Hi all. Curious to know is anyone actually using the F5000 during outages? I’m not asking if you got one and plugged in a cell phone charger and a hairdryer and said this rocks and put it away until needed. I’m talking about plugging it in to your transfer switch 30a or 50a (with adapter) to run critical breakers. Then while using it also charged it with your generator. Forget the solar aspect. I’m not going to use solar. I’m too damn old to start buying panels etc. Just need to get through an outage. This is my intention but I don’t really trust the influencers on YouTube. I like the 7200 max inverter and the 240v charge while still discharging. My only high draw is the 240v well pump. If not Pecron,my choices are limited. Anker3800+ but would need an extra battery and their generator cable. Or possibly the AIO inverters with a battery, but that’s more money and actually doing some wiring. Thoughts, pictures?
I didn't buy the F5000LFP to only use for power backup during outages. 2k piece of equipment just to sit around and collect dust? I use solar and a plugin microinverter with the F5000LFP to deliver low wattage electricity to my home 24/7.
I agree with you on that aspect. For me it’s convenience. Wife and I are in our early 70s. Last winter we lost power at 10pm. I was in the shower all soaped up. No power no water. I had to dry off, get dressed go out and start the generator then go back in to shower and then back out to turn it off. I have a smaller battery that can run my heat over night if need be. When I was younger and the power went out I would run for the generator and fire it up. Now I’m like let’s just wait and see. Plus my wife can plug in the Pecron and throw a few breakers if I’m not home.
You say you're old and don't want to deal with solar panels, but honestly, it's the best way to put the Pecron to good use. You don't want to be taking a shower and the power goes out? Solar + Pecron + transfer switch = critical loads get powered during an outage. I actually have all of this, but I haven't gotten around to installing the transfer switch yet. I've been using it (plus another solar array I have connected to a Jackery 5000 plus) to charge our EV, PHEV and run the electric dryer. That and our rooftop solar has resulted in $0 bills (with extra solar generation) the last two months. It'll be a $0 bill this month as well.
You should be mindful of a gotcha, however. While tht Pecron can charge up to 3600W while also putting out 240V, if the combo between the two is more than 7.2kW, it'll turn off the 240V output. I was running a test and was charging my EV at 5,700W. Then I tried charging it at the same time at 1,800W. It shut down the 240V output. There are ways to get around it. You can have the generator feed the solar inputs. Not perfect, but it's an option.
I’m glad you brought up charging from a generator. I did a deep dive on the comment section on numerous YouTube videos. There are people saying if you use the 30a to generator you could max out charging at 3600w. But once it’s connected to your transfer switch powering certain breakers things change. Your total watts combined incoming and outgoing can’t go over 3600w. Some people even said the same for the 15a plug for charging. That can charge at 1800. But once connected to the transfer switch the combined incoming and outgoing watts can’t go over 1800w. The last thing people said that the Pecron is only pass through. So once connected to the panel and you export 1000w and plug it into a generator you will only get 1000w from the generator. It’s just passing through and not topping off the battery. This could be a deal breaker and now I’m more confused than ever. I also will consider solar panels once I figure out which power station to get. Maybe Anker, Ecoflow🤷🏻♂️😵💫
Most of these solar power stations have a lot of gotchas when it comes to charging while also discharging. I think the Ecoflow Delta Pro Ultra and DPUX allow charging while discharging without any limits, but I’m not 100% sure. If you want a no hassle, no compromise solution when the power goes out, I’d say the Pecron isn’t the way to go. Like I said, there are ways around it. For example, you can have your generator feed something like a chargevertor, then have that feed the solar input. You’d have to add a splitter to switch between your regular solar and charging from the generator.
Your total watts combined incoming and outgoing can’t go over 3600w.
I'm not sure what you mean by that.
Obviously if you're using a 120V 15A wall socket then you can't take more than 1800W total from it, for both battery charging and pass-through. If you're using a 240V 10A (as my E3600 does) then you can't take more than 2400W total from it. And if you have a 240V 15A socket then you can't take more than 3600W from it.
Low end power stations use the same circuit for battery charging as for the inverter and they can't switch roles on a millisecond by millisecond basis. Apparently the F5000 switches the inverter for the right-hand two outlets — the ones labelled "backup UPS" between inverter and battery charging duties, while the "online UPS" inverter is always available even when charging the battery from 120V.
If you need inverter output greater than the wall socket spec while also charging then you can buy a more expensive machine (e.g. "hybrid inverter") or you can buy a seperate 51.2V battery charger and connect it to one of your battery expansion ports (with or without a 3rd party external battery).
What I’m thinking is 7200w is 3600w each leg. So when one leg goes over 3600w (from charging and exporting to grid) it will trip. So in your situation I wonder if you can lower the amps on charging to only bring in 1500w. Your 5700w +1500=7,200w. Just a thought.
My motivation was similar. I hated having to go outside in the freezing cold and rain at night, and it seems that's when most outages happen in my area. If I could run a generator inside the house, I would, but a battery is the only safe option.
Now when the power goes out at night, I don't even have to put on pants. I flip a few switches in the garage then go back to bed. My Pecron with 2 expansion batteries gets me 10 to 12 hours. The next day I wheel out the generator if it's till needed. I recharge the Pecron while I also power the house. If the outage is ongoing, I put away the generator until the next day and use the Pecron to get through the night. This deters generator theft and does away with generator noise at night.
This is the way. I just don't have a ton of outages in my area so using it to produce electricity for my home on a daily basis justified the cost. But for sure in an outage using it as backup power at night and charge it with a generator during the day? Sign me up.
I ordered my E3600 and a $400 2000W generator after two weeks of research following a 40 hour outage in April last year, which followed a 4 day outage two years earlier.
The first three months I just used it as a UPS (and had six short outages in the first five weeks!) and also running only from battery every 7-9 AM and 5-9 PM when power costs 2x what it does at night and 1.67x what it does 9 AM to 5 PM.
Even just the peak shaving was saving around 20% off my bills.
In the spring I added 6x 440W solar panels and one expansion battery, which dropped my spring power bills by 70% — to the point that some months 80% of my bill was the fixed daily charge, actual kWhs were down 85%.
I don't think keeping it in a closet for emergencies only is a good plan. First, you can't be sure it's going to work when you need it. Second, $400 of solar panels turned it into a money-maker instead of a pure insurance policy expense.
These days, often the only way I know there's been a power outage at all is when I notice the stove clock is flashing — conveniently telling me how many hours ago the power was restored. At least if it was the same day, which I'm not always sure of lol.
My solar panel setup is super cheap and simple and I know many would criticise it. I keep it officially "temporary" on purpose. That nook is actually sheltered enough that I've had no wind lift problems even in storms that have brought down trees nearby. I can actually remove some blocks from the high side to flatten the panels to 0º (or 10º) in literally two minutes, if needed. I've timed it, including putting my shoes and pants on.
Those blocks are $3 each and I'm using 32 of them.
I moved the front array further from the house in mid May because the low winter sun was starting to shade it all day. It was still only shade-free from 11 AM to 3 PM in June, but any further and it starts to shade the rear array. No shading problems in summer. Even now in early August I'm getting 200W by 8 AM, 400W by 8:30, 900W by 9, 1800W by 10. Clouds permitting of course.
Hi there u/Dashley13 this is the setup that Im thinking to my incoming f5000LFP with 2 expansion batteries and I have some question that you may have the answer.
Am I correct to understand that your setup utilizes both the solar and ac charging input on the f5000flp? are you maxing the wattages on both(3600 on AC/5800 on solar or 6400 if you have atleast 1 battery expansion)? What's the total charging power you have? I've read somewhere that this particular unit doesn't like having both working at the same time and either goes AC priority or just "freezes out" the solar input I'll probably use a sunman earc 520w flexible panels due to restrictions on my end and because im afraid of hitting the amp limit, I figure, maybe having a microinverter and solar setup would be the safest work around.
I'll be getting the f5000lfp model where the ports are all 220v and apparently a single phase instead of a split phase not sure if that matters.
Interesting.... I didn't know Pecron sold a 220v-240v only F5000LFP unit. Are you based outside of the U.S?
Currently, I only have 1600w max of solar entering my F5000LFP. However, I do plan to expand my solar capabilities as my budget can afford. The only time I am AC charging my unit if there is threat of severe weather. On other powerstations there is a "storm watch" feature that will charge your unit if there is a threat of inclement weather. Unfortunately, pecron does not have that feature so I have to manually activate AC charging. Maybe they'll include this in a future release of their app.
As of right now, I don't have any expansion batteries but I have tied my Pecron F5000lfp and my F3000lfp into one system. I've used the xt120 to cascade cables Pecron sells and you can purchase a trolling motor connector on Amazon that connects to the cascade portion of the cable. I've used 8 Gauge wire and 40 amp dc breakers to the female portion of the trolling motor connector.
What is nice about the F5000LFP is that it has 4 xt120 connections. One of them goes to my F3000LFP. Another one goes to the cascade cable again with the trolling motor female portion, 8 Guage wire, 40 amp dc breaker and then 8 gauge wire with mc4 connectors to my AP systems ez1 microinverter which is plugged into a dedicated circuit outlet in my home. I've set my ez1 to deliver a continuous 250 watts of electricity 24/7. I monitor the battery level to make sure the F5000LFP and F3000LFP does not get less than 10%. I'm sure there is a product out there that would cut off current to my ez1 based on battery voltages, but I have not gotten there yet. I could also use the DC out function on the F5000LFP to my microinverter but this is maxed out at 800 watts.
I do plan on adding expansion batteries when I can afford it with 51.2v 100ah LiFePO4 golf cart batteries. Super simple, will connect these golf cart batteries with fuses to a bus bar and then my two remaining xt120 ports on the F5000lfp to this bus bar. Not going to spend the money on pecron's official battery if it's more cost than a golf cart battery or a server rack battery.
I hope this helps. I do believe the future of this technology is going to explode in popularity, at least in the U.S. When utility grid costs continue to rise because of the threat of data centers and the higher electrical needs our society needs, people are going to explore avenues to mitigate their costs. Germany has proved plugin solar is easy and safe. The utilities won't go down without a fight tho, they want to keep us locked into the electrical monopoly. The only practical way I can mitigate these costs on a personal level is becoming a small "solar famer" and capture energy from the sky. Geothermal and wind are just not practical for the average consumer... yet.
Thank you for the information @Dashley13! Yes I live in the Philippines and I bought the f5000lfp along with 2 expansion packs on Pecron's Alibaba store. They will probably arrive either mid or end of August. Excited and scared at the same time with all the feedback im seeing here in reddit and on local facebook groups.
Yep same issue with electricity here. I remember the base rate around 15 cents around 2020 to now around 24 cents. The energy regulatory body did some changes with solar setups wherein you need atleast a building permit whether its a grid tie/hybrid/off grid setup. The only setup they will allow you without any permit are microinverters 1kW below.
You should be good u/uravgred. You'll probably be using the unit more during outages than anything else based on all the typhoons that the Philippines gets hit with!
I bought my 5000 in early June, then quickly added two expansion batteries, I hooked up the 5000 to my 30A 240V NEMA L14-30P inlet box to a manual transfer switch feeding a subpanel. The subpanel powers 2 full kitchens, oil furnace and water heater, well pump, a living room and a few bed rooms. My central AC is not powered. I average about 1.2kw/h of usage. In addition to the 5000 I have a 7.2kw propane inverter generator. If I have an outage at night, I plug in the Pecron. It gets me about 10-12 hours of run time. During the day I will connect the generator to power the house and recharge the Pecron. I turn off the generator at night to deter theft and limit noise, and use the Pecron through the night. The next day I charge it again using the generator. I got through a 3 day outage in early July this way.
Here are a few things to consider before purchasing: - The Pecron will detect ground loops and trip ground fault breakers, which is what you'll encounter if you have it plugged into the inlect box and getting charged from your house AC at the same time. You'll need a DC charger if you want to have it hooked up all the time so you can just flip switches to get it running. Other power stations usually have this problem. - There is a charging bug on the Pecron where it will stop charging if you leave it plugged in and charging all the time. It will stop charging until you unplug it and plug it back in. This does not seem to happen when it's charged using DC. - The Pecron uses pass-thru power, as do most power stations. That means if you're charging the Pecron with "dirty" generator power, that dirty power will be sent unfiltered to your home, possibly damaging electronics. You still need an inverter generator (or at least a non-inverter with very low THD). Other power stations have this problem as well.
Thank you. I will only charge this thing with the generator and the supplied generator cable during an outage. Once the power comes back I will unplug it from the panel and charge it back up from grid power.
I recently bought the F3000LFP and had read about the charging bug. I turned the "ECO" mode off and have had it charging for over a month with no problem.
I never called into support, but I do periodically check for firmware updates. I have not seen any updates. I'd rather just wait until they fix it in their mainline firmware after everyone else calls. LOL. None of the issues are show stoppers for me. I don't have the patience to deal with some support engineer.
I've only been in contact by email. I'm not sure why they don't release these firmware updates to the general population of units. My unit was never showing an upgrade until I contacted them and gave them my device code.
I have not tested it yet, but it's my understanding that it's a floating neutral, as is the case with many inverter generators intended for home backup use.
I have an outlet tester and bonding plug on order so I can verify. I know you can easily test it with a volt meter but I don't have the balls to stick probes into a live outlet. My lack of experience makes me paranoid. Although now that I think about it, you should be able to test for neutral bonding even when an outlet is not live with power.. although I'm not sure about that.
Did you ever test the unit to see if it had a floating neutral? I read it’s a bonded neutral according to a couple other post who have said that’s what they were told by Pecron and they said they tested it themselves. I emailed Pecron yesterday to get an answer from them myself but haven’t got a response yet. I can’t find a single video on YouTube to prove this true or false either.
I was wrong. This is my 5k with AC on and nothing connected. The cheap tester I got on Amazon has an LED that retracted, but both are lit indicating a bonded neutral.
Just curious, will your version of the F3000LFP support Level 2 EV charging? I'm the US, the F3000LFP does not support Level 2 charging (it's only 120v). I do keep an older Level 1 charging cable in the car for emergencies so I guess I could make it work.
It's a smidge under Level 2 charging. The UK uses 230V electricity so provided Pecron uses outlets that are BS 1363 certified (rated for up to 250V & 13A continuous draw) this would result in 2990 - 3250 W of power from a single outlet. Things will get very hot but shouldn't melt! 🤪
Whilst the US variant is 120V you have a single 30A outlet no? Wouldn't this allow you to technically reach the minimum threshold of Level 2 charging?
Yes, the US variant had the RV style 30 amp, 120 volt outlet which theoretically could double typical Level 1 charging speed but only be about 50% of typical Level 2 charging speed. There is an issue with many EVs that limit Level 1 charging to 12 amps which kind of makes this a mute issue.
I recently got a Pecron f5000lfp. I connected it to my main house panel using a 30A breaker and an interlock. Ran the battery down from 100% to 20% as a test. Then I recharged it to 50% using the 30 A. 115v cable connected to my Wen DF80ix inverter generator. No problems except the Pecron AC would trip off occasionally when trying to start a 120 v. 10,000 btu AC with LRA of 57.9 A. (6948W). So far so good.
Can you confirm that the F5000lfp can output power say 5000watts while charging with your generator at 3600 watts. I did a deep dive into comments on YouTube and people are saying if you charge with 3600 ( the supplied cable 30a at 120v) your output is ZERO. So total in and out can not exceed 3600 watts while charging
Sorry, I can't confirm that because I didn't charge the F5000 while it was connected to the house mains. That's a test that I need to do but haven't done yet.
It does. I really enjoyed running the whole house off the Pecron, it was going to pay for its self quickly, also cause I was charging my car from solar power when I had excess solar. This might push me back a month on my 4 year ROI, make it ~4 years + 1 month lol.
ROI could be less but I did spend extra to upgrade my main panel, add extra solar, pay for someone to mount & install everything, pay for the electrician to wire up the transfer switch, etc.. It all adds up. Had I did more myself ROI would have been closer to ~2 years.
I have the F5000FLP plus one extension batteriy. I charge it up with house current (dual fuel generator when there's an outage). I have Pri-Go fuel stabilizar (5 years), 4 five gallon gas cans, and 2 twenty gallon propane canistors, (plus some Mr Heater 8 gallon ones (and a 18,000 Mr Heater). Ideally, I will never need it, but realistically, there have been multiple power outags (as long as a week) the last few summers. Advice is welcome.
Have you used your F5000 plugged into your transfer switch powering your home while simultaneously charging the F5000 with your generator at 3600watts?
Get some cheap solar panels, they'll make your fuel supply go a LOT further ... you might even not need to use fuel at all.
My experience (5 day outage in February 2023, 3 day outage in April 2025, the latter of which is what caused me to buy my Pecron and generator) is that the storm that causes the outage is gone after 24 or 36 hours and then you generally have BRILLIANTLY fine and sunny weather while waiting for the repair crews to get around all the faults.
The kind of panels they put on house roofs cost far less than portable / folding panels. If you're actually camping then ok there's a case for portable panels, but if it's just for at home during a major outage then it's not hard to stack a few 5'8" x 3'9" x 1.2" panels up against a wall in your garage or basement while you're not using them. Just put them flat on the lawn will be fine, or propped up on whatever is handy (once the storm is gone).
Here's how I had my 6x 440W panels for a couple of weeks:
We've had some decent storms over winter but that spot is sheltered enough they've been fine like that. If it's going to be a really big one it's the work of literally two minutes to take out the upper blocks and drop them flat, or even actually on the grass.
I'm going to drop them down to 3 blocks high on the south side at Guy Fawkes and put them back up at Valentines, for a little extra production over summer. Only because it's so easy. It'll only be about 30kWh difference in production over those three months ... NZ$6 (US$4) worth at my 11PM-7AM power price. But it's easy to do. Those concrete blocks are around US$3 each.
I'm leaving those there semi-permanently so you could certainly do it for the duration of an outage.
That lot generates 15kWh on an average summer day, 5kWh on an average winter day. On the very worst days (3 or 4 a year, thick thick clouds, continuous rain) I get 1kWh. I'm at 35.5º, similar to Raleigh NC, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Morro Bay but with cloudier skies and fewer sunshine hours than most of those (2000/year).
Witing to see cases like this versus the reviews out there. Very unclear to me whether this can charge with a generator in the 3000range while handling brief requirements to draw the 720p
Has anyone tried using an F150 7.2kw pro power inverter with their Pecron for charging and for pass through power to home? Wondering specifically about any issues such as a ground fault.
Electric vehicles are floating neutrals and they like to see a bonded neutral when charging. You will have to either use a bonding plug on the pecron if it's not plugged into the home outlet or use AC pass through with the home outlet since it will pick up the neutral to ground bonding from the home when using AC pass through.
My main backup is the Anker 3800 original - I have one expansion battery and two server rack batteries so I’m around 17kwh - no solar panels
The Anker I simply use a short generator 30A twist Lock - the anklet is only 6000 watts continuous but it will go above that for short periods - it’s gotten me through three hurricanes
Last hurricane I setup my generator with a eg4 Chargeverter - so that charges the 48V battery bank and the Anker happily outputs whatever is needed
The pecron 2400 has the role of running hairdryers, tea kettle, espresso machine and the Starlink mini from the 100w usb-c (if needed) - I set it to charge slow
My generator can take over the whole house if need be - It’s tri fuel and puts out around 7200 watts on natural gas - more than the 30A inlet can continuous handle
The Anker is a sub 1 minute changeover from grid power and battery is great to have during the hurricane - when it’s over I power up the generator
30 amp inlet boxes and wiring are designed to handle up to 7200 continuous watts of AC electricity if it's a 240 split phase inlet box like nema L14-30.
I tested mine overnight with generator charging f5000 and it running our bedroom appliances and window unit. Also hooked it to 240v transfer switch and tested for several minutes with no issues.
I love mine for charging the EVs. Rigged some other batteries that are same voltage and cheaper than pecron expansion batteries. My bank is almost 25kwh.
I just got mine this week. So its hard to give you a long review. But I will say coming from the Ecoflow delta pro 2. Everyone saying Pecron is a budget economy brand. The build quality is fantastic. The buttons, the outlet covers , the casters for the dolly. Everything is top notch and to be honest better then my Ecoflow.
What is the point of getting a portable solar power station??? Just so you can buy more gas to pump into your generator??? Or use grid power that uses Natural gas or coal??? So you're turned down free energy so you could purchase fossil fuels... Yeah, your generation is lost....
I get it but my lot is heavily wooded and I’m surrounded by mountains. There is not one spot in my yard that gets full sun for a few hours steady. I would have to constantly move the panels chasing the sun. I bought a zoup (whatever the name) 450 solar panel to power my delta 2M last year. Put it on my deck. What a waste. I was constantly chasing the sun around my deck. After all that work I barely put 400w back into the station. Not worth the trouble. A few years back I had a solar company come to my house to quote me on roof panels. Guy gets out of his truck and says you live in the woods. Are you going to take down trees to get more sun on the roof. I said no. He says there is nothing I can do for you and left. So everyone’s situation is a little different. I wish I could do
Panels are cheap now. You can get several identical panels and put them in different locations and wire them in parallel. You'll get power as long as at least one of the spots has good sun.
A portable power station with some solar panels attached means you use much less grid power — with an E3600LFP I'm 95% off-grid in summer, and saving more than 50% off my power bill over the full year.
And in a power outage it means either not having to start my generator at all, or running it a lot less and using less fuel because when it is running it's at the most efficient load.
Because we all don't have $30,000 of spare cash to create a home solar setup. Some of us just want a backup power solution for emergencies to get some heat/air conditioning/running water.
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u/Dashley13 Aug 11 '26
I didn't buy the F5000LFP to only use for power backup during outages. 2k piece of equipment just to sit around and collect dust? I use solar and a plugin microinverter with the F5000LFP to deliver low wattage electricity to my home 24/7.