The Best Smart Sub-Panel We've Ever Installed
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
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Synopsis:
We’ve noticed the MANY solar generator options out on the market, and have reviewed as many as we can get our hands on, but they all have a major weakness: They are independent micro-grids. A microgrid is an electrical system which is responsible for its own electrical generation, storage, and distribution. Unfortunately, because all of these systems are independent, they all require manual transfer of devices and circuits in the event of emergency. EcoFlow seems to be the first company to integrate their products with the grid, and they’ve done it really well!
EcoFlow’s first Smart Home Panel was a proprietary juggernaut of relays, unique ports, and extra wiring connections, but the Smart Home Panel 2 is a thing of simplified beauty. With 4 available power inputs (utility, battery, solar, & generator) and well-thought power transfer features, this is the most comfortable we’ve ever been with DIYers mixing battery storage and solar into their home’s breaker box.
In this video we’ll unbox and install our pre-production model while addressing as many electrical concerns and considerations as come to mind. Laced within the technical instruction are recommendations and points of professionalism employed daily by Jefferson Electric masters, journeymen, & apprentices.
If the instruction in this video is unclear or not quite what you’re searching for, feel free to comment below for additional assistance.
Outline:
0:00 - Introduction
1:57 - Smart Panel 2 Specs & 1st Impressions
3:55 - Smart Panel 2 Internals
6:39 - Pre-Fab & Mounting
9:45 - Rewiring
17:16 - Cost
18:26 - Power-Up
19:40 - 2 Additional Features & 1 Caveat
20:58 - Solar Setup
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I’m a serial DIYer and I find Joel’s YT videos to be extremely helpful not only in facts and practices but also in what tools to use.
As a Canadian I have to chime in that the #2 square drive is properly known as a green Robertson. Long live the Robertson screw head.
Little trivia...
Did you know Robinson screws were the first screw fasteners invented?
Hamilton Ontario which then moved to Milton Ontario
Along came Philips who made a deal with Henry Ford thus the Philps Screw became the bread and butter for America, and the Robinson remained in Canada ...
Robertson #2 is Red (most electrical box, panel and circuit breaker screws). #1 is green (smaller screws on outlets and switches).
@@jimanderson2518it's Robertson not Robinson
very detailed and well explained, thanks for all these!🤩
Four power inputs is great. Glad to see the tech being introduced and hope the prices drop by the time I’m ready to buy in the future.
how would this integrate with an existing microinverter system?
edit; current system does not have a bypass so when the grid goes down, solar becomes inoperable.
Thanks for yhe video.great learning experience.im about to hook up 2 delta pro ultras with solar.this video definitely helps! I will send this to my installer. He's familiar with the solar and battery installs but not the smart panel,i believe it has the ability to run some in battery and some on the grid simultaneously ,we're both excited to see the new tech. Keep'em comin!
Enjoyed this video, very informative, keep up the good work. :)
Awsome presentation.Thank you, sir.😊
At around 13:00 you were talking about alot of transfer switches you have to move the wires back and forth but you can just get a generac whole house transfer switch, which powers the whole panel in a power outage
Generator switch is only good for generac though ...their battery system is like 12,000+ to start. Additionally need fuel source for generac if getting the gas powered one. I think the significance here is this is battery powered & priced below most battery options.
EG4 however is probably the only one priced better than ecoflow, but batteries aren't really as portable & this is somewhat more plug & play vs eg4.
I agree. I'm using a Generac whole house transfer switch with an EG4 inverter. The Generac has a rocker switch to switch between the two power sources, either grid or EG4 battery. Using two breakers and an interlock like the EcoFlow does is cumbersome.
Did my first. I use use the magnet with the cardboard the electrical tape to it. You helped so much this is.
It’s a sub Panel again that you help so much
I moved the battery packed use the aluminum. It worked great.
THANK YOU! very easy to follow video! you just gained another subscriber! one question.
I am building an off grid tiny home. can I use this as my main panel?
HOLY CRAP when you fell I jumped! lol
😂 Yes!
You Mention PV must be enclose in metallic conduit. How you you accomplish that with this setup since, at some point, you have to connect the DPU to MC4 connectors? Help would be appreciated on this. Thanks.
Any particular reason you didn't run the ground to the top lug like you did the nuetral?
Are the junction boxes done so that you have the ability to extend the line that was in the main panel over to the subpanel, in the case that there is not enough slack to move it over?
Didnt realize Daniel Tosh is also an electrician on his days off. Anyway a great presentation of an electrical installation for the DIYers who are not electrical pros. Interesting battery storage tech. Like to see competitor side by side comparison.
😂
Hey Joel. Love your channel as well as everyday solar. Learn ton from both channels
I have a question hope that you can help me. I have SP2 as well as ultra and battery (whole set). I have solar panel to charge up the battery. my question is will the solar energy back feed to the Grid when consumption of the house is less than production?
How should we ground and fuse the solar panels before plugging in the MC4 connectors to the Ultra?
Another great video, sir! Thanks! I have a question about circuit capacity??????... my approx. 75' square foot bathroom has 1 two-outlet 20 amp gfci receptacle and 1 single toggle switch/single gang box for a vanity light fixture. I'm renovating and I'd like to either remove vanity light or possibly upgrade the vanity light while also adding a couple wafer lights and ALSO add another switch for an exhaust fan (no light) putting both switches inside a new 2-gang box. Not a huge deal, BUT, the same 20 amp breaker that feeds my bathroom also feeds the lights and receptacles in a small adjacent bedroom AND 6 older can lights in a family room next to that room. Will adding the wafer lights AND an exhaust fan (i.e., there was never an exhaust fan in this bathroom)to the bathroom affect or overload the circuit?
You didn't need to de-rate the main bus to account for hybrid/blended AC (grid + inverter powering loads)? Does this not back-feed on the 100A?
Well thats easy to transfer because the romex are exposed and easy to identify the neutral but difficult if romex are not visible like i have seen in some panels
Hey there, have you tested the leviton gen2 breakers?
Very very hard sell for a subpanel. Most customers will automatically say no unless they’re really tech savy.
Handsome and informative video
Can a generator with a NEMA L14-30R connector be connected to the EF Smart Panel 2 using the Generator Adapter cable through one of the AC1/2/3 ports?
In this video you show connecting a generator. I assume it is a gas generator. You also indicated there is a switch to transfer to generator. When that switch is set is the panel running from the gas generator? Is there any criteria for the gas generator that can be connected? Is there any additional hardware required to connect the generator to the panel?
Question; I have 25 circuits in my 200 amp main panel and plan to move the 12 most critical to this smart sub panel strictly for emergency power needs using a 2 battery Ultra configuration. My concern is the reliability of this smart panel and specifically the manual transfer switches talked about at the 4:20 mark in the video. What type of switches are these? Are they a simple electro-mechanical switch where if the automated portion fails the manual function still works? I don't want to dedicate the 12 most critical circuits in my home and later experience a switch failure in the panel with no way to switch power for those circuits as for me it's either grid or battery. I've read at least one instance of a user having a panel issue where EcoFlow sent them a replacement SH2 panel which is an expensive swap out if an electrician is required. Are control components in this panel replaceable without having to disconnect and remove the entire panel?
Joel Would love to see more info on the Tesla Powerwall 3
In my area all wiring under 7ft. Required to be protected, where is this install, what NEC are U working under
Noticed you mentioned 50A for the generator. Is that a hard panel limitation? Asking because I have a 22khw 100A whole-house generator.
my solar array is 7.2KW, that exceeds the solar High Capacity input. What are my options?
Is it compatible to tesla solor roof?
It's a total bummer that it only has 12 breakers. It's just a sub panel. I was hoping for a whole house solution
At 15 minutes you stated to not over tighten or under tighten. Most breakers have a torque specification. If you don’t use a torque screwdriver you just don’t know how tight it is. A under torque screw will cause overheating a trip the breaker.
Great Video. Thank you for sharing
Looking for some update videos on that large new build!
We've recorded some structural progress but no electrical progress yet.
@@ElectricProAcademy thanks for the update! Looking forward to it
Hi Joel. Great video (saw Scott's too). I have not found any videos that address larger homes on acreage that require much more power. I have 2 x 200A Main Panels. One powers all of the 240V circuits (a few 120s too) and the other are the 120V circuits mainly for the interior. The goal is to 1) have a battery / 50A generator back up for power outages which we experience several times each year especially in winter. The secondary goal is to look at expanding the Ecoflow Delta Pro Ultra using HV PV in the future. So, as one 1 Smart Panel 2 will restrict me to just 12 x 120V circuits or 6 x 240V circuits, I am wondering if 2 x Smart Panel 2s and 2 x EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultras would be a suitable solution. Just exploring ideas. I would like to avoid a large full home (Generac, Kohler, Honeywell, etc.) propane generator if possible. Appreciate your thoughts.
Fwiw (and this is from someone with 4 Delta Pro's, 2 Smart Extra Batteries for those, a 15Kwh complete 'Power Kits' setup AND an OG 'Smart Home Panel v1' all from EcoFlow) I feel as though your needs would be better served by one of the whole home battery systems that EcoFlow and many Many MANY other companies provide. In EcoFlow's case look into the 'Power Ocean' system czcams.com/video/uLpaLJcIxO0/video.html not the consumer level 'Ultra' setup. You need to leave the 'consumer' headspace behind for a property of your size.
And for other companies offerings of this same sort of stacked/wall mount system... they are plentiful from other manufacturers such as 'Canadian Solar' (EP Cube), 'Signature Solar' (EG4 Wallmount), Franklin (FWH), Enphase, Fortress, heck even Anker with it's Solix X (which expands to 180KWh which is crazy) and so many more etc etc etc: czcams.com/video/Dr1VTc-io1k/video.html // www.solar-electric.com/homegrid-pf5-lfp24000-2a01-24-kw-48v-lithium-iron-battery.html // www.fortresspower.com/avalon/ // bigbattery.com/products/36kw-46-1kwh-ethos-energy-storage-system-ess/ // czcams.com/video/zg9IM061rbU/video.html // czcams.com/video/bzdFk2ET4-w/video.html and well you get the picture. Again, if you love EcoFlow and want to check their option first it's called the 'Power Ocean'.
Why no auto transfers switch
Can I use my F150 Lightning as a input?
Does this panel back feed to main panel using the batteries when grid power is available?
Nope, that's what the built-in interlock is for!
Maybe this is a stupid question, maybe it isn't. Is the smart panel 2. .. UL listed or equivalent?? I haven't seen anything about that or can't find anything.
Silly question and I know it makes things messy, but couldn’t you leave the neutral/ground connections in the main panel when you bring over the breakers and just extend the lines into the new panel? At least it seems other people seem to have wired it that way. I’d have to make a giant stucco mess to reroute the circuits themselves into a new panel.
Hello, did you manage to get the Bluetooth to work? I bought this machine with the Smart Home Panel 2. But Bluetooth doesn't work! Wi-Fi works but Bluetooth doesn't. It's for automations. You are required to enter the devices via Bluetooth 😢 cordialy. 😊
I believe you have a date line exiting the bottom of the panel in the same conduit as a 120/240V line. Yes? If so, that's against code. Can't mix 48V ethernet / "Com" cable and 120/240V electrical service line in any 1 conduit.
So if the main breaker goes off because of the generator, then you cant power the rest of the house with the main panel?
Correct, only critical loads in the situation you're describing.
The EG4 batteries 🔋 are awesome and more economical per kilowatt…
Why didn't you install a backer board?!?
There’s loads of good domestic solutions with long warranty’s that will return a lot more value.
We'd welcome some hyperlinks!
If I ever get my way NEC will stipulate that grounds must be separate from neutral in all locations. Always isolate grounds. Also, NEVER use PEX. Copper should always be used so you don't lose potential ground points if needed and, PEX causes the cancer. Ask me how I know ?
I would always think if drilling out new holes that are not factory knock outs it would void the UL ETL listing, as the cabinet was not UL or ETL tested with the holes in place. Cabinets with knockouts are tested with the knockouts there. hmmm.
The listing applies to the NEMA rating for outdoor use if you use liquid right fittings.
UL listing does not deal with knockouts
So I created a minor furur on EverydayHomeRepairs comments/poll on the topic of using torque tools for small connections. Now, I think, like most pros that for small connections it's silly for people who've been doing it for a while. Prior to ~15 years or so I didn't even have a torque wrench, and I had no problems in the 25 years before that. However, 110.14(D) is a thing and was told at times it needed to be done there, and so I use the tool in vast majority of cases. I have no beef with experienced people who don't. The job is still done fine as it was before. I'd love to get your thoughts. That SqD HOM breaker installed says 36 in-lbs, which is getting close to deathgrip and kind of ridiculous on a 12ga IMHO. Still that's what it says, so that's what I do. What do you and your AHJ think about this topic for the real world.
Keep in mind when looking at breaker torque, that the breaker design could affect appropriate torque. An Eaton/Bryant has a screw that directly pushes on the wire and is 20 in-lbs. A SqD QO has two hardened metal plates each with a half diamond shape that are pulled together to force a "biter" onto the wire. Since that screw indirectly presses onto the wire, I appreciate if that design requires a 36 in-lbs to appropriately torque, why my "feel" for what's right could be wrong when I move from a direct to indirect method of contacting the wire.
great stuff
so many electricians I've talked with who want nothing to do with the new technology - maybe they see it as a threat to their business
Are you refocusing away from SPAN equipment?
Just trying to be knowledgeable across the renewables sector. We think sits in a similar but slightly different market: It favors after-market renewables a little better than a SPAN install because the battery unit is a little more mobile and solar connects there instead of through the panel. We find both to be quality smart products though.
What's the argument against using a bunch of smart outlets instead of breakers to manage loads? Many homes, mine included are not wired in a logical enough fashion to isolate loads anywhere near the granularity of individual outlets, much cheaper too.
I'd watch it all but he doesn't talk with his hands enough.
😅 Sorry.
10-15k to add a subpanel? Cray-cray
Would you be willing to come to Reno Nevada to install my smart pannel 2? I can't find a licensed electrician here. You I would pay for your travel and time.
Kinda hard to believe. Hit up a Union Electrician
Generous offer! Unfortunately I can't pull away at this time.
I definitely wouldn't trust this company to make a subpanel that's properly engineered and safe. I bought a power bank refurbished and had minor several issues. There's no QC apparently. When I got it it would only charge up to 71%. A firmware update fixed that, but shouldn't fixing known issues be part of the refurbishing process? And then when I turned on the AC outlets it said 50hz on the screen. Weird, maybe its a typo? Nope, my Kill-a-Watt shows a perfect 50.0hz. Why can a 120V device woth American receptacles ever be set to 50hz? I mean it probably won't break anything, but some small fraction of devices won't work right. Your average consumer has no idea what the power frequency should be. I had to search online how to change it (hold the AC button for a while) because it's not in the manual. The manual has some typos and poor translation. It relies on the app for too much functionality. I'd rather have something that keeps working if they decide to stop supporting the app.
0:
The least tech the better.
Damn you not ginna even shout out the other creater in the title or info?
CZcams sticks his linked channel ALL THE WAY at the bottom of the description. We love Scott: Go give his channels some love!
nicey
that's a bit pricey, really much, for what ya gets.
Code requires use of torque screw drivers to torque to label on breaker. Whia has a nice torque driver set. $200 amazon...insulated all types of interchangeable driver bits
Got a wiha myself
NEC 110.14(D) "... torque ... shall be as indicated ... by the manufacturer." I know what 36 in-lbs (spec for SqD) looks and feels like, and for what was shown at 14:45 looked more like 16-20 in-lbs.
We've used the Wiha (amzn.to/3O8xonc) and the build quality was fantastic but the exterior tooling required to adjust the torque eventually proved to be a nuisance. We've since returned to our Neiko: amzn.to/47GadYn. Plenty reliable, quicker, and simpler!
@@ElectricProAcademy But it's not insulated to1kV like Whia.
I am surprised the term "sub panel" is still used. It's demeaning and derogatory? Inferring it's not the equal of other panels, in this day and age. All panels matter.
😂
I was kind of interested until you mentioned 100 amp max on the box. If I could replace my panel with a smart panel like this I would be interested but most homes sub panels are 200 amps that I have seen.
Yeah, as we mentioned in the video, this is not meant to be a main panel, but you can absolutely have a 200amp panel which then feeds 100amps over to this smart panel, and then those loads will still be accessible during outages (with secondary power)
I have my main panel outside my house but I still have a 200 amp inside my house.
I did some electrical work for a Google executive a few years ago and he told me he will never use smart switches in his home.
Why?
@@LVCMS You really need to ask that?
i am still amazed people have this stuff installed given how often security breaches of basically any service occur and the constant firmware issues from other smart home devices... not to mention what happens when said corporation decides to *not support* your devices anymore?
Was this a sponsored video?
Yes, as stated and listed
A 12 circuit panel cant even power half my house...
It’s a sub panel it’s not meant to. I assume the intention is to be an emergency/high availability panel. Fridge, lights, HVAC, network, etc.
I think they have full panels if that’s what you are looking for.
It can take 24 circuits if you use single pole tandem breakers
Still not as practical as my Honda portable i3000 generators wired in parallel, on a really simple basic manual transfer switch. No blue looking teeth, no apps, no wireless, no software updates,nothing but switch, plug, and go...
Website says it isn't available until OCTOBER? Don't you think it's a bit early to be marketing it if we can't get it for 10 more months?
hV is not anything under 1000v, ? so the 400v is technically NOT hV?
Pay a premium because the electrician doesn't understand the installation! I don't think so, you tell me you want me to pay you more for you to learn your job.
For $1900 it's much cheaper to make up your own panel. Nobody in their right mind would pay that much for this.
Seriously, all my favorite CZcamsrs shilling for EcoFlow now - very disturbing. Average Americans cannot afford that system! And no one talks about the limited lifetime of the chemistry many use in the "backup" batteries. And as you pointed out but EF does not - it NOT DIY. Trading over breakers is not a game changer - who cares when you are spending that much money? New an shinny things are not always the best - you have pointed that out, but it seems you have been blinded😏
The use lithium-IRON, seems to be decent tech. The stat is something like you can 100% discharge and recharge daily and after 10 years have 80% capacity.
I would like to see an independent study of this, but if that’s the case it’s about as good as current battery tech gets!
As an electrician I do not trust solar powered items.
I believe in the oil machines! They were built tough!
Obviously a panel is not gas powered. They work, leave them alone
I fully agree. The fact that we are now using light bulbs instead of whale oil to light our houses and circuit breakers instead of fuses proves that new technology is never as good as the old ways.
@@colinleslie2458 Amazon just dropped my whale oil off. We were running low. 🤭🤭
@colinleslie2458 😂😂😂 I did not expect that, and I totally should not have sipped coffee at that moment.
Another ecoflow ad. There are dozens out there and ecoflow needs to fix their existing firmware and software issues before pushing out another product. Especially once that doesn't fit into their ecosystem and has zero backwards compatibility with their existing equipment.
10 to 15 grand to install! lolol yeah right. way to rip off the unwashed.
Eco-overflow!!!!!!! Lots of video's with the same panel, battery and controller flood CZcams. 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
Nice product & Nice install ... Thx Guy's
Can this panel be added to a lLeviton Smart load center?
Good question. I'd like to know too.