Testing the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra - What Can It Actually Handle?
The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra was released with plenty of hype. As the long-awaited successor to the incredibly popular original DELTA Pro, it’s no wonder people were excited.
All of this hype also seemed to be for a good reason—the DELTA Pro Ultra promised robust performance, massive output power, an insane storage capacity, and versatile functionality. But now that it has been out for a while, how does it actually hold up under real-world conditions?
Here at The Solar Lab, we decided to put it through a series of rigorous tests to determine what this much-hyped unit can actually handle. With real-world testing, we want to see where it excels, and where it might fall a bit short. If you’re considering this popular power station, this in-depth review and series of tests will help you decide if it’s the right fit for your needs.
Basic Overview of the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra
The DELTA Pro Ultra is a powerful unit on paper, boasting a massive 6,000Wh expandable battery that is paired with a robust 7,200W inverter. It was designed to power everything from your home essentials to more demanding equipment, making it a strong contender in the portable power station market. But as we've learned, specs don't always translate into performance.
Before we dive into the heavy-duty tests, it's important to clarify that this review focuses solely on a single DELTA Pro Ultra unit. We aren't testing a dual setup, or the DELTA Pro Ultra when it’s connected to the Smart Home Panel—those tests are for another day.
If you want to have more of an introduction to the unit before reading about these tests, we highly recommend watching our original video review: DELTA Pro Ultra Review: Not What We Were Expecting!
Our Baseline Testing and Results
Before we dove into simulating real-world scenarios with some on-site testing, we wanted to see if EcoFlow’s claims about this thing’s specs are actually true. To do so, we ran it through quite a few baseline tests right in the lab:
Efficiency Testing:
Efficiency is key when it comes to power stations, as it directly affects how long you’ll be able to run your appliances and devices. If you have a 6,000Wh battery like you get with the Ultra, you'd expect a 500W air conditioner to run for about 12 hours. However, if the unit is only 75% efficient, that runtime would drop to just 9 hours. As you can see, understanding the efficiency of your power station is crucial.
To test efficiency with the DELTA Pro Ultra, we ran a load nearing the inverter's capacity—just under 6,000 watts. The DELTA Pro Ultra lasted 59 minutes, translating to a really impressive 98% efficiency.
This result is actually much better than most of the power stations we have tested, and the unit stayed relatively cool and really quiet throughout the entire test. The battery wire connecting to the inverter became fairly hot, but there were no alarming hotspots on the unit itself. We even tested this with our own handheld thermal camera.
Charge Speed Testing:
Next up, we wanted to test how quickly the DELTA Pro Ultra could charge using a standard 120V outlet plug like you’d find in any house, which we figured would be the most common way that people would charge it.
The unit charges at approximately 1,800 watts, so it should take around 3 hours and 20 minutes to fully charge the battery with AC power. In reality, it took 4 hours and 4 minutes, consuming 7.25 kilowatt hours to charge a 6,000Wh battery.
This slower-than-advertised charging speed is definitely something to keep in mind if charging speed is a critical factor in your buying decision. It’s not a significant issue, but we hate when brands exaggerate specs.
Surge Capacity Testing:
We also put the DELTA Pro Ultra through a surge test to see how well it could handle power spikes. The inverter is rated for 7,200W surges, but we pushed it well beyond that with a 9,200W load.
Impressively, it managed to hold for about 10 seconds, even briefly hitting 9,300W before shutting down. This speaks well of the unit’s potential limits. We have tested plenty of power stations that shut off way before they hit their supposed surge capacity.
Solar Input Testing:
One of the highlights of the DELTA Pro Ultra is its versatility when it comes to solar charging. It comes with both low and high voltage solar inputs, allowing you to connect it to a wide range of solar arrays and configurations.
In our tests, it performed flawlessly with a few different solar panel setups, delivering consistent power without any noticeable issues. Unlike some other units we have tested, there were no restrictions on voltage or amperage, making it easy to maximize your solar input. This is another major plus for those hoping to use the Ultra for off-grid applications.
Testing Noise Levels:
It might be one of the most overlooked things about a power station, but it’s something we always like to test for ourselves, especially given that plenty of people run their power stations inside their homes.
If you’re someone who is concerned about noise, you’ll be pleased to know that the DELTA Pro Ultra was dead silent during our tests. This was true even when we were pushing it to its limits.
We’ve tested more power stations than we can count, and this is probably the quietest unit we’ve encountered. If you’re looking for a whisper-quiet power station for your home or office, it’s an excellent option.
Testing Pass-Through Charging Capabilities:
We consider pass-through charging to be an essential feature for a well-rounded power station. Basically, it allows you to use your power station to run your devices and appliances while the station’s battery is charging. Sounds like a practical feature that you’d expect to be standard on all power stations, but it isn’t.
Unfortunately, this is also where the DELTA Pro Ultra had a fairly noticeable issue. While it handles solar pass-through charging without any issues, and it allows pass-through charging when it is connected to 120V or 240V AC power, it failed to pass power through its generator plug (L14) while it was charging. This is a disappointment, especially considering this unit's intended use for powering homes, garages, or cabins - all places where people use gas generators.
While it’s not a dealbreaker, it does seem like an odd oversight by EcoFlow.
Our Real-World Tests
Now that we have covered the results of our basic tests, onto the more exciting testing—what can the DELTA Pro Ultra actually handle in real-world scenarios?
Household Appliance Tests:
When it comes to household appliances, the DELTA Pro Ultra is a beast. It handled everything we threw at it with ease. Whether it was running a full-size fridge, microwave, stove, or even a combination of these, the Ultra powered them all at the same time without breaking a sweat.
We even pushed it to its limit by running an oven, a microwave, and a coffee maker at the same time, and it still had room to spare within its 7,200W limit! This may sound fairly standard for a unit that’s advertised as a whole home power station, but trust us, plenty of power stations would have been incapable of standing up to these types of challenges.
Heavy-Duty Equipment Tests:
While things worked out incredibly well inside the house, things took a turn when we moved to the shop for some more demanding tests.
The DELTA Pro Ultra could run standard base loads without any issues—lights, heaters, and small power tools were a breeze. It also managed to power a compressor, although it didn’t sound great and seemed a bit iffy on a few attempts. But when it came to running our car lift, the Ultra really struggled. Despite the lift only requiring 2,200 watts, the DELTA Pro Ultra stuttered and couldn’t maintain the power needed to operate it smoothly. This jittery performance isn’t just inconvenient; it’s potentially harmful to the equipment.
To ensure the issue wasn’t with our setup, we rewired a new transfer switch directly into the garage and ran the test again—same result. While the unit can handle most tools and appliances on their own, it struggles with high-demand, surge-heavy equipment, like a car lift, or running multiple high-power tools at the same time.
Pushing the DELTA Pro Ultra to its Limits:
For the final test, we decided to push the DELTA Pro Ultra to its absolute limit by running multiple high-demand tools we had in our shop at the same time.
We started with a space heater and gradually added more tools—a table saw, a chop saw, and even a high-power shop vac. Initially, the Ultra performed pretty well, but as we added more tools, it began to struggle. Again, the car lift proved to be too much. The surges caused by multiple tools operating at once also seemed like too much of a challenge, eventually causing the Ultra to power down.
Our Conclusions: A Mixed Bag of Performance
The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra is undoubtedly a powerful and versatile unit, capable of handling most household appliances and even some really demanding shop tools. Its efficiency, solar input versatility, and silent operation make it a strong contender in the portable power station market.
With that said, it falls short when you’re dealing with high-surge equipment, and the pass-through issues wit the generator plug could be a dealbreaker for some users.
If you need a power station for general home use, RVing, or some basic shop work, the DELTA Pro Ultra will likely meet your needs. But if you’re planning to run heavy-duty equipment or require seamless pass-through charging, you might want to consider other options. It’s also worth remembering that the DELTA Pro Ultra was designed to be expandable, so you could always look at running more than one to increase the output power and storage capabilities.
For those interested, Shop Solar is currently offering a $500 discount code on the DELTA Pro Ultra, which you can find right on the product page. We also encourage you to circle back and check out our original review of the Ultra, where we go into some of the more basic features, rather than just testing its performance.
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