Emergency power system - logistic

Sometime the power can goes off in the area.

I decided to buy an EF ECOFLOW Solar Generator DELTA 2 Max 2048Wh with 400 W solar panel to charge the Solar generator for long outages.

Of course 2KWh is not much but enough to power up some home appliances like an induction plate (to cook), coffee makers, water heater, light and maybe a portable TV and keep charged phones, tablets, computers.

The generator is relatively small but incredibly heavy, as well as the solar panels.

The main problem is where and how install this stuff so that can be easily available when needed, how to hook it up to the electric grid  and how connect the solar panel to it.

There are three areas to cover :

• Generator location
• Solar panel connection
• Generator connection

Generator location

The generator is designed to be portable, is relatively small but really heavy, so the best is to install it fixed somewhere in the house.
Since the main usage is related to cooking, the kitchen is the best place also if is not easy to find a hidden place.

The ideal installation would be on a raised surface, like a table, in order to see the display and easily access the panels and outlets.
Since I don't have space for that I opted for a platform on wheels to easy move it.

Temporary I'll keep the generator under a window in the kitchen, connecting appliances via extension cords when necessary.
Also the feed from the solar panel is temporary, is entering via a gap in the deck door.

I avoid to drill for now.

Solar panel Connection

The solar panel is designed to be portable since the generator can be used for camping or anyway temporary installations.
However the solar panel is really heavy.

Because the portability the solar panel can not be mounted on the roof, so the main idea is somehow attach it to an external wall of the house (that helps also to avoid snow and dirt accumulation).

Since the panel is outside on a wall, is necessary to create a circuit to bring inside the cable.
The solar panel use two solar panel connectors to be hooked to a XT60i plug since the generator has an XT60i female outlet.

There are two options :

1. use the solar panel connectors (BougeRV)
2. use the XT60i+ connectors (XT60i)

My solution is to wire everything thru some conducts in order to protect the cable and solar connector.

I did buy wire, solar connectors and crimp tool, two boxes and a flexible conduct and I opted to use the solar panel connectors all along the way (some connections are inside the boxes)

Solar panel installation

The solar panel will be attached to the rear side wall of the house with 6 hooks screwed in the siding (on the top) and 4 big support hooks on the bottom,  screwed in the concrete blocks, where the panel will basically rest on them.

To increase the support a 2x4 is also placed behind the panel on the hooks and the panel is screwed to it.

The angle of the panel is not really ideal to catch most of the sun in summer (especially for the shadow from the trees), however in winter, when also the sun is more "low" and the trees have no leaves, the panel has an average of 4 to 6 hours of full sun.