AC500 & B300s sneak peak!

m.briney · September 1, 2022, 2:47pm

Still got “cold” feet about purchasing the new AC500 and B300s??

I’ve had the pleasure of playing around with a set for the past few days and maybe this will warm up those doubts a little?

This package is an absolute monster and the potential use-case scenarios are endless. Heavy? Yes. But surprisingly it ended up being more “portable” then I was honestly expecting. With the multiple RV plug outlets, this unit makes for a truly a plug-and-play experience with my scamp camper. Cranked the heater to 100%, fridge to max, and turned on water heater/pump and this unit didnt break a sweat.

Now lucky for me, my 2 year old daughter was kind enough to let me borrow her little red wagon, so I could play around with a few experiments.

NOTE: Even tho the canopy top looks pretty badass… its not actually IP65 rated. So I wouldn’t recommend taking it out in a monsoon, but it did allow for some easy transportation with bonus style points added.

So I then started wheeling around my house trying to find appliances to really see what this badboy was capable of… Miter saw, chest freezer, residential refrigerator, portable air conditioner, lawn mower battery charger, air compressor… check, check, check. I knew with Bluetti’s quality products, the massive pure sine wave inverter was going to be a champ, and she was. This beast handled everything I threw at her, but I really needed to step my game up and keep the tests coming while I still have the unit.

Then I remembered one of tests my buddy @Scott-Benson did with his EB3A and realized Bluetti had actually mentioned this new B300s expansion battery having an internal heater built in!! I needed to put this to the test!

I brought the AC500 and B300s setup to one of my accounts where I had access to a commercial walk-in freezer. Needless to say, the heating element in this new battery/module is going to be a HUGE WIN for our northern friends! I’m not really sure why Bluetti hasn’t pushed or advertised this feature more, but this a pretty awesome upgrade for their product lineup and I was impressed. Here’s some main points from my findings…

AC500 & B300s placed in commercial freezer set to 0F at 5:15AM on 8.30.22. Both units were charged to 100% the day before, turned off overnight and sat in a 70F environment prior to test.
Units are turned on but have “time out” setting placed to never. Note** currently unit will still will shut off after 4 hours with no outputs engaged.
*Total time in freezer was 30 hours.
*Total time in freezer while turned “on” with no outputs engaged was 16 hours and only dropped to 85% before pulling unit.
Avg 1% battery discharge/hour while “on” with no outputs activated.
8.5 hours to freeze (drop below 32F)
saw temps of internal reading hit as low as -18C (-0.4F)

*after pulled from freezer, charging b300s with power supply, took only 38 minutes for heaters to bring the battery up to a temp where it would start accepting a charge. killawatt showed 405w being drawn while heater was working.

**More detailed picture down below.

I wanted to push this out here to share some of my excitement of this new item so yall too, could possibly snag it at the ridiculous discounts the Indiegogo campaign is going to be offering. The link will go live at 7am PST or 10am EST today, September 1st. So 2 hours from now. Thanks again to Bluetti for letting me play with this amazing beast!

Heres the link if you want to check it out for yourself and support my daughter getting a new wagon… cause I am definitely keeping this one! hahaha

m.briney · September 8, 2022, 12:33pm

They’ve still got some KILLER deals available!! Get them while they last!!

DuAlac22 · September 25, 2022, 12:22am

Don’t see anything on the campaign. We ordered from the campaign and see that there are two gifts for the campaign going over what they had predicted. So when will we be seeing those, when we get our units sent to us? Do we get to pick or do we get both? I had emailed about this too, but yet again, haven’t received any response back from any of our emails. Please have someone reply to the emails.

m.briney · October 5, 2022, 12:22pm

@DuAlac22 You ever get an update on your purchase?? Have you tried logging into the campaign page and checking those updates?? Units are already starting to be shipped and delivered.

DuAlac22 · October 24, 2022, 9:11pm

Got-em’ a week ago, thanks! Now need the cable to check them out as I have B300’s from the AC300 unit I previously purchased - no B300S’s yet! Didn’t get in on the early bird sale so will wait for some better discount (if there will ever be one) in future!

m.briney · October 25, 2022, 10:04am

Nice @DuAlac22 !! I believe they still have some available at the $1899 price point which is still a pretty solid deal!

lsthomp · November 5, 2022, 9:30pm

Hello, i’m new to this forum and new to Bluetti and solar power as well. I am very interested in the AC500 but am concerned about a few things:

I can’t seem to get through to their customer numbers and am very concerned about buying a product as complex as these products unless i have good support. Does anyone have an opinion on that? i’ve tried for about 2 weeks to talk to someone, calling 2-3 times a day and can’t even leave a message since the mailbox(es) are full. Is there another way to get decent support?
I would like to tie the ac500 in to my house system and use it as primary and only use the electric company if i run out of battery-- can i do that with the ac500?
If i put the ac500 into my house system i’m assuming it will power 240 volt items since the house wiring is doing the combining/splitting necessary–is that correct?
Would it be reasonable for a DIY’er to put an ac500 into their existing house electrical system if it is possible?

Thank you,
Lawrence.

DuAlac22 · November 17, 2022, 3:03am

Just an update on the AC500 Indiegogo campaign about the required cables to use the split phase configuration. There is a kit available with the required pieces. But I don’t need the kit, just the split phase cables and the communication cable. The communication cable is the same as the AC300 so order from Bluetti. The split phase charging cable and the NEMA SS2-50R split cable are available from Indiegogo. In my case I had to ask about getting the cables separate from the kit and Indiegogo sent links so I could order. The way the links worked I surmised they were dedicated to my inquiry as I could only use one at a time to order, not order all at once in the same order. Just a pain in the backside but at least I have them ordered and hopefully receive them before the new year (Dec delivery date for the split phase cables on order page). Also, one of the “perks” arrived today unannounced (no tracking info prior from Indiegogo/Bluetti) - the reduced price PS70!!! Nice unit, works well so far, will try charging tomorrow from PV. Updates if needed, may follow. No other news on the other milestone perks - would be nice to know as we are not always around for delivery’s!

Rdk015 · January 22, 2023, 6:36pm

I recently purchased two AC500 and B300S batteries to run my 240V generator panel. You need two units to run in split phase mode in order to accommodate 120 and 240 appliances.

With regards to Bluetti Support, I am extremely disappointed and probably would have went with ECOFlow if I had of known the support was so dismal.

The problem I had was I could not charge the system via AC wall outlet while the units were in split phase. I had to take them out of split phase first and then charge. I called Bluettie support and constantly got voicemail and when someone called be back they were not knowledgeable on the system and only directed me how to request support via email but would not let you speak to a technical person. There support is strictly by email as far as I know which is very time consuming and inefficient.I did resolve the problem on my own by speaking to an electrician who explained to me what L1 and L2 meant when I selected the breakers I needed to use when plugging in both units. Very easy in the end but Bluetti support was of no use to me.

Having said that I do love the product and I am pleased with the quality. If you need support for this product I would not rec omens it. Fortunately I am able to utilize other resources to help resolve my problems.

Advice to Bluetti if they read this post:

You have a great product but you need to up your game when it comes to support or you will lose Potential customers. Email support is not adequate support, you need people on the phones.