Hi, new to this forum and possible future Bluetti APEX 300 customer.
I know it has been documented by Bluetti that the APEX 300 has a 20w per hour idle consumption, but it isn’t clear if this is in 120V mode only.
I am considering the Bluetti APEX 300 over other brands (Ecoflow, Anker, Jackery, etc.) and their models specifically for this efficiency and their 240V split phase mode.
Can Bluetti admin or anyone else confirm that the 20w per hour idle consumption applies in 240V mode also or does it double to 40w per hour?
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Hello BlueSerg, There were some drain tests performed at 120 and 240 volts in the Hobotech review. I would recommend watching the Hobotech, Waveformscience and Jasonoid reviews as they perform quite a few independent tests.
Hobotech - He noticed a similar drain at 120V and 24V at similar loads in the drain tests.
Bluetti “APEX 300” 120v/240v MODULAR Home Backup Power Station | Cheap & Simple!
Waveformscience - They measure the self consumption at 18.08 watts.
Bluetti Apex 300 Detailed Review and Testing - YouTube
You need to keep in mind that it is difficult to provide a self consumption number and almost all the companies exaggerate or test at favourable conditions for their own units. These numbers can change dramatically if you enable other features. For example off grid and on grid modes use considerably different amounts of standby power.
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Great, thanks for the references. I’ll take a look at those reviews.
Sideeffect: You said “off grid and on grid modes use considerably different amounts of standby power.”
Two things please –
1 - What are the different modes for Apex 300, and how to change/select them? And
2 - How much difference is the idle consumption between the on-grid and off-grid modes, and if you know, WHY is it different?
Thank you for anything you can tell me!!
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
By off grid I mean unplugged from grid, and on grid plugged into grid.
You can’t select that on the unit you have to control it with the physical plug or a smart plug to remove the grid power from the lead.
When plugged in the unit has extra systems powered on like UPS mode and home voltage synchronisation. The battery has to power these services in case there is a power cut so the power requirements can’t be offloaded to the grid.
What you get is if you have it connected to the grid but not set to charge because you are in a UPS mode with a charging range then the battery will drain faster than if you have it unplugged from the grid. Or if you have it set to charge at a set percentage it will charge more frequently from the grid because of the extra drain caused by having it plugged in.
The solution is to have a UPS profile set but put the plug on a smart plug timer so it is only live between certain hours. When powered it then charges back to the range set in UPS and obeys the time control.
Upside is greater battery life, and typically a lower than grid voltage which can be more efficient and friendly to your devices. Lower voltage can also increase maximum available watts e.g. my grid voltage is 248 volts so when I boil a 12A kettle it uses 3000 watts, but when off grid I am at 230 Volts and 2760 watts. also a lot of electronics in Europe just prefers and uses less power at 230 volts.
The downside is the unit is not grounded when off grid it is floating ground during these times, and you don’t get emergency power in the event of a weather event, and you need to be careful not to let the battery drain to 0%. You can work around these issues with external automation and maybe even using the grounding point on the Apex300.