need to buy from a reputable supplier, a company that cares about its reputation, like, say, Aldi. The only solar panel seller on ebay you can trust is Low Energy Developments. Check their web site. They look expensive, but that's because when they say "200W", it really does produce 200W.
Alternatively you can to check what you are getting really will supply 200W, not 150W, or 120W, or even only 100W. So you've got to look at its dimensions and calculate its area from that. Solar panels produce about 200W per square metre. So look for one about that size.
The main variations available are ordinary ones, flexible, and folding/blanket style. Folding can make it easier to pack up and store. Flexible can be handy, are much lighter, and can be more fragile. An ordinary one would be the best choice if you were going to attach it in place on the roof of a van, for example.
Some come with regulators and chargers. It doesn't appear that is required. But I'm only going from the minimal statements made on the web site. There may be more info with the product.
What the manufacturer's web site doesn't say is what sort of connector there is to the solar panels. A solar panel will come with MC4 or Anderson connector(s). If it comes with the wrong sort you might have to get an adapter cable, or chop the connector that comes with it off.
What you probably would be best served by is a folding/blanket style 12V panel that genuinely produces 200W.
Cheers, I'll give Low Energy Developments a call.
Just called them, they dont do panels anymore :(
It's the votls you have to watch… you can't go over what Ecoflow supports. The watts don't matter too much so long as it's more than what you need to charge in a reasonable time, and it's not going to melt the wires. The Ecoflow will not pull more than it can handle.
In this case it can draw up to 200w… so it's a waste to have 600w, but 200-300w would be fine, and you should be near maximum change rate most times so long as it's not overcast. Any less and it's just going to take longer to charge, but given your budget you might be better off with a better quality panel at a lower wattage, than a heap of junk at a higher wattage.
No, I don't think that's good advice. You can use a battery or a power supply that is able to deliver more power than the device using it needs. But we are talking about a solar panel. It generates power, and that has to go somewhere. If the spec for the portable power station says 200W, 12A max, you shouldn't use a solar panel that is generating more. You'll fry the electronics in the device.
That's not how it works. You will fry the device only if the solar panel produces too much voltage, for example connecting a 24V solar panel to a 12V battery charger. The wattage of a solar panel will not fry your devices.
So if it works the way you say it works, explain why the manufacturer's web says, and I quote, "harness the power of the sun by linking up to two 110W solar panels". Why does it specifically put that limit on the solar power? I'll tell you why, BECAUSE YOU'LL FRY THE ELECTRONICS IN THE DEVICE. Its not a battery. Its not a power supply. Its a solar panel. They work differently. The manufacturer puts a 200W limit on the solar input for a good reason.
I strongly encourage the OP to follow the manufacturer's instructions.
@GordonD: A solar panel is just a power source, just like a battery or a power supply. Any extra wattage is just never used.
They say up to two because if they said 3 or more they would be implying it would use that extra power… which it will not, so it could be false advertising.
It is quite common with house installs to over wattage the panels to ensure that you can provide full power to the inventor even when the sun is not at its peak, or it's really hot. Often this can be by quite a large percentage (panels are quite cheap part of system).
It's talked about a little here; https://gosolarquotes.com.au/should-i-oversize-my-solar-pane… and here https://www.gardelelectrical.com.au/blog/what-is-inverter-ov…
In the case of house systems the main issue is that by going to nuts with your oversizing you will be making the inventor run at 100% capacity for a longer part of the day… and they are simply not designed to do that. The size of the power rating on an inventor is in a large part dependent on the fact that it will NOT run at that for most of the day in fact :/
To compensate for that, most house solar systems will put limits on how much they will let you do it… however this is as much as 155%… which when you are talking a 10kw system is a heap of power (5.5kw) just going… nowhere (which as I said… doesn't really go anywhere, so it's not an issue).
That is a bit different from a battery though, since the charger IS meant to be able to run at full for the entire charge cycle (i.e. when you plug it into mains).
It's much the same as PC power supplies… people put 1000w PSUs in their PCs when 95% of the time it will only be using 100w or less. It doesn't draw any more from the wall just because their PSU is "producing" 900% more power than they need.
@GordonD: Solar panels aren’t like other power sources. For example you can short the positive and negative terminals together and it does nothing. Try that with a battery or an AC adapter and it‘ll blow
OP, I re-iterate what I say. I'm just pointing out what the manufacturer says quite clearly. Max 200W solar. Max 25V solar. Max 12A solar. Max 2x 110W solar panels. You can listen to what the manufacturer says you should limit the solar input to. Or you can take your chances with what someone else says won't be a problem and hope that the people who actually designed and manufactured the device don't know what they're talking about..
I've got more amusing things to do than argue with someone who doesn't know enough to know when they're wrong, and explain to them why they are.
@GordonD: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/ecoflow-river-over-panel.1…
That guy overpanelled his Ecoflow River with 440w of panels
@GordonD: Wow, you are wilfully ignorant of the physics of electricity!
Anyone that has any clue knows that for a given voltage difference (e.g 12 volts), the amperage that flows in a circuit is limited by the resistance of that circuit, no matter the source!
Thus it is impossible for something that can give more watts than needed at the correct voltage to do any damage!
What are you powering? What type of batteries? What anything ?
Camping fridge, lighting, music, charging phones and laptops.
Unless you pay extra and get the second battery, the device only stores 288 watt hours. That's only about half the capacity of the car battery in a small car. With the second battery that's doubled. Don't expect it to be able to do a huge amount. This is a device designed for portability, not huge capacity.
Agree.. it will run a camping fridge for max 24 hours.
And it doesn’t use LifePO4 cells so it’s only rated for 500 cycles which is a bit on the crappy side. OK for occasional camping use, but not for regular on the road use.
@Thrawn: That seems perfect with daily recharging. We just stay in 1 location when camping, so aren't driving during the day.
@MJ1: Even at 24 hours, the camping fridge may not make it (depends on size, ambient temp, temp settings, etc). Plus you have the other loads. Laptop uses a fair bit of power as well.
Actually if you're driving during the day, it makes it easier to stay topped up as you can use the car to charge it. You can't assume you always get decent solar conditions. On a cloudy gloomy day solar production drops 90%. It's good to have enough battery reserves to last you a few days with limited recharging.
@MJ1: Unless you spend the day moving and aiming the panel at the sun, it may struggle to keep the battery charged… even worse if the shade hits part of the panel…
Ecoworthy 120w folding panels are $75 each right now on eBay. If you are willing to do a bit of rewiring yourself, get 2 of them and put them in parallel. Maybe even 3 or 4 of them for great output even in cloudy days.
I got those panels performing at close to rated output
Nice thought, but I have no experience (or interest) with wiring - I'm really just looking for plug n play.
Ecoflow River uses XT60 connectors for the solar inputs. Very unusual connector for solar panels.. I don’t think you will find any panel that uses XT60. Ecoflow manual says they sell optional accessory MC4 to XT60 cables. MC4 is the standard connector for fixed solar panels. Portable solar panels is more varied in terms for connectors.
Frankly it’s much easier to just buy XT60 cables, cut and join them to the Ecoworthy cables
@MJ1: This is a XT60 to MC4
https://sydneytools.com.au/product/ecoflow-efmc4xt60cbl35m-m…
Note that isn't all that cheap, but it looks to be a nice build.
Looking at them they do seem to genuinely be 120W solar panels. At a good price.
Is there a reason not to get the 300W Ecoworthy (instead of multiple 120W Ecoworthy)?
The 300W fixed panels ones are basically fake ratings (which unfortunately is the norm in eBay). Actual panel rating is about 160W I think..
Anyway they're totally different use case to the folding ones. Way heavier and bigger. They're designed to be attached permanently to something.
Yep, that's the situation. You lose the ability to fold it up and pack it away. But if that isn't important to you, OP, go ahead. Its safe to plug it into your portable power station because they are exaggerating its power output. It won't really produce 300W. It really produces something less than 200W.
What battery are you using for the fridge etc?
Hi MJ1
I have a few different sizes of the EcoFlow batteries and they are great. I also use various solar panels.
Is there a particular solar panel type you are wanting?
Solid panel, solid folding, flexible, blanket, soft folding?
I don't mind what type. It is not an issue for me if the solar panel is heavy or bulky - I'm just looking for the best value for money, making sure the battery is charged the best it can be.
Hey MJ1 - where did you land on this? I'm in a similar position to you in what you're after..
"Solar Charge Input
200W 10-25V DC 12A max"
Go a 100-200w solar blanket