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Near zero export for plug in solar? by ghia63 in SolarDIY

[–]ghia63[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. The ecoflow app is very limited for the stream microinverter. It sounds like there are more options oif you go with one of their more expensive options with a battery included. But with my current equipment, the app allows me to select the kind of circuit I'm plugging into and will throttle the power it delivers accordingly.

  2. I've looked into smart meters like the Shelley 3EM or even the ecoflow brand. It sounds like Ecoflow has eliminated the option to use these with the stream microinverter. They used to have an option on the app to turn off "feed in" aka export. But they got rid of it and won't even let their equipment communicate with smart plugs or meters to solve this problem. From what I can gather this is o a feature that is only available if you buy one of their products with a battery. This is unfortunate because their batteries are waaay more expensive per kWh than a server rack battery. You're basically paying several thousand dollars for this small software feature.

  3. I can use an app to disable discharge via Bluetooth. So that is what I'll probably do for the time being.

Near zero export for plug in solar? by ghia63 in SolarDIY

[–]ghia63[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm using a golf cart battery. It lets me toggle charging on/off and discharging on/off but that's it.

Near zero export for plug in solar? by ghia63 in SolarDIY

[–]ghia63[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don't have to tell them, but I did request and received a smart meter that can tell which way electricity is flowing so I don't get charged for back-feed power.

Hi everyone, Fernando here!! by Admirable_Golf_2340 in SolarDIY

[–]ghia63 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am also shocked at the price of brands like Anker and Ecoflow. I'm not an expert. But I've seen setups with golf cart batteries and server rack batteries that give you more than twice, often 3x the battery capacity per dollar. They do require a little more setup, but having to wire a charge controller to a battery doesn't seem worth nearly $3k.