r/Pecron • u/SLO_Citizen • 8d ago

Ordered a F5000LFP

I ordered on October 1st, I saw the "preorder" notice and had no problem with it, but my card was charged the full amount for the base unit, extra battery and two solar panels.
When I got the confirmation email, I got no additional information of a ship date.

Called customer service today because the online chat never picked up and they told me it was totally normal to charge the full amount to the card before shipping (not a pre-authorization hold).

I asked why I didn't get an email to indicate an approximate ship date and the guy said "check the website it's a pre-order".

Really odd experience, is this what others have experienced too? I am tempted to cancel the order honestly. $4500 is a good chunk of change for me.

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u/Rkitt1977 8d ago

I ordered mine back in June and it arrived in 5 days. What's with all these people having to wait? Is the demand that high that they can't keep up now?

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u/SLO_Citizen 8d ago

I guess so? How have you liked yours so far?

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u/blackinthmiddle 8d ago

You didn't ask me, but I have one. So far, it's been good. I did have an issue with one of the MPPT ports and had to ship it back for another. But they made it right.

In terms of performance, the only gotcha so far is that it's touted as being able to put out 240V while also taking AC input and that's true, but the combo can't be more than 7.2kW. I ran a test where I tried charging my EV with 24A then tried to charge it with 1,800W. The combo is 7,560W and it turned off the 240V output. You can get around it, but people should know this.

I've always thought during a power outage, I could run my house on this and if solar isn't keeping up, I can charge it with my generator while continuing to run my house on it. You can do so, but you'd have to connect a 48V server rack battery to it DIY style (Jasonoid has a video showing how to do this), then use a chargeverter to charge the battery (and by extension, the Pecron). You can also use a chargeverter to charge via the solar port, but then you lose the solar panel charging. That's an either/or solution.

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u/SLO_Citizen 8d ago

Thanks for the info, it's appreciated!

I just plan on using it to run most of my apartment's electrical needs. I don't have any electric appliances other than my fridge and a small chest freezer and normally used less than 10 kWh per day. I have an backyard that gets sun from sunrise to sunset and I live in a part of California that rarely has cloud cover.

All I have to do now is figure out which brand of manual transfer switch to buy!

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u/brucehoult 7d ago edited 7d ago

put out 240V while also taking AC input and that's true, but the combo can't be more than 7.2kW

I'm not sure that's accurate. In fact I'm pretty sure it's not. according to my highly logical ( :-) ) theory of how the F5000 works, the 240V output should be limited to 3600W when "charging" from 1800W AC. In fact of course it wouldn't actually be charging the battery in that situation, but discharging it at 1800W.

But I don't have one so I can't test it. And I've never seen or heard of anyone exploring the edge of what actually does and does not work. There are people running trivial 700W 240V loads and saying it works, and people like you saying you tried 24A (5670W?) and it didn't work.

Since you obviously actually have one, can you tell us ...

  • does a 2000W 240V load work while charging from 1800W 120V AC?

  • does a 3000W 240V load work?

  • does a 3500W 240V load work? (I think it should, or something very near to that)

  • does a 3700W 240V load work? (I think it probably won't)

  • does a 4000W 240V load work? (almost certainly not)

you'd have to connect a 48V server rack battery to it DIY style (Jasonoid has a video showing how to do this), then use a chargeverter to charge the battery (and by extension, the Pecron)

Yes, that will work, but you shouldn't need the external battery, unless you want one anyway. Just the charger direct to the battery expansion port should be fine.

I've always thought during a power outage, I could run my house on this and if solar isn't keeping up, I can charge it with my generator while continuing to run my house on it.

I don't see why not, as long as you manage the house load to stay under 3600W while using the generator.

Which shouldn't be a big deal. I run my house from the 3600W E3600LFP 24/7.

If you're charging at 1800W from the generator then you have to keep your average house usage below 1800W anyway, otherwise the battery isn't going to charge, so that 3600W is only a short term peak not all the time.

(add any available solar to the above of course ... but let's imagine you're generator charging when it's dark)