Background information
This small box supposedly optimises solar power usage
by Martin Jungfer
Forget Louis XIV, the solar panels in my garden make me the true Sun King
8.8.2024
Translation: Katherine Martin
Our family’s electricity bill has been a thorn in my side for a long time. So when I got the opportunity to test some balcony solar panels, I jumped at the chance.
Just a few days later, a colleague asks if anyone fancies reviewing an Ecoflow solar power system. The timing’s uncanny – and I’m the man for the job!
Taking inventory
The big day arrives on a Friday in June. Everything I need for our garden’s 600-watt mini power plant has been delivered, and is ready to be unboxed and installed.
My boss and fellow editor Martin Jungfer rushes over to give me a hand. He has 27 solar modules mounted on the roof of his house, so setting up my two balcony panels should be a piece of cake.
Assembly
After deciding that the flat roof of the garden shed, aka my wife’s studio, gets the most sunlight and is therefore the most suitable place for the balcony power plant, we kick off the installation process on the ground.
We give the user manual a cursory glance at best. When we proceed to plug the connections in the wrong way round, however, we’re forced to study the instructions more closely. It’s an apt demonstration of why the abbreviation RTFM (read the f***ing manual) exists.
Despite our slightly roundabout approach, the instructions help us to get the job done. Everything looks right. To put that impression to the test, we hook the power station up to the balcony solar panels. Sure enough, something starts to happen. Despite the faint morning sunshine, the storage battery’s filling up. Forget Louis XIV, I’m the true Sun King!
Thanks to the range of connection options, there are numerous usage possibilities. For instance, I could use the power station as an oversized and much too heavy (12-kilogramme!) power bank for my phone and laptop. Alternatively, since you can connect household appliances to the power station, I could use the energy stored in the battery for vacuuming.
Using the Ecoflow app on my phone, I can now check whether and how much solar power is flowing into our grid from the power plant.
I’m finally ready to test the balcony power plant this summer – reaching for the sun like Icarus from the Greek myth. Hopefully with a better ending. You’ll soon find out how it turns out in my next review.
Do you have balcony solar panels? What’s been your experience with them? Do you have any useful tips and tricks? The Community and I look forward to your comments.
Header image: Martin Jungfer
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
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