This EcoFlow STREAM Battery Makes Your Home Future Proof

Throughout the year, I've renovated this house completely. I got an electric

house completely. I got an electric vehicle, changed all the glass, added insulation, got a heat pump, and I did so much to make this house as sustainable as possible. And now we're

ready for the next step. We're going to add even more solar panels to the roof.

And we're going to add some batteries from EcoFlow to make this house future proof. Hey, it's me Martin and let's get

proof. Hey, it's me Martin and let's get started.

With the new Dutch legislation ending the net metering, also known as salarings raling, it barely pays anymore to feed excess solar power back into the grid. And that's why I went looking for

grid. And that's why I went looking for a smart way to store my solar energy at home. EcoFlow sent me this complete

home. EcoFlow sent me this complete all-in-one home battery setup, nearly 10 kWh. And today I'll walk you through the

kWh. And today I'll walk you through the installation, how everything runs, and the clever ways that it helps me to save on bills and the environment. But first,

let's start with what exactly arrived.

EcoFlow shipped both the Stream AC Pro with 1.92 kwatt hours and the brand new Stream Ultra X with 3.84 kW hours. They

also included a Shelly smart meter, all necessary cables, Shelly smart blocks, and four solar panels with a mounting frame. Basically, a smart all-in-one

frame. Basically, a smart all-in-one home kit was delivered. And good to know, you can scale it up all the way up to 11.52 kilwatt hours by connecting up to six units. Even though it's

advertised as do it yourself, I did get two friends to help me out with the solar panels on our flat dormer. Since

they were all going up over there, I opted for the flat roof brackets, but EcoFlow also offers options for pitched roofs and balconies in case you prefer to install it there. Once the scaffold was up, we put these strong yet

lightweight flat roof brackets up and added ballast.

Then we lifted each 20 kg panel and connected them using the standard MC4 cables.

As my batteries are tucked away in the attic, except for this one at the moment, I'm just using it for this video. I run some cables myself, but you

video. I run some cables myself, but you could also just use the ones EcoFlow provides.

It's a plugandplay system. So, plug them into the Ultra X and you're good to go.

If you have multiple solar panels from EcoFlow, you can connect them in parallel or series with those same MC4 cables or run them straight to the Ultra X,

which has a built-in inverter. It's that

easy. Now, as mentioned before, I put the batteries in the attic for two reasons. Even though EcoFlow provides a

reasons. Even though EcoFlow provides a 10-year warranty, guarantees over 6,000 cycles, and is IP rated, so we can place them anywhere, including outside, I prefer them up here, so we can still

escape downstairs if needed. And

secondly, because this meter group is still quite empty. The unboxing was simple. You get, of course, the

simple. You get, of course, the batteries, but also a magnetic cable cover, uh, a wall mounting bracket, and some paperwork. I linked them in

some paperwork. I linked them in parallel, reaching nearly 10 kWh total capacity.

The final piece here is the Shelly smart meter. I just show you the box because

meter. I just show you the box because it's already installed in a distribution board and that basically acts as the brain of your whole system, giving you granular insight into household energy

flow. Especially useful if you have

flow. Especially useful if you have existing solar panels like me. It tracks

input and output so your system can optimize your energy usage smartly. I

have to be honest, installation was a bit tricky, so I'd recommend hiring someone for that step. Once everything

is set up, the real fun begins.

Balancing production, the feed in the storage, and the usage, which is all managed through the EcoFlow app, available on both iOS and Android. So,

once you've powered up the batteries and you're locked in, they appear in your home app. EcoFlow pushed an update

home app. EcoFlow pushed an update immediately, so it's good to see they continuously develop their software. I

switched the energy delivery strategy to smart meter monitoring, so the system could optimize based on that input. The

app is jam-packed with features, including AI that helps you to maximize efficiency. It gives a clear real-time

efficiency. It gives a clear real-time overview, what's flowing to and from the grid, the solar output, how much the house uses, and the battery status. Turn

on the microwave at 1,000 watt. You'll

see it instantly. The top section even summarizes weather, energy production, usage, and estimated savings. Swipe up

for a deep dive, daily generation charts, your energy independence level, variances versus normal usage, and battery status. Tap further, and you

battery status. Tap further, and you dive into even more detailed graphs.

Going to tap two shows you all the devices that are connected. I see both the batteries and the smart meter listed here. Tap on the Ultra X and you'll find

here. Tap on the Ultra X and you'll find the status on battery charge level, connected appliances, v82 sockets, and what these specific panels are generating. In the system settings

generating. In the system settings section, the last step, I documented that the Shelly smart meter is installed and kept grid feed in at 800 watt output with battery full and empty thresholds

and operational mode set to AI. And

speaking about that AI, it costs you about €4 a month, so keep that in mind.

But they promise optimizations via tariff and weather data. It needs at least 7 days to learn it properly. So

I'll explore that deeper in my next video. Oh, and about that 800 watt, the

video. Oh, and about that 800 watt, the EcoFlow Stream Series can go legally beyond the 800 watt limit. In parallel

mode, the two units combine for up to 2300 W. And in the distributed mode,

2300 W. And in the distributed mode, each unit plugs into its own socket and together still reads 2,300 W. That's big

enough to run big appliances like ovens and dishwashers, all powered by the sun.

Right now, I'm on a fixed energy contract, so trading energy isn't possible yet. That's not really a

possible yet. That's not really a problem here for me because the net metering is still going on for another year. Plus, I consume more than I

year. Plus, I consume more than I generate. So, I don't benefit

generate. So, I don't benefit immediately. But once the schem ends and

immediately. But once the schem ends and a dynamic tarif is introduced, it's going to be a very lucrative system. And

that's because you could even earn money with the right dynamic contract. Smart

Tarif settings could help you make the system pay for itself in no time. Here's

a quick interruption of the video because EcoFlow sent me an update that soon they'll support even more local services. You can already connect it to

services. You can already connect it to Tibber for example, but soon they also support the P1 dongle. That means you get much better control over your energy usage with real-time insights from your

own smart meter. The batteries weigh around 25 kg each. It's somewhat heavy, but still portable enough to move around. And once you plug it back in,

around. And once you plug it back in, the system runs again instantly.

Mine are mainly used for storage, but in areas susceptible to blackouts, you could place them around the house. Then

in a blackout, for example, uh you could keep the television, internet, and security cameras active, or plug the water heater cable directly onto the battery to keep hot water

flowing during power outages. But you

could also, for example, consider to power the fridge or freezers, uh, like I did over here just for this video. To

give you more real life ideas, I hooked some pretty daily appliances to the system. The TV and fan barely make a

system. The TV and fan barely make a dent, just a few dozen watts. Switch on

the microwave and you'll see the numbers jump fast.

What's cool is that you can watch all of this live in the EcoFlow app. for

example, every watt being used, where it's coming from, and how the batteries respond in real time. To wrap things up to the max, I simulated a full power

usage to see how the system holds up. In

the EcoFlow app, you can literally follow every single step from morning to evening. So, in the morning, the solar

evening. So, in the morning, the solar panels start from zero, then ramp up to full capacity, and you see the battery percentage climbing steadily. And once

the batteries are topped up, the system begins feeding back to the grid.

Throughout the day, different appliances are switched on and off. The the water heater, the television, the microwave, and all that usage shows up live in the app. By evening, the batteries were full

app. By evening, the batteries were full again, and the entire household was running just on battery power. And

here's the impressive part. The next

morning, I still had about 50% battery left. So in sunny months, we could

left. So in sunny months, we could basically live off the sun alone. For

now, they're acting as parallel energy storage to prepare me for the new regulations. However, in prolonged

regulations. However, in prolonged outages, I will just unplug everything and just connect the most essential appliances to the battery so we can still continue to live in the house. And

with this 10 kWh setup, I expect then that we could live off the grid, let's say, for an extra 2 to 5 days. And in

the meantime, I hope by then that the grid will be restored. Now, I also own an EV and have an heat pump. So, to

truly live off-rid is a bit too optimistic. I need more solar panels and

optimistic. I need more solar panels and batteries for that. But if you don't have those two big energy users, the system already works amazingly well on its own. I'm considering to make a

its own. I'm considering to make a second video where we do a deep dive on the AI, the earnings, and how the system holds up after multiple weeks because right now, in all honesty, it runs for

just a few days. So, if you're down for that, let me know in the comments below.

In the description of the video, you'll find a link if you want to learn more about the EFlow stream series. So, go

check it out or let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. Until then, thank you so much

questions. Until then, thank you so much for watching and I hope you learned something. If you did, give it a like

something. If you did, give it a like and don't forget to subscribe. So, I'll

see you in the next one.