It’s been a while since I bought my AC200MAX, and I’ve misplaced the included cables.
Now I have a solar panel, with the standard solar panel connectors, and I want to plug it into my power station.
What kind of connector do I need?
There are three listed on Bluetti’s AC200MAX accessories page, and none seem right.
https://www.bluettipower.com/collections/ac200max-accessories
What should I be buying?
Certainly someone can answer this, please?
What are the specs on the solar panel and what type of cable connection is it using.
I have four BougeRV Arch 200 Watts Fiberglass Flexible Solar Panels.
Each has:
Open Circuit Voltage Voc (V) 19.8±5% V
Max Power Voltage Vmp (V) 17.1±5% V
Max Power Current Imp (A) 5.85±5% A
Short Circuit Current Isc (A) 6.16±3% A
They use Universal Solar Connectors.
I was thinking that the four of them, connected in series, would be within the 10V-145V voltage range, and below the 15.2A ± 0.3A max current.
Surprise, surprise. I just found the accessory bag for my AC200MAX, and contains the appropriate cables for solar charging.
There are two:
With these in hand it’s easy enough to see how things go together.
And why I had such a hard time figuring out what I needed from the Bluetti website. The cables I needed weren’t there.
Good day Jeffery:
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I read your note last night and figured you needed some help, usually I am a little faster on the reply, but was very busy today.
So I am glad you found your bag of parts.
I was going to say you needed a few things first in order to hook any panel up to the AC200MAX.
So this is what you need and most likely have since you found your gear. :
(1)XT90-MC4 cable
(2)XT90 AVIATION CABLE
(3)AND POSSIBLY SOME EXTRA MC4 CONNECTORS
Concerning the actual hook-up and what you need to know.
Stringing the panels together in series is the way to go for now with what you have.
The only thing that can cause damage is over voltage, over amperage is safe as the MPPT controller will manage that.
A simple rule of thumb for stringing your panels together is,
Solar panels that are wired in series have their output voltages added together, while their output current (amperage) remains the same. On the other hand, solar panels that are wired in parallel have their output currents added (increased amps), however, their output voltage will be the same
Your 4 panels each at 19.8 VOC * 4 = 79.2 well below the maximum threshold of the VOC.
Brent
Thanks for the response.
Two additional questions:
Where can I buy additional cables PV cables? The connector on the AC200MAX doesn’t seem to be any kind of industry standard. Now that I’ve found the accessories pack that came with my power station, I don’t have an immediate need, but if I were to need replacements for the accessory cables, where could I find them. I’ve t been able to find them on the Bluetti website.
Where can I find the specs were I to want to make up cables myself? I could easily see myself wanting a cable that went straight from the solar panels to the power station, without the intermediate XT90 connection. The precise connector specifications and pin out should be in the manual, but it isn’t. Is it somewhere online?
Hi. Bluetti should be able to direct you to where to reorder those parts
Or you can get what you need on Amazon
https://www.amazon.ca/Connector-Adapter-Extension-Portable-Generator/dp/B0BD858S6Y
and this
As far as finding the right cables for your run, check this guide out for info on cables size.
I use 10AWG for my cable run of about 75 feet.
I would think you have to follow the standard with the connections MC4/xt90 etc
