Random question: We just purchased an Ecoflow DELTA 2 Portable Power Station and are using it to power an air compressor (for a robotic solution we are developing). But the system keeps shorting out.
On paper, it should easily support the compressor. Our best guess is that there is a surge on start, and the Delta2 shuts off as a result.
I predict it wont work. Between the startup surge amps and the fact that its an electrical motor, i.e inductive load.
Those power stations are meant to charge phones, lighting, run coffee makers, small power tools, etc. Household items for the most part, i.e resistive load.
To operate the compressior you will likey need a generator. The generator creates pure AC wheras the power stations uses DC batteries and an inverter.
You may be able to get an industrial inverter and marine batteries to run the compressor but that wont be compact in a small package like the one you already bought.
I think that requires some clarification. There are generators that produce beautiful pure sine wave AC power and there are others that make less smooth sine waves. Inverters can also have amazingly pure sine wave AC power while other inverters produce very choppy square wave AC power.
I used to have a generator that was not very friendly for some electronic equipment I had. In theory, it should have been fine, but no, it was not. For many years I have used Honda inverter generators that have outstanding pure sine waves. I also have a cheap portable modified sine wave (square wave) and other inverters that produce pure sine waves, as good as or better than the power utility.
So there are good and bad generators and inverters.
Inverter has a stable frequency. The dinosaur analogue inverter that is spun by a steam engine is not so stable.
With AC motor speed is governed by frequency. frequency is governed by generator speed for 60htz that is 3500rpm, 50htz 3000rpm. The drivel you hear about base load and solar panels is elephant crap. How much load does a solar panel need for it to run efficiently? I steam turbine need around 25% (minimum load) load to switch from diesel to coal. As you increase load the coal has more energy than diesel and the fire gets hotter so you need more load. At around 30% load the fire becomes stable (base load). The boiler can not respond to sudden changes in load. This effects the frequency. To a certain extent all analogue generators have the same traits.
To get around this you have an inverter generator for when you need a clean AC power source. This consists of a DC alternator that is not effected by RPM and an inverter to output a clean AC wave.
You got it. Startup current is way higher than running current. For code i think it’s assumed startup amps will be 6x higher than running for a motor. Something like that. Probably won’t be that high, but it’s going to be at least double.
Compressor is 14amps when it’s running, power supply is rated for looks like probably just over 20 amps surge, startup might be several times that. It’s gonna trip
Can you set this up to use the " The Easy Start Valve feature allows for a easier start up using less starting amps." that is an included feature of this compressor? … this is a robotics system so maybe that us something you can build in? I have made manually operated valves that do much the same to be able to start largish compressors off smallish generators.
Pretty much all compressors unload the pump at startup. My 30 year old compressor has one. Used to be called a “load Genie” valve It is just getting the motor spinning that is the problem.
if you’re using the compressed air then the motor is having to start again at various intervals to maintain the pressure. It isn’t just once per session.
Same thing with a vacuum cleaner or anything with a motor.
Maybe noticed more on compressors because they’re the biggest electric motors most people would have in their home, and theyll start and stop a lot while you’re using them.
The “load Genie” valve unloads it every time the motor starts to run the pump. It is in the line between the pump and tank. It allows air to escape until a certain air volume is achieved. So it relieves the load on the motor each time it starts.
But, the electric motor takes extra current to start regardless of load, so that doesn’t change. It just doesn’t draw as much as if the valve wasn’t inline.
