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Solar · EcoFlow

Solar panels for the EcoFlow RIVER 3 PLUS

Written by Ian Schneider·Solar & Off-Grid Tester

The RIVER 3 Plus takes solar at 11 to 55 volts and 220 W, through one XT60i socket, the yellow DC plug on the end of EcoFlow's own solar cable. That is a lot of input for a 286 Wh battery. Twenty-eight of the forty-one panels we track stay under the 55 V line, seven of them EcoFlow's own. Four go over, three of them only on a cold morning.

Five panels fill the 220 W on their own, and any pair of 200 W folders gets there too. Either way the battery is full in about an hour and twenty minutes of good sun. EcoFlow's product page says as fast as an hour and a half. The arithmetic comes out a little quicker. For a weekend at the cabin I'd carry two of Renogy's 200 W blankets and be done charging before I'd finished splitting the morning's kindling.

The door
11–55 V
Its width
220 W
Plug
XT60i
Full battery, best case
~1.3 h
EcoFlow RIVER 3 PLUS portable power station
Add EcoFlow's extra battery and the manual lifts the AC input and the output ceilings. The solar row is printed once and does not move.

The door

Every panel we track, lined up at the RIVER 3 PLUS's solar input

Every panel we track, lined up by the voltage on its label. That figure is Voc, the open-circuit voltage, what a panel reads in sun with nothing drawing from it. The black line sits at 55 V. EcoFlow's manual puts the stop there to avoid damaging the station. Most of the line has room to spare. Nine panels have no published Voc and are not in the line.

The pale cap on each bar is what a −10 °C morning adds, about 10%. Three of the four panels over the line only get there with the cap on. One of them is EcoFlow's own 125W Bifacial Modular, at 50 V on the label. On my deck in January I'd take the cap seriously and leave that one indoors.

Hover a bar for the panel's name. If you already own a panel, type its Voc in the box and see where it lands against the line.

Swipe sideways for the whole line-up.

020406080volts, open-circuit+1++2yours?55 V · the lintel11 V · the step

Hover or tap a bar for the panel’s name and its verdict.

  • Fits through the door
  • Too tall
  • Extra height on a −10 °C morning
  • Maker prints only the operating voltage; the real height is above the dashes
  • 1Our pick: BLUETTI 350W
  • 2EcoFlow's own 125W Bifacial Modular

What we'd buy

The best solar panel for the RIVER 3 PLUS

Picked by the numbers on this station, not by brand.

Best overall

BLUETTI 350W Solar Panel (PV350)

One panel delivers 220 W, the most the input takes.

Check price at BLUETTI

Best value

Eco-Worthy 200W Flexible HJT Solar Panel 18V ETFE 18BB (GW-L02AM200HJT2)

About $1.64 for every watt it actually delivers here. 2 panels deliver 220 W, the most the input takes.

Check price at Eco-Worthy

Best to carry

Renogy 200W Portable Solar Panel Blanket (RPP200SB-SE)

144 W from a 8.82 lb panel, the most delivered watts per pound.

Check price at Renogy

A day on solar

How long the RIVER 3 PLUS takes to charge on solar

About an hour and twenty minutes, with the input full at 220 W. Twenty-four of the twenty-eight panels that fit can get there, five on their own and the rest as a pair or a set of four. One 200 W folder alone delivers about 144 W in real sun and takes about two hours. One 100 W folder gives about 72 W and takes about four.

A good day gives three to six hours of sun that strong, so any of those setups fills the RIVER 3 Plus in a morning. At 286 Wh there is not much to fill, and a short afternoon still gets it done. How many of those afternoons your state offers in a given month is the system builder's job.

a good day's sun: 3 to 6 h0 h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6 hInput full (220 W) · full in 1.3 hOne 200 W panel (144 W delivered) · full in 2 hOne 100 W panel (72 W delivered) · full in 4 h

Hours of good sun, from empty. Where you live and the month decide how many of those a day gives; the system builder works it out.

Every panel that fits

Solar panels compatible with the RIVER 3 PLUS

Twenty-eight fit. For each: the lead that gets it to the XT60i socket, what one panel delivers in good sun, and the most the RIVER 3 Plus takes from a set of them. Sorted by delivered watts, so the five that fill the input alone sit at the top, the BLUETTI 350W among them at 32.4 pounds. The station weighs 10.4. Eleven of the twenty-eight want an MC4-to-XT60i lead, MC4 being the click-together weatherproof plugs on rigid panels. None plugs straight in.

Too tall

Solar panels that won't work with the RIVER 3 PLUS

Four panels push past 55 V. Only one does it on a warm afternoon: the Anker SOLIX PS200, at 57.6 V on the label. The other three cross on a cold morning alone, when the pale cap lifts them over. One of the three is EcoFlow's own 125W Bifacial Modular at 50 V. If you bought it for a bigger EcoFlow, keep it there.

The Renogy 590W N-Type Bifacial reads 52.63 V and the Jackery SolarSaga 500 X reads 48.5, and Jackery allows 5% either way on top of what the cold adds. On a July afternoon all three would be fine. The charge controller does not know it is July. I wouldn't plug any of them into a socket rated to 55 and hope the morning stays mild.

Over the 55 V lintel (4)

No verdict (9): the maker doesn't publish an open-circuit voltage

Own a panel that isn't in the line-up?

Type its voltage into the door chart above for the height test, then put the rest of the label into the panel checker, already set to the RIVER 3 PLUS, for current and plug too. Or build the whole system to see how it keeps up where you live.

The plain answers

How long does the RIVER 3 PLUS take to charge on solar?

One 100 W panel delivers about 72 W in good sun and refills the 286 Wh battery from empty in about 4 hours.

One 200 W panel delivers about 144 W in good sun and refills the 286 Wh battery from empty in about 2 hours.

At its 220 W solar limit it refills in about 1.3 hours. More panel watts than that won't charge it any faster.

A day gives three to six hours of sun that good, depending on season and place, so one 100 W panel takes 1 to 2 days to fill it. The system builder works it out for your state and month.

What adapter does the RIVER 3 PLUS need for solar?

Every panel we track needs a cable to reach its XT60i input. None comes in the box.

The cables they need: MC4 to XT60i (11 panels), DC8020 to XT60i (4 panels), Anderson to XT60i (2 panels) and DC5521 to XT60i (2 panels).

9 panels don't have a named plug from their maker, so check the lead before you buy a cable.

Can you use non-EcoFlow solar panels with the RIVER 3 PLUS?

Yes. What decides it is the panel's voltage and plug, not the brand. 21 panels from Anker SOLIX, BLUETTI, Renogy, Eco-Worthy, Jackery and Rich Solar work with it, as long as the panel stays under 55 V on a cold morning and starts above 11 V.

The strongest single panels here are the Anker SOLIX 440W Rigid (220 W delivered) and the BLUETTI 350W (220 W delivered).

Can you connect two solar panels to the RIVER 3 PLUS?

Yes, joined into one input with a series or parallel cable.

Don't wire two BLUETTI PV100 FX Flexible panels in series: together they would pass its 55 V limit. Parallel them instead.

Past 220 W delivered, more panels only help on cloudy days.

What is the RIVER 3 PLUS's solar input?

Solar Input: 11–55 V, up to 13 A, 220 W.

Input limits from EcoFlow's documents, checked 2026-09-18 (source). Delivered watts assume 72% of the panel's rating in good sun.