@BLUETTI
So, after some thought on ways to install an EMP Shield unit on my EP500Pros I came up with this idea.
I’m thinking that I can get some 4 pin aviation plugs and make an insert that will have the EMP Shield unit soldered inline so that the 2 arrays going into each EP500Pro will be caught before a surge hits the mppts internally. I would still need to find a way to ground the insert adapter and I don’t know if this can be done via the case of the EP500Pro or not. Any ideas?
Thanks
The biggest risk to your electrical equipment during an EMP event will most likely from the grid. The above ground transmission lines will collect a lot of energy from the EMP which can lead to a power surge on all connected equipment. So besides a Faraday cage to protect your equipment from the direct effects of an EMP, you also need to have your Bluetti disconnected from the grid.
@TheQuickFox
I appreciate your comments. I have taken care of the grid threat. The Bluetti-s are not grid connected so I’m not worried about that either. I am concerned about lightning, CME, and EMP threats in that order. The EMP Shield products are the best in the business from all my research and that is what I have chosen to use as step one.
After lengthy discussions with the great folks at EMP Shield and reaching an understanding of what is possible, since Bluetti has not chosen to develop a relationship with them so that a product can be offered for the Bluetti line of products, I have been considering what may solve the problem without opening the case and voiding my warranty. Thus my question.
Ok, I found the ground on my two EP500Pros but I am interested in the recommended male threaded connector for each you would like to see me use and can I purchase four of the solar input 4 pin aviation connectors from Bluetti so I can make my inline insert connector for each EP500Pro?
Thanks again,
MD
It’s a lot more difficult than you think to stop an EMP surge. Any external wiring will act as an antenna. letting the surge in to whatever shielding enclosure you might have. So as far as protecting electronics, they need to be stored away unused in a sealed nested enclosure. Your EP500 can’t be up and running when it happens, unless your whole building is shielded, which is unlikely.
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The Government knows this so it goes the route of using only EMP-hardened electronics for comminications, etc. You can be sure they also have duplicate gear safely stored away in bunkers, to use after the blast. Not too many of us can afford to have a duplicate solar generator stored away.
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As far as shielding goes, it’s not so much the thickness, but rather how many nested layers your have, a metal box within another metal box, within yet another metal box; each insulated from each other. You can test your shielding by putting a radio and a recorder inside your EMP box, then after removing them from the box play the recording to see if the radio was still receiving a local broadcast station. If it can’t stop a radio station, it likely won’t stop an EMP.
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People have come up with all kinds of possible shields, such as nested metal garbage cans (not to easy to find anymore), insulated from each other, and a roll of metal duct tape to seal up holes and the lids.
Preparing for the unknown is kind of like putting on your blinker before making a lane change or turn. You do it in hopes it works but you can’t control stupid people who pay no attention or don’t care.
BTW “EMP Shield” is a specific product line of EMP products in case you didn’t know.
Someone brought up a point that whatever enemy would hit us with an EMP, might just be clever enough to wait a few days, then launch a 2nd one. Why? Because it would then catch all the people pulling out their generators and electronics from their shielded enclosures. 
That is how I’d do it. Or even better I’d design the crap I sell the US and other enemies to be specifically weaker than expected to assure their failure.
The potentials are almost endless. I start with the idea that 2 is 1 and 1 is none. Then I go to reasonable lengths based upon the potentials I really believe are most likely. For instance…
I choose the EMP Shield product line because it is the best on the market I have found in years of searching.
My list of threats in order of significance right now are;
Lightning
CME
EMP
The lightning is a big issue where I’m at due to soil makeup.
The EMP Shield products have the fastest response time to surges and come with a sizeable fund in case of failure. I have redundancy built in to my systems and the EMP Shield units are not designed to fail after one instance / attack.
I am about 20 years into my study, planning and implementation on this and a host of other topics related to homesteading.
FYI, I sold my tin foil hat when my last “theory” was found to be true.
LOL
Have a great day.
Here is a link to their EMP Shield product that I will be using on each Bluetti EP500Pro.
@MikeD Based on your follow-up question, our engineer replied as follows.
There is no way to ground the PV input port, the customer can only ground the wire to our machine separately. We do not recommend our customers to consider the extreme case like EMP
I connected a SCHAFFNER FN2200-25-33 Power Line Filter (1.2 kV, 25 A) to the two PV inputs.
This seems to have an earth grounding connection. It’s obviously not designed for EMP though, but seems it could some induced affects.
(https://www.newark.com/schaffner/fn2200-25-33/power-line-filter-emi-rfi-25a/dp/33R2333)
The 1.2 kV seems low for lightning-induced protection though, given eg 50 ft PV cable lengths…
Any thoughts from anyone?
“We do not recommend our customers to consider the extreme case like EMP”. First off here a customer is communicating a need and want for a product and or solution to a problem they have…that is where good businesses listen, take notes and find solutions / solve problems / sell products that do those things for their customers.
Secondly, maybe $12,000 dollars isn’t enough concern for you guys but it is for me. My concern is mainly lightning. I get a lot of it and the EMP Shield which is the brand name of the surge arrestor if the most capable device I have found to stop pretty much all surges, Lightning, all 3 phases of and EMP and Coronal Mass Ejections. My system is off grid and I will continue to seek a solution.
Everyone should have fuses/circuit breakers on the wiring from their PV arrays, for lightning protection. Ideally, inline fuses at the panels, and again just before the charge contoller (or in our case, before the Bluetti inputs.)
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The circuit breakers come in handy if you don’t like sparks when you plug/unplug panels on a sunny day. Btw, DC breakers are different than AC breakers (like you find at Home Depot). AC breakers depend on the alternating current going to 0 during the cycle to break the connection. But with DC you don’t have that so DC WILL jump the gap on an AC breaker, with the arcing over burning up the breaker parts while still allowing the circuit to be ‘live.’ You can find DC breakers online, not at your big box stores.
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Long wire runs can also act as an antenna, even from lighting in the clouds. It’s recommended to twist the pair of wires together. If you’re careful you can clamp the wires ends to a slow speed drill chuck to do the work for you once you laid out the two wires. You should also bury the wiring rather than run them overhead. Lastly, ground the frames and support of the PV panels themselves, with an adequate grounding rod at the site of the panels.
I agree with everything you said but twisting the pairs. Electricity flow makes the corona effect and that corona over time deteriorates wire insulation. Contact and proximity compound this issue and any tight bends will also enjoy the same wear and tear. In very high voltage applications like those I work with making neon signs (most of the time between 9,000 and 16,000 volts) these facts are very pronounced and one of the major points of failure in neon signage. You might argue that sure at those high voltages it may be a problem but at low voltages like 150 and below you may not see failure in your lifetime…I won’t argue with that either but I prefer to reduce issues and do not know any advantage to twisting wire pairs. I would love to understand your reason for doing so though. I prefer to understand others reasons than to just dismiss them when they clearly have a grasp of the topic.
Thanks.
And btw I have been accumulating and installing all the items you recommended as I build my system.
I tend to be a bit skeptical of lofty claims of EMP protection. Maybe they work, maybe they don’t. But don’t count on being able to get a refund after an EMP cripples the country. 
Just sayin’
Hopefully we’ll all get enough warning when tensions are high and the threat of attack is imminent. Disconnect everything and try to shield your Bluetti, radios, whatever. There’s a debate that solar panels can withstand EMP as the surge may fry the tiny wiring between cells. So even if your Bluetti survives, you’ll still need to charge it.
Yes indeed. I have my doubts about things as well, but I still get out on the road and drive with all the unalert people sleeping behind the wheel of their tesla…
For people that don’t think way down the rabbit hole on preparedness there will be terminal stops just after their ready made purchases that were supposed to solve problems. I’m a long way down the rabbit hole myself and found many opportunities for failure indeed and I’m sure there are more I have not considered. We can only do our best, hope those we trust do as well and then hope nothing happens to test us all ultimately.
EMP is not an extreme event considering that China floated at least 4 (weather) balloons over the US and the military didn’t think they were important.
Attach one or two nuclear devices to a balloon. Drop one over the plain states, and watch the chaos. Then drop another over the Mid-Atlantic states. That would put the us back into the stone age.