Hi everyone, I am new here and to the world of power stations
I am posting to ask for some ideas, suggestions and or feedback on which Bluetti power station I should choose.
Basically, I am planning to do a bit of a trip around my home country in a van. The electronic products I’ll be using will be:
A small fridge
A laptop
A pressure cooker
Charging phone
Boiling water
I suppose I’ll want the small fridge/freezer to be going more or less 24/7
I’ll probably be wanting to use my laptop about 4-5 hours per day (writing music and playing electric guitar off my laptop)
I’d be using a pressure cooker once a day (provided its size is large enough to cook a full days worth of food)
Charging phone at night
Boiling water a couple times a day
I appreciate that much of the above would depend on the precise power needs of these different devices. However, when it comes to measuring/estimating those power needs, and then matching them up to different Bluetti products - I don’t really know where to begin or what numbers to look at. So advice within that realm would be really helpful in particular.
I’ve done some research online and have identified, from what I have heard, the Bluetti Premium/Elite 200 V2 to be the most promising. Together with a Bluetti Charger 1 cable and some solar (for when the sun is out). However, some additional advice and knowledge in how to approximate which device would best suit my needs would really help and be very very much appreciated
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I would start by looking at your pressure cooker and or the electric kettle for boiling water, fridge, and laptop and see how many watts they draw. Total them all up. This would be a good minimum wattage needed. Meaning that the fridge could cycle on at anytime, and you could also be charging your laptop and cooking at the same time so you would need enough power to cover those 3 things all at once at a minimum. If you don’t plan on charging your laptop or phone while your cooking then you could use the fridge and pressure cooker/ kettle as a minimum wattage requirement.
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The only logical option is a Bluetti power station with a large inverter since you are planning on using an electric kettle and pressure cooker. Your laptop, phone, and fridge will run off DC side which is energy efficient, while your electric kettle and pressure cooker will consume a lot more watts, but since they carry a hefty wattage penalty, you’ll want a larger inverter to reap the benefits of being as efficient as possible. Anything larger than a Elite 200 V2 means you are going to be carry around a lot more weight just to carry around a capable inverter for your needs, which is not a problem if you have the space, but if its something you plan to just have “temporarily” stored in your vehicle, weight is a consideration. For solar you can go with two PV350 panels in parallel which will net you anywhere around 450 to as high as 700 watts on a full sunny day. I have a PV350 and realistically I get around 200 watts when laid flat and about 280 when tilted, max. This means at 450 watts you can top off an Elite 200 in 4 hours of peak Sun. This would align with around what the Charger 1 will produce in that same time period.
Assume you use the following:
Pressure cooker for 30 mins = 300Wh
Boiling 2L of water = 200Wh
20L-55L 12V Dual Zone Freezer (2C/-20C) will vary but consume around 600-800Wh a day
Laptop and phone likely around 50-60Wh a day, most of that being laptop of course
Minimum you are looking at around 1-1.5kW per day of consumption. Likely enough to last you throughout the day but you’ll need ample solar to recharge if not driving. Also while you technically can idle your vehicle and run your Charger 1 to charge your house battery (in this example say the Bluetti Elite 200) it will still stress your alternator. The pulley system needs to activate to charge the alternator properly, meaning you need to actually drive so the load on the alternator is reduced, otherwise you’ll always be pushing it at 80-90% all the time, and depending on your idle you may not have enough reserve power to keep your starter battery topped off. So while Charger 1 is nice for that occasional 4-5 hour trip, how often can you realistically drive 4-5 hours a day? You want to make sure you have solar potential as well. Henceforth why I recommend two PV350s in parallel, which is a good pairing with the Bluetti Elite 200 since it supports 20A of PV input.
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Thanks a lot for this. I ended up asking Grok last night and it took me through a similar rational. I asked it to overestimate how much wattage my different devices would be using, and in the end it figured that the premium/elite 200 V2 could power everything I needed (plus) for about 21 hours. So as far as the first and most important question goes - yes, the premium/elite 200 V2 does seem large enough to power my devices for a full day. The only remaining question is charging, which Sealy has addressed in her reply too. Really thankful for these replies, thanks so much
Thanks a lot Sealy. I asked Grok lastnight to help me do the calculations. I provided it the specific wattage of those devices and then asked it to overestimate how much wattage they might be using when active. In the end, it estimated that I could run the V2 for about 21 hours for the needs I have. Which I feel pretty comfortable with.
The next logical question is that of charging, which you have addressed very extensively. Thanks for taking the time. I didn’t know that the Charger 1 could cause more damage to the alternator in idle. That’s good to know. You make a good point as well about how much driving I or anyone could reasonably expect to do per day. I was kind of hoping I wouldn’t have to rely too much on solar. Mostly just because of how much that depends on clear days. But your post is helping me to see that more realistically now. Solar panels definitely are going to be an important part of it.
Now I am kind of thinking about fuel based electricity generators and the possibility of finding some kind of charging stations where I can pay to charge using a home-type of plug.
Thanks again for your thorough reply, its much appreciated!
Additional charging sources is always a good thing to have. My understanding with EV chargers (such as Level 2) do not use pure sine wave and can damage LFP batteries due to their charging profiles. I think LFP can only handle 0.5C but it wants to push 0.9. Even then you have a handshake process that takes place before it can even begin charging, so that’s why the only charging adapter you ever saw in the U.S for a Bluetti was for a simple Type 1 charger at 120V but those don’t exist anymore, making it pointless. I believe you need some sort of converter box to complete the handshake then step down the voltage in a format the Bluetti supports, but since I don’t know a lot about the subject matter I am not confident on what to do in that regards. So even if your home country has 240V, make sure the Bluetti can handle the waveform, it still may not be compatible unless you convert it somehow. Lastly, be mindful of charging your power station at facilities without explicit permission. A lot of people don’t realize you can’t simply pull into a rest area and tap into the electricity as its considered theft of utility. Similarly, not all, but a lot of restaurants have their AC outlet physically blocked to prevent leeching of power and also primarily to prevent homeless from charging their phones. Just be mindful and ask for permission to use utility before use to CYA.
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