I admit I get frustrated easily - I just want things to work. My biggest pet peeve is directions, or the lack of them. Why couldnt Bluetti just say how to hook up solar panels in series or parallel in the manual. The solar panels themselves had no manual at all. But anyway, I am very happy that after hours of trying to figure it out by doing online research, I finally posted to this forum for help.
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The products are produced in China and distributed throughout the world. At times the language translation leaves a little to be desired but with product forums to assist with info, there is actually more information available than ever but finding it when you want it can be a little frustrating at times.
Isnt everything made in China?
Lol. Yes thank god for the forum. Since following everyones advice and switching the solar panels to a parallel setup, it has been great. Today, the two panels actually were putting out 460 watts. Thats amazing considering that each panel is only rated at 200w. So yes, very happy now. I was on the verge of returning everything and giving up. My sincere thanks for all the help.
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460w with 2 panels of 200w : this is the magic of bifacial solar panels. Good choice!
No kidding! It seemed to make sense to get bifacial. Believe me, I spent hours researching what panels to buy. The price was the lowest I could find online for rigid 200w panels. The fact that they were bifacial made it a steal. I only paid $165 per panel on Amazon Business, plus tax. That seemed a steal to me after I did the research. The snow we have here in Maine is an incredible reflector. It blasts the sunlight, and definitely takes advantage of the bifacial feature. In fact, I bet I wont reach these levels of output once the snow is gone. Its funny because I was thinking I wouldnt get much output in the dead of Winter. Boy was I wrong! Now, I love the snow!
Anyway, I spent about $1000 for the Bluetti AC180 and panels, which included an extended warranty and tax. I can see right now, that I can cut my electric bill by 50% using this setup (I live in a small mobile home). Now Im thinking about one more panel. Its addictive! I would love to tie the Bluetti into my electrical grid. Is that even possible with the AC180?
You have a 60v 500w input limit so another panel would put you way over that. Time to upgrade to a bigger sogen already 
Yep, solar is addictive.
Yes, Ive been thinking of getting another AC180 already. My problem now is that I have more power output than the AC180 can store. If I had an additional battery, I think the two solar panels would be enough. But it seemed like just getting another AC180 would be cheaper than the battery. What do you think?
A 100 amp12.8v LifePO4 battery for $200 will give you an additional1,280wh, combined with an inexpensive solar charger and another solar panel that might be an option to consider. Your AC180 can input 60v so you could in theory add up to 4 batteries in series for a whopping 5100wh! Of course that would require a better charge controller and more panels
So its not possible to just plug in an extra battery to the AC180 and charge it that way?
Not directly. You could charge the extra battery with an AC charger plugged into the AC180 but that will waste a lot of power going through the inverter and charger if you are trying to maximize the amount of solar you want to gather per day.
If you’ve been seriously thinking about another solgen I would suggest you look into the AC200L. For the extra cost for the unit you’d get a larger inverter (2400 watts), larger battery (2048 Wh), and a very considerable boost to 1200 watts solar input. If you did take that path, put your solar on the AC200L (and add more panels if/when you can), and then charge the AC180 from the AC200L. You get both charged via solar, and you can suck in all the electric sunlight that you can. 
Hello,
if your home is connected to the electricity network and you have an electricity supplier, and you want to reduce your bill by injecting more electricity for self-consumption, you can connect a grid tie converter for example to the 12V socket of your AC180 which will allow you to inject a maximum of 120W into your home’s electrical network. example https://www.amazon.com/Inverter-DC16V-28V-Adjutable-Battery-Discharge/dp/B0B8C57K6Y?th=1
You will be able to adjust the injected power to compensate for your minimum electricity consumption and your Home’s Phantom Power, without giving electricity to the grid and your supplier.
It still requires some knowledge of electricity. If not (in Europe at least) bluetti markets a ready-to-use solution of the same type: 🔎 Explore How BLUETTI Balcony Solar System Works
Doing this takes you even further into the wonderful world of solar, storage and power grids ! (But still be careful of the risks)
So today I hit a new milestone. I hit 500w of output from the two, 200w solar panels! I understand that this is the max for the AC180. I am amazed to see the solar panels put out that much juice given their 200w rating. The snowpack is blasting light on the front and rear of the panels. I honestly think that given this performance, my current setup is probably adequate for my needs. I have a very small home, and live alone so my electric use is pretty small. But, the AC180 has been fully charging from zero to 100% within 4-5 hours. Given my very limited power consumption during the day, I could be storing up energy if I had additional storage. It kills me to think I could actually be storing energy, since the setup more than meets my daily usage. However, I have only spent about $1000 on my current setup. It is saving me at least 50% on my electric bill. This may be the sweet spot for me. When I have some extra money, I may look at expanding. But I am pretty happy with the price to performance ratio given my $1000 investment. If it saves me 50% off my electric bill, thats a monthly saving of $50. At that rate, the system pays for itself in two years.
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when we charge AC180 with grid (silent mode) and with PV (about 250w) simultaneously, at the moment when there is no energy in the grid, does the inverter continue working without disconnection or does the UPS intervene for 20ms?
Is UPS offline or online?
Eric
New AC180 owner. Why can’t you charge the AC180 from an external LIFeP04 battery using an accessory cable that has connectors to the external battery and a 7909 plug to the solar input?
You can do that, it works great if you have a way to recharge the Lifepo battery.
Hi there @Oakeso1 i have two AC180 one thing to note is if you are under 30v the AC180 will only charge @8a over 30v 10a you can go over amps as the 180 will only draw a maximum of 10a but never go over voltage or you will damage your unit.
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This 30V/8A threshold is an artificial limitation that they are so far unwilling to change. When your panels are not operating in ideal conditions you may very well see it and charging will take considerably longer. Ktt is correct in that the AC180 will only draw 10A even if more is available but don’t give it more than 60V. Panels are spec’d at 25C. Current doesn’t change much with temperature but below that the voltage goes up and above that the voltage goes down. You’re operating in the sweet spot right now. Enjoy it.
Keith
I, too, am a new AC180 owner. My understanding from research is that the Bluetti can not be fully charged by the battery because they are both 12v. Slightly more voltage is needed, such as 13-14v, to top off the Bluetti. This can be accomplished by installing a cheap 12v-24v step up converter in your accessory cable. This will have the added benefit of increasing the wattage as well for even faster charging. I found several YouTube videos describing this.
Normally, you always want to go for the highest voltage without exceeding the rated Voc of the AC180.
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On a side note, on rainy/cloudy/overcast days, if you aim your panels straight up they seem to gather more light and eek out a little more power. So if you have flexible portable panels just lay them flat on the ground.
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As for the Bifacial panels, I have three 550 watt Bifacial Renogy panels for one input on my AC500, in series to stay below the Voc, but they never produce more than +1300 watts. Yeah I know about panel inefficiencies, but I was hoping the Bifacials were different because of producing power from the backside. They don’t seem to be any better than any regular rigid panel of the same rating. At least I got them on sale where they were the same price as regular panels. I have to wonder if the whole idea of Bifacial is for some odd mounting where they were pointing East/West then they would produce power on each side for half a day. But why would anyone mount them like that instead of a more “universal” angle for all day use.