My question is could the Bluetti charger1 be used to top up a Motorhome 100amp lithium battery using one of the pre-set charging regimes ie: AC180 or AC70.
I would avoid doing this, the simple description of the C1 is a variable voltage, controlled output load power supply.
It is not a battery charger per se. It will push in 10A constantly at the voltage you set even when the battery should float.
It provides a power source to a power station, which has its own internal charging system. i.e to the MPPT solar input and within its input limit.
I can see using it to charge a LFP battery, but with an MPPT solar controller in between. I have a Victron MPPT 75V/15A. Therefore, the 56V 10A output of the C1 is within the input limits of the Victron for 560W. The Victron then controls the charging Algorithm to the LFP.
In other words, the C1 replaces a solar panel as the power source and is not weather dependent.
I forgot to mention one very important point.
The C1 minimum voltage is 15V, which is too high for a 12V LFP battery and likely damage it.
As an aside, a Victron 75V 10A MPPT is all you need as 10A is the C1 limit anyway. (I just happen to have the 15A for solar mat use.)
Hi Mandp thanks for your informative reply and will just use my solar supply as I also have a 75/15A victron MPPT, so if I wired from the Bluetti C1 to the victron MPPT controller this would work.
Steve.
Yes, use the MC4 cable supplied with the C1 on its output and either make or buy something similar to then place in the input (solar) terminals of the 75/15. Make sure polarity is correct and you then can connect/disconnect if you need to use elsewhere.
I actually did not do this as all of my solar mats and blankets have Anderson plugs… I’ll go out and take a pic shortly.
This is some of my setup. I have not installed the C1 or Victron as for now I want flexibility for use with the 4x4, Caravan, Bluetti and other LFP batteries.
I’ll do this in note form;
- I made up a short heavy duty Anderson to C1 input.
- The output is the C1 OEM cable to MC4.
- This then connects to an extension cable (coiled) with MC4 on one end, Anderson the other.
- The extension Anderson then connects to the 75/15 MPPT solar input. This is so the Victron can be nearer the battery.
NOTE. The Anderson parallel double adaptor on the 75/15 output is not used there, I only placed it there to stop it falling of the draw as limited space. lol.
I have this parallel adaptor, plus a series connected doubler which are used to connect solar blankets to the Victron solar input in lieu of the C1. More…
As I have Bluetti AC70s & AC180S that can take 60V, I can connect my solar mats or blankets in series to get the voltage above 32V and therefor access the full 10A input.
I also have a spare 15A PWM controller used on the 4x4 auxiliary battery. As the blankets are only 120W, here I use the doubler in parallel to maximise Amps and keep the Voc below its maximum which won’t accept series voltages.
The biggest challenge is remembering what need a controller, what has inbuilt MPPT and their respective max voltages, lol. :)
I’ve seen some Youtube vids that boast, you don’t need solar if you use a Charger 1. I disagree. I prospect, sometimes camping in the same area for several weeks, without driving very far, very often. I don’t like the idea of idling my diesel engine (4x4) for several hours to power a charger. That’s why I have solar.
Forgot to mention. The Charger 1 is basically a step up voltage, amp controlled output device. I have a spare 100Ah LFP. If I wanted to use this spare to recharge an AC70 or 180 in a grid outage, I would set it at 35V @ 10A (to get the full 10A) for 350W charge.
If I connect it direct at around 13.2V, the input is only 8A for around 90W. Hence the short Anderson I made.
Which is a further reason at this time for not installing the C1 to the 4x4 permanently.