I have some questions about the Apex 300, first and foremost, is it still available at a reduced price, and when can I expect delivery for Europe?
My only purpose of use is as a permanent UPS for my electronic equipment / computers, I understand that it is compatible for this use?, however I see that for Europe the switching time is 20ms, above the 12ms needed for the ATX 3.1 standard.In other words, I am going to buy a battery that officially advertises 20ms for devices that officially require 12ms. Is this an incoherence?
I understand Bluetti’s switching time is usually faster than advertised but if I had problems I really couldn’t ‘complain’ or return as the equipment is meeting its 20ms specifications. What is Bluetti’s view on this?
On the other hand, what about warranties or potential damages? Is it exactly the same as if it had been bought through the official shop?Or is it limited in some way?
They did some tests on the UPS on the Jasonoid you tube review and it came out around 10 - 15ms which is very good for a LiFePO4 UPS system. I have used the AC300 UPS function for some time and have never lost power on my computers, however like you say there is always the chance. I have found the AC300 to be more reliable UPS than a APC lead acid UPS I was using previously. The Apex300 is supposed to be a bit faster than the AC300 so I don’t think you will have a problem.
The Apex300 is still available at the early bird price but not the VIP price or super early bird it seems. The delivery time for Europe is late July for the VIP orders and August for later orders. You could just wait for it to come to the Bluetti store and then it would be easier to return if you are not happy with it. It will probably be available in August or September direct.
Thanks for the information. I could wait for it to go on direct sale, but then the price would be much higher as well. Do you mean that indigoo currently does not have the same warranty conditions?
About the UPS it’s exactly like you said, I saw many reviews where the switching time can be under 10 ms But there might be some situation depending on the soc, amount of load etc… where it might take longer and critical equipment might experience a restart or crash. and in any case the station would be meeting its 20ms specifications.
I’m going to think about it, maybe it’s not such a good idea to rely on it always performing below 12ms until it doesn’t.
The warranty conditions seems to be the same on Indiegogo I was just thinking the returns procedure would be different as Indiegogo is an American store and the unit is being imported which makes it more complicated. When it is on sale on the EU store it should be possible to just return it easier if it didn’t work as you wanted. The price will most likely be a bit higher at first but maybe down to a similar price by Black Friday.
I don’t think there is a better option from a LifePO4 competitor in the EU market. The 0ms UPS is USA only and relies on the 120V single inverter mode.
Another option is you do double UPS where you connect a smaller lead acid battery UPS to a larger UPS like the Apex300. I was doing that for some time because it allowed me to switch power stations without turning off my computers. It also has another benefit of not worrying about the lead acid battery discharging in a power cut so you can still carry on as normal until the bigger power station runs out of power at which point the small UPS will power down the computers automatically based on the profile you set.
Yeah, right now at the current price the unit seems to be invatible but I only want it as a UPS and if it doesn’t meet the specs… let’s see if Bluetti makes a statement.
I had heard of the idea of a traditional UPS before but it has some insurmountable drawbacks.
They tend to offer very little power output even in AC mode (power from house), a simple PC playing may require +600W plus other devices (networking, servers, cameras).
Very poor wave quality and annoying noise.
All this can be solved by buying a good quality UPS, but it is incongruous to pay good money for a power station and then have to spend another 400 or 500 on a UPS to make up for what the power station doesn’t do and should do
It is not so much about quality, it is about technology. Lithium Phosphate isn’t as responsive as Lead acid which is why UPS companies persist in using Lead Acid batteries for UPS devices even though they are inferior for efficiency, charge cycles, energy density and most other metrics.
Bluetti solved this issue with the USA model by keeping one of the dual inverters active at all times to avoid this switching latency issue and that is why it is 0ms UPS. Eventually that technology might come to the EU, however it is not a perfect solution and there are trade offs with self consumption and battery cycle degradation.
I have had hundreds of UPS switches on my AC300 and my PC has never rebooted so I think perhaps you are worried about nothing. What I meant above is that you can’t guarantee that over thousands of UPS switches you won’t have a single reboot, however it is drastically better than no UPS and typically better than lower quality lead acid UPS which can have other reliability issues.
Well, the Elite 200 it’s rated for 15ms and the incoming Elite 100 it’s rated for 10ms so I guess the technology it’s out there, anyway as you said perhaps i’m worried about nothing. I read somewhere that the switching time depended on the load, I seem to remember that the switching time with a 200W load was much faster than a 20W load.
Looking fordward to know what @BLUETTI_CARE@BLUETTI can provide about this topic. I would like to understand that they have done the corresponding tests and can provide the actual speed needed and when those 12ms are really necessary or under which types of scenarios the UPS might not be fast enough
@corral
The laboratory test for the Apex 300 EU version UPS switching time is within 20ms.
Normally, a seamless switch can be achieved within 20ms, and of course, 12ms would be even better. For devices that have higher requirements for switching time, such as computers or other precision instruments, it is better to purchase power stations that meet the equipment requirements.
