I tried running my 13.5K BTU air conditioner (which apparently runs at 1450Watts, but I don’t know what the starting power requirements are) off of the 30A/120V port on my AC200L and it faulted almost immediately. Has anyone else had luck with running air conditioners off of an AC200L? Should I expect that to work?
Thanks!
Hi @devguydavid
welcome to the bluetti community forum!
Things like air conditioner can have really high start up surge. Have a look at this website:
Here you can calculate your start up power and see, if its fits the AC200L inverter.
greetings
Erik
Interesting, because I bought mine for a similar reason. I run a 12k BTU air conditioner on my boat. And it works off the Bluetti battery. It runs at about 1250 watts, surges a bit higher, but the AC200L can handle up to 2000w normally, or 3000w surge. It will only run for about 90 minutes, so I need to recharge with a generator or something, which is an issue I’m working on.
You should have more than enough power if your battery is in good working order. You say it faulted almost immediately. You mean the A/C system faulted or the AC200L? If it was the AC200L then maybe the the wires/cabling were improper size or not hooked up correctly. I plugged in a 30A adapter to a 30A boat shore power cable and this works for me.
If you are sure your cabling is good, two other things to try - don’t turn your ac on all at once. First turn on the fan by itself, your battery should easily handle that at least, then after that is running, then turn on the ac proper.
You could also look into installing a “soft start” which is a capacitor that eliminates the immediate surge from turning on ac. I bought one, but never ended up installing it myself.
Thank you both for the replies! This gives me some things to try and think about.
The wiring should be good. It’s a new travel trailer, the 30A plug it came with works off of a 20A plug on my home. I suppose that also means the surge shouldn’t be exceeding 2400W theoretically.
I’ll try staging the fan and then A/C. That’s a good idea.
I’ve read that the soft start units can void warranties, but I think that would be a good solution if the staging doesn’t work.
According to that generator sizing website, the start wattage is nearly 4000W! That’s surprising from what I’ve read, but I’m by no means an expert.
I think the estimate on the site above applies to home units. A/C units on RVs and boats are different animals and are more energy efficient. I know that my 12k BTW a/c doesn’t surge higher than 2000W because I can start it and run it off my 2000W generator.
But keep in mind, even if you run it off the battery, it won’t be running super long. Mine will last 90minutes, so your a/c would last a little less since it draws more power. Solar on a trailer can’t keep up with that. You would need a generator or multiple expansion battery packs.
Add a SoftStart to your air conditioner and you should be good. Mine runs 15,000 btu with the SoftStart.
One other item to consider is to make sure you don’t have any other loads on. Turn the breaker off to the converter/charger, that could be drawing enough (depending on soc of camper battery) to prevent the ac start up.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I tried turning on the fan first and then the A/C, and it came on without overloading the Bluetti. Success!