The BIGGEST Jackery EVER! Explorer 5000 Plus Home Backup Solar Generator

The Professor reviews Jackery’s largest portable power station — the 7200 watt Explorer 5000 Plus home backup power system.

Jackery 5000 – Click to watch

Intro-

  • Oh boy have things come a long way since then. That review was before the professor was even born. And guess what, I still have that very first Jackery and it works perfectly. Fast forward nearly 6 years and we go from Jackery selling tiny 500 cycle 240Wh camping generators, to massive 5000 watt hour whole home backup systems rocking 4000 cycles. But the big question everyone wants to know, is it any good? Let’s find out!

Features-

  • Battery Capacity/Tech/Cycles: The Explorer 5000 packs a 5040Wh LiFePO4 battery rated 4000 cycles to 70% capacity

  • Size/Weight: This is the biggest and baddest Jackery ever made and it certainly feels it, weighing in at 135 lbs and measuring 25 inches tall by 15.5 inches wide and 16.5 inches deep. I think the extra inch is for the wheels.

  • Design/Display: It has the typical modern Jackery display that offers, input/output watts, time to charge/discharge, battery % with spinny icon and more than a dozen other indicator icons. This does have both high and low temperature protection so you won’t be able to damage the battery in extreme conditions.

  • Inverter Size/Type: This jacked Jackery has a massive 7200w pure sine inverter with a big trick up its sleeve. It has both 240v split phase and standard 120v outputs that work simultaneously, which is unlike much of the competition. On the front, you get 4x 20A standard outlets split into two pairs that supports 3600w per pair with a 2400w maximum per outlet. On the side, you get a 240v NEMA 14-30R 4 prong twist lock receptacle and a 240v NEMA 14-50 that doubles as both a 50A RV hookup and 50A appliance hookup. So yes, you can plug in your electric oven, electric drier, or a 240v well pump and power them easily. You can also charge your EV with a level 2 charger for those inclined to do so.

  • Ways To Charge: The 5000 can charge from standard 120v grid power at 1800w for charging the built in battery in about 3.5 hours.

    • If you opt for Jackery’s Smart Transfer Switch you can charge with 240v at 4000w for topping up in 1.7 hours. Note, getting their transfer switch is the only way to charge with 240v service.

    • As for solar, the 5000 has two MPPT solar controllers with 3 inputs. The low voltage solar inputs are a pair of standard Jackery proprietary 8020 (or 8mm) barrel plugs wired in parallel that supports 16-60v at 10.5A each or 21A combined for a maximum of 1200w.

    • If you plan to use Jackery’s new 500w portable panel, two of those plugged into the low PV port will charge the unit in 6.5 hours under ideal conditions. You can use your own solar panels on the 8mm inputs if you buy both an 8mm to MC4 adapter and a 7909 to 8020 adapter (both of which I have available on https://gohobo.io/adapters).

    • However, for the first time in Jackery’s history, they are offering standard built in MC4 connections for their high voltage solar input which supports from 135v all the way up to 400v of solar. So you can plug in any basic solar panels you want without any muss or fuss but with one big caveat. You need to have enough solar panels in series to reach a minimum of 135v in order to start charging. At 135v you’ll see in the upcoming tests that you can only send up to 2000w at 15A at that voltage so essentially you’ll want to get that voltage up past 200 if possible where the Jackery can start MPPT-ing at its maximum 4000w. At that rate it will charge from solar in just under 2 hours.

    • Note that the 5000 doesn’t officially support 12v charging from a vehicle, but in my testing I found out that it actually does at 100 watts through the low voltage PV input — which is ridiculously slow, and would literally take more than 2 days to charge, but it is possible.

    • By the way, if volts amps and watts is another language to you, check out my HOBO University playlist where I teach you what all this techno jargon mumbo jumbo means.

  • 12v Output Types: This Jackery offers a single 12v cigarette lighter style car accessory port for running something like a 12v fridge. It supports up to 10A and is regulated at 13.2v.

  • USB Output Types: The 5000 at least offers a well rounded set of USB ports starting with a pair of 100w USB-C PD outputs and a pair of 18w QC USB-A ports. Finally, someone in 2024 ditched those basic dinosaur ports.

  • Other Features: This Jackery does offer battery expansion up to 60kWh (or 3 days powering all loads in the average American home without recharging) using these 5kWh expansion batteries. Up to 5 can be chained up to one Jackery 5000, and if you opt for the Smart Transfer Switch, you can hook up a second Jackery 5000 with another 5 batteries to reach that 60kWh maximum. Note that Jackery does offer a free service that will help you find a local installer if you do opt in to that transfer switch purchase.

  • Warranty: Jackery offers their standard 5 year warranty on this model.

Testing-

  • DC Battery Capacity Test (time lapse): There was no DC test since it would take over 50 hours and no one is buying this for it’s very basic 12v capability. Instead, I did a 120v and 240v AC test

  • AC Battery Capacity Test (time lapse): 120v test scored 4450wh for a solid 88% while the 240v test scored a virtually identical 4440wh. This result was not a surprise as this unit does not run two separate inverter circuits like others that can do both 120 and 240v split. This inverter is only 240v split and to get 120v, they simply run both split legs all the time. It works exactly like the circuit breaker box in your home which is why this is designed to be paired with their 240v transfer switch.

  • Note for our foreign friends, our 240v grid service is split into two 120v alternating phase circuits running 60hz, where your is single phase 240v running 50hz. I’m going to assume Jackery will have a completely different inverter for the EU and Australian market.

  • Phantom load / Parasitic drain test

    • AC consumption: The Jackery used 515wh (%) over 6 hours or a whopping 2060wh over 24 hours. If you left the inverter on it would totally kill the battery in under two and a half days. If you want to know what that works out to per hour, that’s 85 watts. Yes, 85 watts just to have the inverter turned on. Granted, this is a power hungry 7200w 240v inverter, but Ecoflow’s Delta Pro Ultra also has a 7200w inverter running 240 split and it uses only 52 watts at idle. This is Jackery’s first all in one 240v home backup solution, but they really need to work on that idle consumption.

    • DC consumption: Fortunately, the DC side fared much better. I ran both the 12v DC and USB at idle for 12 hours and it used zip zilch zero! Jackery always had some of the best DC circuitry. And if I recall, were the first to put in 12v regulation circuitry all the way back in 2018 – or maybe even earlier. So they’ve obviously mastered DC idle consumption.

  • I’m always asked how long stuff will run. Compensating for usable capacity, you can pause this chart to see approximately how long common appliances will run on this unit.

    • 13500 BTU RV a/c (1200w @50% cyc): 7.5 hrs

    • 6000 BTU window a/c (400w @50% cyc): 17 hrs

    • 20cuft modern fridge (1.2kWh/day): 1.5 days

    • 1500w heater: 3 hrs

    • 1200w microwave (1800w): 2.6 hrs

    • Keurig coffee maker (1200w 60Wh/c): 80 cups

    • Instant Pot (1000w @50% cyc): 8.5 hrs

    • Hot plate (500w): 8.5 hrs

    • 55” LED TV (80w): 30 hrs

    • Macbook (60w): 35 hrs

    • Box Fan (50w): 37 hrs

    • CPAP (30w): 44 hrs

    • Chromebook (20w): 48 hrs

    • Tablet (10w): 53 hrs

Results:

  • Sine wave check under load: 120/60 ; 238/60

  • Inverter capacity test (max): 120v 4800w <5s ; 240v 9300w <5s

  • 15A saw test: pass

  • Cooling ability test (rated @ 5mins): both 120v/240v pass at 3600w/7200w

  • Inverter fan noise db: 44

  • Max Charge Rate AC @ watts/volts: fast 1750w ; quiet 1400w; standard w [240v charging requires their smart transfer switch]

  • DC Input Range: low PV 16-60v 21A 1200w ; high PV 135-400v 15A 4kw

  • Max Charge Rate DC low @ watts/volts: 12v 100w; 24v 500w; 48v 1000w; max 60v 1200w

  • Max Charge Rate DC high @ watts/volts: 135v 2000w; max 220v 3500w+ (test equipment limited)

  • Charging fan noise db: AC max 43db ; AC min 42db ; Solar 0db

  • Simultaneous charging ability: 3000w solar + 1000w AC = 4000w solar priority

  • Pass thru / UPS: backup UPS 20ms PASS ; online UPS 0ms PASS

  • DC Output(s) Max Rate: 10A 12.5v

  • 12v output(s) regulated: 13.1v

  • USB output rate check: 100w x 2 pass

  • Amp interference test:

    • AM radio test: no interference

    • EMF test: 10-20 very low

My Opinion-

  • I have mixed feelings about the Explorer 5000. Let me explain.

  • On one hand, it’s nice to finally see Jackery release a whole home system. On the other hand, they are about 2 years too late.

  • On one hand, they build a fantastic product with a VERY quiet inverter (one of the quietest on the market) that has some of the best RF shielding I’ve ever tested. On the other hand, that inverter consumes an insane 85 watts at idle.

  • On one hand, you get Jackery’s fantastically efficient regulated DC circuitry. On the other hand, you get a measly single 12v socket that doesn’t even have a rubber insert.

  • On one hand, you do get both BT and WiFi remote access. On the other hand, the app is janky and WiFi disconnects itself a LOT. I was trying to remotely monitor the time lapses from another location and I ended up half the time coming in the room to check on it because the WiFi disconnected. You really need to work on that app Jackery. The competition is running circles around you.

  • On one hand, the extra batteries you can get with the unit are compact, simple, and easy to hookup. On the other hand, they don’t stack with the main unit and can’t be rolled around. You literally have to disconnect them and carry them separately. Not really sure what you were thinking there, Jackery.

  • Things I applaud. The super compact form factor is a huge win. None of the competition really has something this small and this powerful with a chunky 5kWh built in battery that can be wheeled around on its own so easily. Others use dollys or snap on wheels … or offer nothing at all for mobility. I also give Jackery a big kudos on keeping it quiet even under high loads.

  • Last but not least … thank you Jackery, for finally using standard MC4 connectors on one of your products. This is going to make so many folks happy, and I bet twice as many will be sold simply for this one feature alone. Now, if we can only convince you to ditch the proprietary 8mm entirely, you’ll sell even more. Viewers, if you agree with this opinion, leave a comment for Jackery below. They will be reading them.

Pricing-

  • Product Price with current discount:

    • The 7200 watt Jackery Explorer 5000 is currently on sale for only $2999. That’s a flagship 5kWh Jackery at 59 cents per watt hour or 42 cents per watt. In the past, Jackery’s typically launch at 80 cents to a dollar per watt hour – making this a pretty solid deal. But wait, there’s more! Jackery is giving viewers of HOBOTECH an exclusive discount code that knocks an additional 3% off the bundle price. 

    • When it comes to competition, the Explorer 5000 is going up against Ecoflow’s DPU and Bluetti’s AC500. The Ecoflow is $1150 more even with discounts, and the Bluetti with 5500Wh of batteries and two inverters for 240v split phase service is $500 more – but the pair of AC500 inverters combined offer 10kw of total power. They all offer similar warranties, so it comes down to the features and form factor that’s most important to you.

    • The Jackery by far has the smallest footprint and is the easiest to move around of the trio. If you need your power to still be mobile, the Jackery is the easy winner. However, when you add extra batteries you lose that mobility as there is no way to wheel them around and they don’t stack with the main unit. I feel the Jackery is the best option if you need something really compact that can run all the major loads in your home or power your remote cabin, boat, or RV at a campsite. Just don’t get it wet.

CHECK OUT THE JACKERY 5000: https://gohobo.io/j5000 [currently $500 off for BF – no code]

SG5000 Bundles: https://gohobo.io/sg5000 | Use code JAHOBO5000 for 3% off these bundles valid from 11/19 to 12/8.

140w Power Banks: https://gohobo.io/powd

 

 

The Professor reviews the world’s first truly portable single unit 120v & 240v split phase solar power station by Ecoflow — the Delta Pro 3.

Intro

  • Ecoflow is well known for being the top dog when it comes to innovating all in one portable power stations, and has expanded over the past few years to now include plug and play whole home backup power solutions. Their latest product, the Delta Pro 3, blurs the line between a portable power station, and home backup generator with the ability to expand from 4kW to 12kW of power, yet still roll around on it’s own two wheels without needing an external dolly or cart. This makes it the first ever truly portable split phase 240v all in one power station. But, is it any good? Let’s find out!

Features

  • Battery Capacity/Tech/Cycles:

    • The Delta Pro 3, abbreviated to DP3”, is a massive upgrade to the original Delta Pro released in 2021. Your first question might be, what the heck happened to the Delta Pro 2? Well, your guess is as good as mine, but Ecoflow said it was a marketing decision to skip directly to version 3. So don’t be confused, because there was no Delta Pro 2, at least in the United States.

    • This new sleek and sexy model sports a larger 4096Wh LiFePO4 battery rated at 4000 cycles to 80% capacity.

    • It’s expandable with up to 3x DP3 power stations in parallel for 12kw of inverter power (enough to run just about anything in most homes), and battery storage can be expanded up to 36kWh with 6 of the 4kWh “DP3 extra batteries” when connected through the Smart Home Panel 2. That’s two full days of power for most homes without even adding solar charging. I reviewed the Smart Home Panel 2 in a recent Ecoflow video and it’s an amazing product by itself. I didn’t have time to show the DP3 hooked into the SHP2 in this video, but will do a separate video on that in the near future.

  • Size/Weight: What about size and weight? Well, this is where you pay for the larger built in battery and split phase inverter when compared to the original. The DP3 clocks in at a hefty 51.5kg or 114 lbs. Yeah. This isn’t something most folks can’t lift by themselves. Fortunately, it does have a built in retractable pull handle and a pair of wheels on back making it pretty easy for most folks to roll around on smooth surfaces. In comparison, Ecoflow’s flagship the Delta Pro Ultra, coming in as the heavyweight Eco champion at 190 lbs with only one battery, pretty much requires an external dolly to move around. So while the Ultra is “technically portable” because it’s not bolted to a wall, the Delta Pro 3 form factor is actually something you can fit in most vehicles, and use in your RV or on a camping trip. 4kWh is a lot of juice for camping or Rving and is equivalent to 320Ah of lithium batteries.

    • As for the DP3 extra batteries, they are far easier to manage than the original delta pro batteries. They weigh in at a respectable 73lbs (for 4kWh) and are stackable — unlike the original batteries. I’m glad Ecoflow decided to go with a stackable design this time because it makes a huge difference in space management when you can stack the batteries.

    • The dimensions of the DP3 are approximately 27 x 13 x 16 inches (making it a few inches larger than the outgoing model) and the extra battery is around 27 x 12 x 8 inches, a major size reduction compared to the original batteries.

    • Note that the DP3 and extra batteries, unlike the flagship Delta Pro Ultra batteries, are not heated, so they can’t be charged if the internal cell temperature goes below freezing. You’ll actually get a warning on screen if this happens.

  • Design/Display: Speaking of which, the display is a new one for Ecoflow. It’s much wider and fancier than their other products and resembles the color LCD screen from the Delta Pro Ultra. It does offer all the important stats such as input/output watts, time to charge discharge, battery percentage display with animations, among other information such as warning codes.

  • Inverter Size/Type (constant/peak) and #outlets: Where the DP3 shines and is different from every other brand in the market, is that it actually has both a 120v inverter and a split phase 240v inverter. Why is this important? Well, in the United States, we’re special. We run our large appliances off two phase 240v service, where other countries use single phase 230v. Essentially, a 240v split phase inverter is two separate 120v inverters that are synchronized to be in opposite phase of each other at 60hz, that when combined make 240v. This allows a large appliance like a stove to use 120v for the lights and computerized parts, while using 240v to run the heating elements. This is all done through a single outlet using a single cord. Up until now, a power station that could output split phase 240v service usually meant combining two separate 120v power stations through a special box. The Delta Pro Ultra was the first large power station to offer split phase 240v in a single unit. The DP3, now it’s smaller, more portable sibling can be rolled into any room in your home to power any major appliance from your oven, to your clothes dryer, to an electric water heater. This also means it can Level 2 charge your EV or plug in hybrid, on the go.

    • The “catch” is that the DP3 can only output either 120v or 240v, not both simultaneously. Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ll show you in a bit how you can convert the 240v side into a pair of 120v lines to run all your regular stuff. The key factor is that only the 120v inverter in the DP3 has the built in 10ms UPS switching feature where the 240v side does not. This isn’t really important because major appliances don’t need a UPS or Uninterruptible Power Supply. Things like your computer or other electronics are appliances you want to stay online if the power goes out in your home. All of those run on 120v.

  • Ways To Charge:

    • As for ways to charge, you have several…

    • First, is AC power from either 120v or 240v. At 120v you’re limited to 1800w and at 240v that limit doubles to 3600w. This means at 120v you can charge the DP3 in about 2.5 hours, or at 240v in about 75 minutes. When connected through the SHP2, the DP3 will charge at 240v at up to 4000w as defined within the app.

    • Second, is direct DC charging at up to 3200w via Ecoflow’s shiny new dual fuel smart generator 4000. It supports auto start and stop and will keep the batteries charged within a specified range in the app. At sea level running full bore, charging takes about an hour and a half. 

    • As for solar, the DP3 sports two MPPT charge controllers for a combined total of 2600w of solar charging. The low PV side supports 1000w of panels from 11v-60v while the high PV side supports 1600w of solar from 30v-150v. This means that you can charge from 12v or 24v sources as well as 48v battery banks, and use any solar panels you like up to the 150v limit.

    • For example, Ecoflow’s own 400w panel. For a limited time, up until July 23rd 2024, you can score a free 400w Ecoflow portable solar panel with your Delta Pro 3 purchase, and that alone will charge your DP3 in about 12 hours. Those panels run about 48v each so you could put 3 of those in series for 1200w of charging at 144v (to charge in only 4 hours), then you could use a completely different set of solar panels up to 1000w on the low PV side.

    • The DP3 as previously mentioned can charge from a 12v vehicle typically around 100w from the car lighter socket. However, you’ll see in a moment there is a way to unlock a much faster 12v charging speed if you’re hooking directly to a battery.

    • You can also charge direct from a battery or running vehicle using Ecoflow’s new Alternator Generator at 800w. I have a separate review on that if you want to check it out.

    • Finally, you can with an adapter, charge at a Level 2 EV charger up to 4000w for topping up in about an hour flat.

  • 12v Output Types: Ecoflow made a big change in the DP3 where as they no longer offer a 12v lighter socket output. Instead, there is a single 5521 barrel output good for 5A, and a 30A Anderson output good for 360w of charging at a regulated 12.7v.

  • USB Output Types: The DP3 offers a pair of 100w USB-C PD outputs and a pair of 18w USB-A QC outputs.

  • Other Features: Of course the DP3 is supported by Ecoflow’s amazing app, and the product is also UL9540 & 9540A certified

  • Warranty: The standard warranty from Ecoflow is 5 years, but if you purchase using my link in the description, you’ll score an additional 2 years for a total of 7 … making it the longest warrantied retail power station on the market.

Testing

  • I decided to skip the DC Battery Capacity Test for one it would take a full extra day of time to do. Also, I don’t think most folks will be buying this to run DC appliances – making the result useless to most. Instead, I tested both the 120v and 240v inverters separately to see which fared better.

  • 120v AC Battery Capacity Test (time lapse): 3810wh / 4096 for a very solid 93%

  • 240v AC Battery Capacity Test (time lapse): 3880wh / 4096 for an even more impressive 95%. It seems we gained 2% just from the slightly higher efficiency of the 240v inverter. Higher voltage typically means less loss to heat.

  • Phantom load / Parasitic drain test

    • DC consumption: I left only the 30A DC circuit on and it used 151wh (%) over 12 hours or about 302wh over 24 hours. That’s a very good result and means you can power a long running appliance like a 12v fridge with not much loss over 24 hours.

    • 120v AC consumption: used 195wh (%) over 4 hours or about 1170wh over 24 hours. If you left the inverter on it would totally kill the battery in about 3.5 days.

    • 240v AC consumption: used 193wh (%) over 4 hours or about 1158wh over 24 hours – or virtually the same result as the 120v inverter when factoring in the margin of error for this test

  • I’m always asked how long stuff will run. Compensating for usable capacity, you can pause this chart to see approximately how long common appliances will run on this unit. 

    • 13500 btu RV a/c (1200w @50% cyc): 6 hrs

    • 6000 btu window a/c (400w @50% cyc): 18 hrs

    • 20cuft modern fridge (1.2kwh/day): 2.5 days

    • 1500w heater: 2.5 hours

    • 1200w microwave (1800w): 2 hours

    • Keurig coffee maker (1200w 60wh/c): 60 cups

    • Instant Pot (1000w @50% cyc): 7 hrs

    • Hot plate (500w): 7 hrs

    • 55” LED TV (80w): 30 hrs

    • Macbook (60w): 34 hrs

    • Box Fan (50w): 38 hrs

    • CPAP (30w): 47 hrs

    • Chromebook (15w): 2 days

    • Tablet (5w): ~ 2 weeks

—–

  • Sine wave check under load: 120/60 240/60

  • Inverter capacity test (max): 120v 4800w <5s; 240v 5100w <5s; 240v compressor test pass

  • Cooling ability test (rated @ 5mins): 240v 4000w pass

  • Inverter fan noise db: 56

  • Max Charge Rate AC @ watts/volts: fast w ; quiet w; standard w

  • DC Input Range: MPPT1: 11-60v; MPPT2: 30-150v

  • Max Charge Rate DC @ watts/volts: 12v 250w; 24v 500w; 48v 750w; max 100-140v 1650w

  • Charging fan noise db: AC max 42db ; AC min 0db ; Solar 56db

  • Simultaneous charging ability: 3320w as tested with MPPT2; supports 7000w

  • Pass thru / UPS: 10ms PC pass

  • DC Output(s) Max Rate: 30A (untested)

  • 12v output(s) regulated: 12.7v

  • USB output rate check: 2x100w pass

  • Wireless/other output: na

  • Amp interference test: pass

    • AM radio test: 120v noisy; 240v very noisy

    • EMF test: 120v @60; 240v @40: no 12v changes

My Opinion

  • The Delta Pro 3 is a beautiful product inside and out. It’s well designed, seemingly bug free (at least I didn’t notice any – but I also didn’t test the home integration part yet), and its very powerful.

  • It’s not a lightweight. Having 4000 watts at your disposal with a top of the line split phase 240v inverter comes at a price. It does push the upper limit of portability, but it is still portable “enough” to leave the room it was unboxed in, and venture onward and forth.

  • Nixing the 12v lighter socket output was a questionable design choice, but I don’t think most buyers of this product are really going to care. If it’s a big deal to you, leave a comment in this video for Ecoflow. They will be reading them. If you do want to plug in a 12v fridge or multiple 12v fridges, you can buy an Anderson to 12v socket adapter online – so it really shouldn’t prevent anyone from getting this.

  • My one and only major gripe, is that the 2600w solar input on the DP3 should have been done better. I get the 1000w 11-60v low PV input for using portable panels or charging from a vehicle. But, after using the awesome 4000w PV input on the Delta Pro Ultra which allows for up to a crazy 450v of solar panels, the wimpy 150v 1600w high PV limit on this new Pro 3 is definitely weak sauce. The reason I say this is that if you max out the DP3 with 2 extra batteries, you’re charging up 12kWh of storage with only 2600w of solar. Let’s assume you setup complex arrays in such a way to max out both solar inputs – that’s still going to take you 5-6 hours to top up on a good solar day. Why they didn’t put a similar 4000w MPPT on this new model, or at least offer a 3rd 1600w MPPT, is another questionable design decision. This thing can in fact charge at 7000w from multiple sources, so it’s not a limitation of the battery charge rate. It was an arbitrary limit decided by one of Ecoflow’s engineers.

  • Anyway, seeing there’s really only one thing to gripe about with this otherwise fantastic product … I digress.

Pricing and Competition

  • Product Price with current discount:

    • Launch price $3699 not including discounts.

  • Ecoflow is offering customers a choice between a free 400w panel, or a $500 off coupon. They also offer $300 off bundles with the SHP2, the 4000w Smart Generator, or a DP3 extra battery. These are all of course limited time deals until July 23rd.

  • However, if you use my link, you’ll score an extra 2 years warranty on top of the basic 5 years AND if you use my code, you’ll also nab a free Ecoflow Monitor to boot.

How to purchase

  • CHECK OUT THE DELTA PRO 3: https://gohobo.io/dp3 or https://bit.ly/3RwfgFw use code EFDP3HOBO (until July 23rd)

  • 240v to 120v adapter: https://amzn.to/3XK1XFv (run 120v and 240v at the same time with this!)

  • Don’t miss out on the @EcoFlowTech exclusive offer! Purchase now and unlock incredible benefits valued at up to $3,000.(Valid from June 25-July 23)!

    • Buy one EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 and get one EcoFlow 400W Portable Solar Panel for free, or buy one EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 with a $500 coupon.

    • Get a $300 upsell discount when purchasing any of these three bundles: EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 with EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2 EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 with Smart Generator 4000 (Duel Fuel) EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 with an Extra Battery.

    • Get an extended 2-year warranty of EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 and free installation consulting services.

    • Purchase the EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 through my links and use my code EFDP3HOBO (Valid from June 25-July 23) to get one EcoFlow Monitor for FREE (limited quantity)!

    • EcoFlow Website: https://gohobo.io/dp3

    • EcoFlow Amazon: https://gohobo.io/dp3amz 

 

The Professor reviews EcoFlow’s new DC to DC Alternator Charger used for fast charging Delta 2, Delta Max, and Delta Pro solar generator power stations at 800 watts from a 12v or 24v vehicle (RV, car, truck, van, boat) or battery bank.

 

  • It seems like everyone and their mother is coming out with a DC to DC battery charger this year. Ecoflow is no exception. Theirs is adeptly named the “Alternator Charger” and is designed to work with several of their larger Delta series power stations to enable them to fast charge at up to 76 amps (or 800 watts) from either 12 or 24 volt systems. That makes the Alternator Charger hands down the fastest way in the world to charge your Ecoflow directly from DC power from a 12v vehicle, without spending a penny on solar panels. But, is it any good? Let’s find out!

  • So this tiny device here does all the magic. It is designed to sit somewhere in the interior of your vehicle near your Ecoflow power station. When I say “vehicle” I mean anything that runs or carries a 12 or 24 volt battery system like a car, truck, van, RV, boat, or plane. However, I’ll show you in a bit how you can use this indoors to charge your Ecoflows from any brand 12 or 24v battery without needing a vehicle at all. So stay tuned for that.

  • So this part sits in the vehicle, and this long cable attaches to it. The other side is ran to the battery in your vehicle, be it the starter battery, house coach battery, or whatever auxiliary battery you might have. Even though this is called the “alternator charger” it doesn’t actually require an alternator at all to work. What it does require is hooking up to either a 12 or 24 volt battery, and for best results should be hooked directly to the terminals.

  • What this box does in laymen terms is take the 12 or 24 volts from your vehicle battery and converts it to 48v for use with the built in battery port on Ecoflow’s larger power stations. Of course it does a lot more than that, and it is controlled via Ecoflow’s fantastic app. With the push of a button in the app, you can seamlessly send power from your running vehicle into your Ecoflow, then when your vehicle isn’t running you can opt to send power back from the Ecoflow into your battery. The latter is useful if for example, you camp in your vehicle and run the radio or lights. It will act as a jump starter so you won’t get left stranded. It also has a maintenance mode that can run all night at low power to keep your battery topped off. These are very cool features you simply can’t get from other DC to DC chargers.

  • Now, about hooking this thing up. If you plan on doing a permanent install, you’ll need to run a single heavy cable from inside your vehicle to wherever your battery is located. Because this thing will pump up to 80 amps of juice through these cables and if you don’t have a good high amperage connection to the battery, you’ll have issues getting it to work properly. I found this out the hard way when I tried to hook it up through the jumper ports under the hood instead of directly to the battery. A lot of new vehicles have these remote jumper ports if the battery isn’t under the hood. You do need to connect directly to the battery or to a 100A or more bus bar that’s connecting multiple batteries together.

  • You may have noticed I said IF you plan to do a permanent install, because really the only reason to do a permanent install is if you wish to only use this in one vehicle and while driving. Of course, this is what it is designed for – charging your Ecoflow while driving. However, the Alternator Charger is so compact and quick to setup, you might find yourself just keeping it in a bag and clamping it to your battery as needed – say while camping. You can simply hook it to your battery, idle your engine, and recharge your Ecoflow. Depending on the size of your power station, it can take from one to several hours to recharge. However, if you don’t have solar, camp in places with lots of trees, camp in areas where it rains a lot, plan to camp outdoors during the coming nuclear winter, or are a minimalist that simply doesn’t want to carry around bulky panels – this may be a much better investment for you than solar.

  • Of course you can in fact charge with solar simulaneously while using the Alternator Charger. Say your Ecoflow is dead, your starter battery is dead, but you have a solar panel. You can charge the Ecoflow first, then use the app to send power to the battery to start the vehicle.

  • My favorite use for this product is something unconventional and that’s charging my Ecoflow using my solar powered RV house batteries. I’ll show this in a bit. Let’s get to the testing…

  • If you’re an Ecoflow fan and you use your products outdoors camping, in your RV/boat/truck or van, or you simply want a way to charge the Ecoflow extra batteries without needing to hook them up to a power station – the Alternator Charger is a fascinating product with many use cases beyond what they advertise it for. If you’re one of the thousands that have been looking for a way to dump power from 3rd party LiFePO4 batteries into your Ecoflow at rates way beyond the lethargic 100 watts from the car port charger, this is a no brainer purchase.
  • CHECK OUT THE ALTERNATOR CHARGER: https://gohobo.io/altcharger use code 24EFRVHOBO for 6% off store wide until June 29th! Get the NEW EcoFlow Alternator Charger and DELTA Series portable power station up to 35% off (from $999). Grab a FREE solar panel during the pre-order period from April 24 to May 23!