I noticed some odd behavior on the Bluetti AC500 recently and wanted to see if anyone else has observed the same thing or may be able to provide an explanation. The last two times I have had the solar panel hooked up to the Bluetti AC500 (solar panel is PV420), I noticed that the reading of the PV input from the panel would go from reading an accurate input (ex. 330 watts) to showing 0 watts (same conditions - full sun and no clouds) and would stay there for two seconds or so before rebounding to the wattage it showed before. At first I thought it might be a loose connection somewhere between the panel and the AC500 but everything was confirmed to be secure. Then I realized that it was doing this on a pretty regular basis (about every 4 minutes) so the pattern would lead me to believe it may be a firmware issue. I have seen it happen in two different sessions (one on the DC1 leads and one on the DC2 leads). I recently upgraded the firmware due to another issue I was encountering with one of the B300S batteries. I am now showing firmware version IoT v9041.10, ARM v4044.07, DSP v4045.30. Thanks in advance for any input.
Hi @Pilotstt, Could you please let us know the SN code of your AC500, its current BMS version, and which country version it is?
We would like to push the latest firmware to you, and please test it after the upgrade.
In addition, could you take a video, upload it to a cloud drive, and then share the link with us? This will help us further analyze the problem.
Thank you for your response. I will be glad to send you the serial number information and a video but would like to do so off of the forum. Is there a way to reach you directly regarding this matter? Thank you.
Hi @Pilotstt, You are welcome.
I will contact you later via private message.
We will follow up on this matter.
I wanted to provide an update on this for anybody interested. Bluetti reached out regarding the issue and asked for some additional information in an attempt to assist. In attempting to get more information, I attempted to charge the unit with solar again and the problem did not occur (everything worked fine). There were several differences with this charging session including more stable solar conditions (more time with full sun and fewer clouds), the AC500 unit being in an area with a little more ventilation around it, and the charging cables from the solar panels resting on the ground rather than being suspended in the air going to the AC500. I will continue to monitor the situation to see if this issue is encountered again in the future and will post any additional developments. Thanks to Bluetti for reaching out.
Hello,
I am experiencing similar problems (with an AC500), the PV input would be 0 watts but the Volts were still at their max (109V per array). As soon as I turn off my AC OUTPUT and back on again, then the PV in registered the expected values. This situation has been occurring more frequently for me, now about twice a week. I believe my mppt is starting to fail. Did you (@Pilotstt ever discover why your wattage was 0W?
I am waiting for bluetti_care to respond to my email with my situation in the meantime.
-Will
Hello @wtytke ,
I never did figure out the issue and there has been quite an adventure with the AC500. Bluetti reached out to me and I actually sent my unit to them for repair. They were not able to reproduce the issue during their testing and they stated that the unit was working as it should so they offered to send me back the unit I had or a refurbished unit (because the AC500 had already been discontinued by that time). I just had them send me back the unit I sent them so that I could troubleshoot some more. I never did have any luck resolving the problem. I had previously had an issue with one of my B300S batteries that turned out to have a dead cell in it (they shipped me a refurbished B300 battery to replace it as the B300S had already been discontinued). So I bought an AC500 and two B300S batteries in the beginning and ended up with a unit that has a minor issue that could not be resolved, one B300 battery, a B300S battery, and a sore back (a lot of shipping heavy things - HaHa!). I hope you have better luck but please let us know how/if you get your issue resolved.
Thank you for the quick reply, I too, have a B300 that is most likely defective since it falls to 0% compared to the other five B300S’s that I have. I charged it to 100% but falls behind all the others. I am going through all the motions of discharge/charge. The AC500/B300S’s have been working great for the past year and a half constantly on, but just recently the problems really started on this system.
I know about the back (and knee) issues, I have lugged two AC300’s and two B300 batteries over the past couple years that had various other problems that I needed to send off . . . from a bad bms to bad batteries. Unfortunately, they are the old versions that can’t accept the newer firmware updates (early adopter) and I am about to expand my panels to take advantage of that older system. I have 3 AC300’s and 7 B300’s that I need to take full advantage instead of just being a battery back up.
With the history of the wattage drops, Bluetti can see that the system is not bringing in PV during those periods that it drops via the app data. I don’t know how they won’t know what will fix the situation, diagnose various components etc.
Just an FYI, the AC500 is in a controlled environment indoors, so overheating is not an issue. Also, I had the 0Watts issue occur whether it is cool or hot outside.
I will keep you up to date.
Still awaiting a reply.
-Will
Sounds like a similar situation to what I have had on the AC500. I was a very early adopter (crowdfunding) and ordered pre-sale because it had just about everything I wanted for a backup system. My setup has been kept in excellent conditions and is still like new. I really liked the B300S batteries because they could provide DC power independently and had better solar charging capabilities but they must not have done very well as at least one of the two that I got turned out to be bad and it seems like they discontinued those batteries relatively quickly in favor of other models. I am currently planning to keep mine for a while but wish they had carried that line forward. Keep us updated.
@Pilotstt
Update III: Looks like the AC500 is the issue, since I had the issue happen again without the “faulty” battery connected. Supposedly they have a special firmware update that fixes this situation so you may want to inquire but they can’t push it to my unit for some reason or another, that’s concerning. Now I need to pay to have it repaired & shipped (because it was a prize from Bluetti). That is unfortunate, I have spent probably $20K+ between batteries and their solar generators.
UPDATE II: After rereading your posts and situation concerning the B300S battery issue, I am hypothesizing that the B300S battery is causing the dropped PV to 0W (when the battery drops to 0%). Maybe your refurbished replacement battery is causing the issue to continue. Did your issue reoccur once you removed those batteries from “loop”? I am about to find out this weekend, I need to do a lot of other tests with that specific battery. I had it drop from 100% to 0% while the other 5 batteries dropped from 100% to (54%-62%).
UPDATED: This morning I logged into the app from work and noticed the PV in = 0 watts.
Turned the AC off/on again from the App and the PV in was finally working again. Like I mentioned, this situation “appears” to be happening more frequently but I will continue to monitor. I really think the MPPT is failing but who knows, maybe it was a prior update in the past several months ago that changed something. I am frustrated, since I can’t pinpoint the “cause” of the PV in not accepting power. Awaiting Bluetti’s response from this last occurrence.
Bluetti has reached out, but I already had the latest firmware. Also, I am in the setup of charging up/then Discharging each battery, separately. So that will take awhile between work and sunlight, etc.
As for the AC300’s that I have, there are two completely different AC300’s (internal components) to the point they should have different model numbers. Mine can’t be updated past 4032 vs 4036 on the newer AC300 units, and there are features that I can’t use such as the very useful Auto turn on as soon as power is received by either AC in or PV in).
I am concerned when I hook them up to my new panels that I might have difficulties with a Master/slave setup and then hooking up to a subpanel. But that is a project for probably next year.