For the first users who have (too early .) adopted B230/B300 expansion battery solutions (with AC200MAX or AC200P) for domestic use and not mobility (which is the initial use case) : there is a solution to build a kind of balcony solar system “homemade” with the bluetti B230 and B300 extension batteries.
For this you need, of course a B230 or B300, a BLUETTI D050S (to charge the battery from the solar panels) and a grid tie converter SUN 2000 GTIL2 (or SUN 1000 GTIL2) with a DC45-90V input and a current limiter (a current sensor sold as an option), a bluetti’s P090D to XT90 cable (+ another cable XT90 to O ring cable on aliexpress) or a bluetti’s P090D to MC4 cable (+another MC4 to O ring cable on aliexpress). You connect the solar panels to the bluetti’s B230/B300 via the bluetti’s D050S, you connect the B230 or B300 to the SUN 2000 GTIL2 (or SUN 1000 GTIL2) via the P090D cable (to MC4 or XT90) and the complementary O RING cable. You put your current sensor (limiter function) around your main current inlet in your electrical panel (single-phase).
You put the B230 or B300 in “Power bank” mode… And you have a system capable of storing the excess electricity produced by the solar panels, injecting up to 560 W into your home grid, with a zero function export to the grid (self-consumption). I’ve been testing it for over a month and it works well and helps lower your electricity bill. (you can also charge the B230/B300 when electricity is the cheapest and inject into your home grid, when the price is most expensive). This solution offers the main advantage of having a dynamic injection current limiter (zero export… this adapts to your actual consumption). The system will never inject more than what you consume, whereas the “balcony solar system” does not have this functionality - you can only set a fixed injection threshold), the disadvantage of my solution is that of course the B230/B300 is less waterproof than a B210, the “balcony solar system” allows a little more power to be injected (but does not have the zero-export/limit function which is a big disadvantage), the balcony solar system can take a higher charging power than what the D050S can do. Finally, this solution requires some DIY skills (even if it only involves assembling elements on the shelf) because you have to put the limiter on the electrical panel. Finally, I let you check if the grid tie inverter meets the standards required for your country… As I tell you, this is the solution for earlier adopters of Bluetti B230/B300 who do not have an other solution and not the will or the money to reinvest in a complete, new, storage and injection solution from Bluetti!
Hi @Snips1
Kinda interesting setup. Definitely no “Plug & Play” solution, but i think B300 and AC200 Units are really popular. For thoose who want to use everything they already have, great solution.
Thanks for sharing with us!
Erik
For people interested in setting up an economical solar energy storage solution for injection into the home’s electrical network without exporting power to the electricity supplier, I tested the OUKITEL B2000 combination with the SUN inverter 2000 GTIL2 (after doing it with the bluetti B230). I will compare the OUKITEL B2000 to the BLUETTI B230 for this use…
And without prolonging the suspense, even if the Oukitel B2000 is cheaper and promises more power for the grid tie inverter, I think that the BLUETTI B230, even if this product was released longer ago, remains the best choice.
Points where the Oukitel B2000 seems superior to the Bluetti B230:
-slightly cheaper price for the OUKITEL (I got it for less in Europe)
-brighter display for the OUKITEL, with more information: remaining battery capacity, power output, charging power, charging time remaining before the battery is full….indication of anomalies on the DC outputs (overload etc… ) This is a real plus compared to the B230.
-possibility of direct solar charging: the oukitel B2000 integrates an MPPT, while for the Bluetti you must purchase an additional D050S adapter
-On paper the oukitel B2000 has an XT60 output which allows 48V output up to 15 amps! i.e. 720 W (in real use the maximum output power on mine is 675 W, so 100 W more than the Bluetti which can only output 570W at most and you have to buy the P090D cable): this is what motivated me to buy an Oukitel B2000
Points where the Bluetti B230 is superior to the oukitel B2000
-even if the OUKITEL B2000 is robust and the construction quality is very good… the Bluetti B230 is for me even better and even more solid (the plastic of the Bluetti is really more rigid and solid)
-The bluetti B230 is more compact than the Oukitel B2000
-the Bluetti B230 can be recharged by an external charger up to 470 W (so faster), while the Oukitel B2000 can only be recharged by an external charger through the solar input and then the power is only 200 W max.
-the solar input of the oukitel B2000 is limited to 200W while the bluetti D050S charge amplifier accepts up to 500w from solar panels to recharge the B230
(of course the expansion batteries from Bluetti or Oukitel, can also be connected to the main station (AC200max for example and BP2000 for oukitel and in this case can be recharged more quickly)
-BLUETTI customer service (in Europe) and the presence of this forum are a strong point for Bluetti…. For Oukitel I don’t know the customer service, I didn’t find a forum and the company seems much younger than BLUETTI
In the end the points which make me say that the bluetti B230 is better for mounting a balcony solar system than the oukitel B2000 (with a sun 2000 GTIL2)
-When the sun is weak (early morning or late afternoon): I hear the relays of the oukitel B2000 clicking frantically (between not enough power / open the relay and sufficient power / close the relay) which is not good for the life of the relays. While the D050S doesn’t seem to rely on a electromechanical relay and handles the low sun situation better
-The big point that makes the Bluetti B230 better in my opinion for use with the grid tie inverter with a dynamic injection limiter (0 export) is that when the battery charge level drops and the Bluetti B230 is no longer capable of maintaining his 570 W max of power delivered, it will then gradually lower the power delivered but in a stable manner until it stops permanently (empty battery).
For the oukitel B2000, there’s a big fault in the following situation: when the battery level approaches 31%, it is no longer capable of delivering its power (max of 675W) in a stable manner, it begins to wave…: the B2000 tries to increase the power to the maximum, he does not succeed, the power drops to zero, and he starts to gradually increase the power again, and again the power drops to zero etc… in short the grid tie inverter is not no longer powered normally (it ripples) it totally destabilizes the other grid tie inverters (with limiter / zero export function) which are on my home grid and it makes everything malfunction.
On the Sun 2000 GTIL2, I then imposed a power limitation of 590W, and there the OUKITEL B2000 was able to continue to deliver stable power… up to a load level of 7 to 8% and there it started again to go up and down the power that it is not able to maintain…., I then again lowered the max power limit on the inverter to 570W set on the sun 2000 GTIL2… and the oukitel can operate normally again down to 4% charge and then I stopped the experiment.
In short, the advantage of the oukitel B2000 of greater power output (675W compared to 570W for the B230) is valid in the range 31% of charge to 100% of battery charge. But when the B2000 battery is under 31% charge, it starts to ripple and no longer works properly.
By lowering the maximum power level (set on the grid tie inverter) to 570W we manage to stabilize the B2000 over almost the entire operating range (4% load to 100% load) but as a result we are at the same power level as the B230 ( the advantage of the B2000 is canceled: 675 W MAX power).
So for me the B230 wins for this reason, it is more stable and reliable and knows how to lower the power delivered to remain stable in its operation, not the B2000.
Conclusion
The Bluetti B230 remains an excellent investment for a balcony solar system
I kept the oukitel B2000, I know its fault which I am now managing to patched it properly, but if you don’t want to take the hassle and you want to be sure to have customer service and a forum that helps you , you should rather go to bluetti B230 for injection use.