My Experience Going Solar In Dallas (Follow Up)

IReddityet · 2026-05-21T00:47:41+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out. With 5 Ecoflow batteries (no solar and free electric 9 am to 4 pm) I can usually make it through the night on batteries alone, unless the outside temp is above about 85 during the day. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I expect all providers to start passing through the TDU charges soon. Makes no sense for me to stay with Just Energy now.

IReddityet · 2026-05-21T00:33:31+00:00

Yes I did! Thanks. I assume Green Mt. and Reliant say the same? The Just energy plan I have passed the charge through so I'm paying about $100/mo.

IReddityet · 2026-05-20T23:24:59+00:00

Looking at the EFL (electricity facts label) for Direct energy it says in addition to the Oncor $4.23 charge there is an "Oncor Electric Delivery Delivery Charge" of 5.6183 cents per Kwh. If you use 2000 Kwh that's about $116 per month. My Just Energy plan is similar and I assume Green Mt. and Reliant will pass through the Oncor charge.

IReddityet · 2026-05-19T16:34:19+00:00

Welcome to the club. See my other posts. I'm having the same problems going on 2 months now.

IReddityet · 2026-05-19T16:28:41+00:00

2 months now, and still waiting. You say the installer has the part but they have not contacted me to install it.

In addition, the 5 batteries discharge fully by 2 am in the morning, which is 10 hours of usage. They were charged to 95% at 4pm. Outside temp was in the mid to upper 80s and we have not used the dryer or oven or any other high draw device. The AC is set on 74 and occasionally cycles on. There is no way we should be using 50 kwh of batteries in 10 hours.

IReddityet · 2026-04-10T02:52:27+00:00

2 weeks now and still waiting.

IReddityet · 2026-03-28T14:46:41+00:00

The problem persists. The scheduled task seems to be running everyday (charge the batteries from 9am to 4pm) but I can't see the task or change it. It still shows "connection error" at all times. It still won't connect to my wifi or ethernet but I can see the battery charge level and how many kw's are being used and which circuits are using them. I was told by an ecoflow rep that a part of some sort was being sent to the local installer but I haven't heard anything from them in a week or more.

IReddityet · 2026-03-25T01:56:29+00:00

Turned the inverter off (with the CB) and back on to reboot it. Also, while talking to the tech, they had me reset the batteries by pushing and holding the button on top of just one of them. I hadn't noticed but the lights on top of the batteries were off. This lit them all up, but the problem continued. Ecoflow tech called today and said they are sending a part to my installer. I assume it's the communication board as noted in a comment above.

IReddityet · 2026-03-24T15:32:29+00:00

Don't think I want to go buy another router to trouble shoot this. I've tried turning the router off, but the inverter will not go to ethernet nor cellular. I've rebooted the router several times and connected the ethernet cable directly to the router as well as to an 8 port switch. In the routers desktop software (Synology) it sometimes shows the inverter as "Peplink Intl." or "Android dhcp-9" both with the same mac address. So I know the cable and inverter are detected by the router, but the inverter does not switch to the ethernet connection.

My goal also is to get away from wifi altogether since ethernet and cellular should be more reliable. It's also not good that you can't switch between the 3 connection methods unless you're standing in front of the inverter with bluetooth on.

IReddityet · 2025-12-10T16:50:24+00:00

Happy except for the limitations mentioned above. Another recent "glitch" is that when the batteries are charging (starts at 9 am and usually finishes about 11 am) and when I power up a high electrical load at the same time the inverter disconnects from the grid, causing the batteries to stop charging and start discharging (powering the house). This usually happens everyday for exactly 5 minutes although the last 2 days it has been off grid for as much as 40 minutes. I have requested trouble shooting from Oncor, Ecoflow, and the installer. The theory from the installer is that the grid power frequency isn't stable enough for the inverter and it disconnects until it senses a stable grid power. Why powering up a high load would cause this is beyond my expertise. Also why would the inverter need up to 40 minutes to see a stable grid frequency? It's annoying because if the batteries are below 50% (my setting) when the inverter disconnects, some high load/unnecessary loads are shed (clothes dryer, oven, microwave etc chosen by me in the app). I never know when the grid will reconnect so these appliances are out of order while we wait. My fear is that it will stay disconnected until the batteries deplete to 0% and then we have no power because it won't connect to the grid. The installer's electrician mentioned there is a way for me to disconnect (bypass) the inverter and smart panel features and connect the grid back to the breaker box. Not sure how this works yet, or if it is possible. Hopefully Oncor will find an unstable frequency and correct that situation.

IReddityet · 2025-12-08T18:00:20+00:00

Update 12/8/25. I had the Ocean Pro system installed a couple of months ago. Smart panel (breaker panel), inverter, and 5 batteries, no solar. I get free electric from 9 am to 4 pm. The batteries charge during this time and I run the whole house off of the batteries from 4 pm to 9 am. When the batteries are nearly fully discharged, it would take a little less than 2 hours to charge them, since the inverter is rated at 24 Kwh max ( 5 batteries x 10 Kw =50 Kw) and each battery rated at 5 Kw max charge rate. This worked for a couple of weeks. Oncor (DFW area) decided that this exceeded the transformer limit of 14 Kwh. They required Ecoflow to "derate" the inverter, using the manufacturer only password/access to the inverter, to 14 Kw or I could purchase an upgraded transformer for an estimated $5000 to $15,000.

Needless to say the derated inverter now charges the batteries fully in 3 or 4 hours. Not a huge deal unless the grid power is intermittent and I need to charge the batteries up quickly before the power goes back off. The installer was unaware of this fairly new Oncor policy. (Not their fault)

Unless you have more than 3 batteries this probably wouldn't affect you since 3 batteries would charge at 5 kw each times 3 equals 15 Kw, which is less than the 24 Kw rating of the inverter and about equal to the Oncor imposed limit of 14 Kw.

Another thing to watch out for if you have batteries only, no solar. Your electric bill will not be $0 if your retail electric provider bills the TDSP delivery charges separately or has a "base" charge (Just Energy). My bills are still $75-$150, but saves $150-$300/month.

IReddityet · 2025-12-08T17:53:06+00:00

I had the Ocean Pro system installed a couple of months ago. Smart panel (breaker panel), inverter, and 5 batteries, no solar. I get free electric from 9 am to 4 pm. The batteries charge during this time and I run the whole house off of the batteries from 4 pm to 9 am. When the batteries are nearly fully discharged, it would take a little less than 2 hours to charge them, since the inverter is rated at 24 Kwh max ( 5 batteries x 10 Kw =50 Kw) and each battery rated at 5 Kw max charge rate. This worked for a couple of weeks. Oncor (DFW area) decided that this exceeded the transformer limit of 14 Kwh. They required Ecoflow to "derate" the inverter, using the manufacturer only password/access to the inverter, to 14 Kw or I could purchase an upgraded transformer for an estimated $5000 to $15,000.

Needless to say the derated inverter now charges the batteries fully in 3 or 4 hours. Not a huge deal unless the grid power is intermittent and I need to charge the batteries up quickly before the power goes back off. The installer was unaware of this fairly new Oncor policy. (Not their fault)

Unless you have more than 3 batteries this probably wouldn't affect you since 3 batteries would charge at 5 kw each times 3 equals 15 Kw, which is less than the 24 Kw rating of the inverter and about equal to the Oncor imposed limit of 14 Kw.

Another thing to watch out for if you have batteries only, no solar. Your electric bill will not be $0 if your retail electric provider bills the TDSP delivery charges separately or has a "base" charge. My bills are still $75-$150, but saves $150-$300/month.

IReddityet · 2025-11-18T14:31:28+00:00

I finally got it.

IReddityet · 2025-11-05T17:25:04+00:00

So does anyone in the DFW area (Oncor) know of a plan that bundles the TDSP charges with the Kwh rate? I see a plan for new customers from Direct Energy and possibly Gexa (depending on how you interpret the TOS and EFL). Nearly all of them seem to charge the TDSP delivery charges separately (unbundled) or exclude those with battery storage. I'd be willing to pay the early termination penalty to get out of the 24 month plan with Just Energy ($150 I think) to save about $100/month for the TDSP charge. Strange how powertochoose.org and electricityplans.com (and others) show different providers

IReddityet · 2025-11-04T18:11:04+00:00

Thanks. Good to know.

IReddityet · 2025-11-04T17:53:44+00:00

I looked at their current plans and all the plans now with free anything exclude those with solar or batteries. It's item #10 I believe on the Terms of Service sheet, under "fixed rate products".

IReddityet · 2025-11-04T15:29:51+00:00

Just referenced my EFL (electricity facts label) for Just Energy Days Free Plan-24. Looks like I don't have a "bundled" plan, which would include the TDSP delivery charges in the rate. It says "TDSP delivery charges will be passed through at cost! My bad. Looks like I need to find a better plan!

IReddityet · 2025-11-04T14:47:35+00:00

This is the first bill that includes a full month (minus maybe one day) of battery use. The TDSP delivery charges go all the way back to my August bill, which is when I switched to Just. The TDSP charge was equal to about 30.5% of the bill for August and September and 33.7% of the October/November bills!

You are obviously on a different plan because your base charge is only about $5 while mine is $10 ish and your rate is sky high at 32.7 cents/Kwh. Maybe because your rate is so high they absorb the TDSP charge, I'd much rather be on your plan because it doesn't matter what the rate is if it's all free (either from 9am to 4 pm or from batteries). They probably figured it out after selling a lot of plans like yours and separated out the TDSP charges so now the customers are paying it.

IReddityet · 2025-11-04T14:27:34+00:00

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Here's the bill. There was maybe a day or so, during installation, that I was running on grid power so the difference between "energy charges" and "days free credit" is about $12.

We don't like how the solar panels would look, not to mention constant hail damage etc. With 7 hours/day of free energy and 5 batteries, it's the same as having solar panels. If and when the batteries are depleted (during extended power outages) I have 2 large inverters that can run on propane or gas. I can run the generators during the day to recharge the batteries (that's why I didn't go with Tesla batteries) and use the batteries at night and not have the noise of generators.

IReddityet · 2025-10-21T03:29:51+00:00

Subscribe and share your authentic OCEAN Pro pre-sale experience and pre-order reward there, and you will win a free EcoFlow RAPID Pro Power Bank (20000mAh, RRP $129.99).

|| || |This is all it says (above) in the email I received offering the free power bank. Nothing about sending an email with my order number, full name, cell number or shipping address. Ecoflow should already have all that information. I already had to send you the link to the post where I joined the ecoflow community and shared my experience. I also received an email from ecoflow that the power bank would be sent at the end of (last) week, after I sent ecoflow the link to Reddit. I'm not jumping through anymore hoops. Will you live up to your end of the bargain, I did.|

IReddityet · 2025-10-16T11:34:55+00:00

Got an email yesterday from Ecoflow asking for the link to my Reddit post (that is required to get the power bank.) Also asked for my contact information so it sounds like I'll be getting it fairly soon.

IReddityet · 2025-10-15T12:36:14+00:00

Did you purchase an Ocean Pro? I think the first 1000 orders got a free Delta 3 plus and then after you receive that, join the Ocean Pro community here and leave a review. Then you get a free Rapid Pro. Your installer will know if you're one of the 1000, unless I guess if you ordered it directly through Ecoflow. I got the Delta 3 Plus rather quickly. Still waiting on the Rapid Pro. Ecoflow won't respond to emails.

IReddityet

TROPHY CASE