AC180 & AC180P Fans

According to this thread, AC180 Excessive fan speed and noise while powering small loads issues with abnormal fan behavior existed for over a YEAR and not only with AC180P (I own one), but with AC180 too.

The issue was described in detail a dozen times in this thread AC180P turns off randomly
also here AC180P control of the internal temperature of the station
and here AC180P fan

I appreciate the short time it took the developers to fix the UPS mode issue with new firmware for AC180P, but could you show the same zeal and haste to fix the fan issue that has been present on at least 2 popular models for over a year now, migrated from firmware to firmware and is no less annoying when used 24/7, considering that both issues shouldn’t have existed in the first place?

Decided to make this thread after I discovered another occasion when “the fan bug” happens: Used ac180p as a UPS, and when the electricity came back on it started charging from 15% to 100% in standard mode. After an hour of charging the station heated up as expected and the fan speed was going from 70-80% to 100% from time to time because it’s 30C or 86F in the room. When the charge reached 100% the fans were at 100% speed and they didn’t slow down. The load was 120-150 watts at that time. After 15 minutes of listening to this jet engine, I unplugged the station from the grid and the fans shut up instantly.

Hi @VSM, We highly value your feedback. However, our software policy is designed to meet the needs of the majority of our customers. Most customers require the fan to operate, and this is consistent with usage logic.

To ensure better cooling and battery safety, the fan will indeed automatically turn on based on actual usage and battery temperature. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, this software policy cannot be changed.

Additionally, the noise level of our machines complies with the standards, and a certain level of noise is unavoidable.

Regarding the SOC issue you mentioned, we recommend recalibrating the battery, which should help.
Please follow the steps below:

  1. Please discharge all the power (charge AC & DC appliances with the power station till it is out of power and turns off automatically);
  2. Please charge it again, please do not load any device when charging it, and do not interrupt it while in charge.
  3. Once the power is 100% fully charged, turn off the machine, and leave it the whole day.

Please let us know if it does help.

I’m sorry but you have no idea what you are talking about and just putting words in my mouth.

  • I do not want the fans to never turn on;
  • SOC is not an issue.

Next time spend at least 5 minutes on research before replying considering I gave you all the links you need, or do not reply at all. There are staff members here who already know what the issue is.

Hi Bluetti.
I am posting on this thread because I have a similar issue, and the OP has already put links to other related posts.

I have just bought an AC180P, UK version, direct from Bluetti. I started by calibrating it, then updating, all seems good with that. I used a constant 800w AC load to completely discharge the AC180P, fans came on for the duration. I also tested with a constant 400w AC load (approx 1 hour). Fans came on for duration, much quieter though. I charged a laptop 65w AC load, no fans. I ran an AC small fridge freezer which cycles on and off, varies between 400+ watts down to 45w due to compressor. Occasional fans when compressor kicked in. So I think the fans work as expected with the AC side.

However, when I used the cigarette lighter socket to charge at approx 100w the fans came on quite high for the whole duration, much higher than with the 400w AC load. This was such that it would probably be more efficient to use the AC than this charging port. Charging via USBc at 60w does not cause the fans to come on at all, so I think this issue is only with the cigarette lighter port DC charging.

I do want to be able to use the cigarette lighter charging port efficiently. I wondered if there was any update to deal with this issue please?

SN : 2335000022705
ARM v.2089.03
DSP v.2088.03
BMS v.1039.01

There’s no point, they decided to ignore the existence of this issue:

  • they will tell you that they tried to fix it but failed;
  • then they’ll gaslight you into thinking that everything is fine and you just want to disable the fans completely.

Like they did here AC180P turns off randomly - #989 by BLUETTI_CARE and in this thread.

Next time you buy portable Bluetti stations try to do all testing possible during the first 14 days of the return policy, because RMA won’t solve this. Considering their God-awful mess with the firmware updates and QA testing, their main target audience is those, who camp once a month and use their stations to run a fridge and charge their phone.

Thanks for your reply. I can understand your frustration as the reply didn’t really address your concerns. I also do understand the need for fans on the unit, this is not my first Bluetti product, I own several smaller units and none have this issue.

I am still in the first 14 days of ownership and this is my first Bluetti device larger than the EB70. I wanted a higher capacity unit that would last a lot longer in a power cut, but this seems dependent on not using the cigarette port, which means I don’t really have full, proper use of the AC180P as I expected to. I would want to use that port to put a bit of charge in my smaller Bluettis after using them, so they weren’t sat at zero charge pending power restoration, when they could be fully recharged. I also have a heated throw for which I would need to use that socket.

The AC180P seems to work well apart from this one issue. I understand there is a bank holiday in China (happy moon festival Bluetti!) so hopefully I will get a reply soon. I have seen posts about this issue in other forums / groups so it seems quite common. I can’t imagine this is something Bluetti can’t sort out.

Hey @VSM

Thanks for your input.

By reading your initial description, im not fully understand whats exactly the issue. When Charge or discharge the unit heat will generated that needs to be pushed out of the AC180 case. Every device does that.

For what i notice, the Fan on my AC180 spins when one or two requirements are meet. Reach a certain temperature or reach a certain draw, charge. These fixed values, where the fan is running is to prevent a on/off of the fan and instead cooling it steady.

If you only connect a small load, the fan mostly are off and just turn on when its get too hot. But running the Unit as UPS means heat generation from charging and discharging at the same time. So the unit needs to run longer to transfer all the heat.

This will be because less heat gets generated and i assume also a specific “line” that is configured for run the fans will not meet.

Beside that, im agree with you that the Fan curve could be tweaked by a bit. Maybe let it run really silent to have a minimum of airflow, instead of waiting to reach a certain value and run 100% then.

greetings
Erik

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Hi @Tezzabee, We are very concerned about the issue you’re experiencing. We recently handled a similar case, and you can click the following link for more information.

The AC load capacity is much higher than that of DC. While this load power is too high for DC, it is not significant for AC. This is why using DC output with the same device may activate the fan, while AC output does not.

For power stations, high temperatures are the biggest enemy. Our machines use special algorithms to automatically activate the cooling fan when the internal temperature rises. Reducing temperature is prioritized over noise reduction.

Thank you very much for your holiday wishes, and we wish you and your family joy as well. Please feel free to contact us if you need more help.

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Hi Bluetti,

Thank you for your reply. That does make sense about the lower DC capacity requiring the fan more as it is working nearly 100%, whereas the AC usually isn’t.

I don’t find the fans during AC discharging, or standard charging, particularly loud compared to my older Bluettis, so there is no issue with the sound level for me. I was more concerned that being constantly on at quite a high level (there was no fluctuation or stopping during about 2 hours) affects the efficiency of charging via DC, which I’ve been told should be more efficient than using the inverter with AC.

I just tested the DC again via the cigarette lighter socket with my heated throw. This used about 100w and heated up as it should. The fans did not activate at all, so maybe the previous case was due to the particular load. I will do some further testing with different items to check it out.

I am still getting to know my AC180P but so far I am impressed, especially with the speed of charging up and its AC capabilities. Although the AC180P is a bit overpowered to be used for my small AC fridge freezer I test all my Bluettis with that to give me a good comparison. The AC180P achieved over 42 hours normal use run time which I am very happy with :)

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Hi @Tezzabee, Thank you for sharing your test results. We have confirmed with the R&D department that the temperature of the DC output affects the fan speed. With a 100W load on the cigarette lighter port, the temperature should be relatively high, causing the fan to run faster; whereas the temperature on the USB side doesn’t rise as much, so the fan doesn’t activate.

For the electric blanket, it consumes more power initially to heat up, but once it reaches the desired temperature, it won’t continue heating. It will only heat again once the temperature drops. Therefore, the fan does not turn on frequently.

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and this one more time AC180 Excessive fan speed and noise while powering small loads
This is the main issue.

How much heat is generated when the station is 100% charged in the UPS mode with loads under 200watts so it decides to run the fans with 100% NON-STOP for at least 15 minutes considering that the fan speed accelerates AND SLOWS DOWN BEFORE it reaches 100% charge?
Are you telling me it generates more heat after reaching 100% charge and it generates more heat than loads over 1000 watts?
Now the million-dollar question: why the fans suddenly make a full stop and keep staying at zero speed if I unplug the station from the grid and instantly plug it in?