I believe I have discovered a potential issue with the E100V2 when powering compressors equipped fridge, freezer and AC units. I had been backing up a freezer using an AC70. Upon learning that AC70 won’t automatically restore AC power after it shuts down, I upgraded it to E100V2.
However, the E100V2 cannot power the same freezer.
This is a chest freezer that uses about 150w when in operation.
If this freezer is running, and I unplug it and plug it back in, it would try to pull 1000+ watt then the freezer would auto shut down, due to high pressure compressor lock, that is normal. The freezer would restart in 8 minutes or so. There is where the problem occurs…
On the AC70 (or Grid), the freezer would then pull 150w and run for as long as it needs to cool. On the E100V2, it would try to pull 300w, but the compressor will not make a normal sound, and would cycle off in 1-2 minutes, only to repeat every 8 minutes or so. It appears that something about the E100V2 isn’t allowing the compressor to restart properly. Turning on power lifting mode didn’t made a difference
This might be related to the Hobotech review where it found the E100V2 is unable to run a small window AC unit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1cL36-x41U
Can you forward this to the tech team to investigate, my firmware for E100V2 is as follows:
IoT V8024.11
ARM v2186.07
DSP v2200.10
BMS v1083.07
SN EL100V22521001342733
I’ve also sent the same message to Bluetti support with case ID 309459 so they are aware. Please tell me what investigation you want me to do to give you more info.
Yes both @Mandp and I while testing review units of the Elite 30 V2 and Elite 100 V2 observed the same anomaly in regards to certain compressor based devices (fridge/dehumidifier/etc). I believe that older units did a better job at handling the initial inrush current for a more consistent time frame, allowing the unit to not freak out and power cycle over and over. This is exactly what you are seeing in your graph. Bluetti cheaped out on the inverter I feel. It’s either that or they designed the inverter logic to be less tolerant than before, which is also contributing to the problem. If the inverter is capable of handling the brief surge for slightly longer time period, it can be fixed in software, but the question is, how much did they cheap out?
I thought that the compressor pressure was high due to recent running so I let the freezer sit for 30 minutes before plugging the E100V2 into it. However, I didn’t observe any different behavior, it still runs abnormally for 2 minutes before stopping. It seems like this unit has a problem and cannot run / backup a fridge, freezer etc… which is a major issue that needs to be addressed.
@sealy1986 , @snowstorm . Whilst I agree with the noted anomalies running certain compressor devices, I would not use the term “cheaped out”.
As an engineering designer, I have seen redesigns to make certain improvements for the next iteration, have subsequent unforeseen consequences. Sometimes these consequences are quickly obvious, sometimes not. That does not mean bad quality.
The true test of a manufacturer, is to take on board these issues and hopefully rectify the problem. If this can be done via software, then great, it’s an update. If it is hardware, then further design is needed for a future release.
I’ve seen a handful of Bluetti disassemblies on Youtube, where the manufacturing quality detail seems good.
With regard to home appliance backup - I am a day from a remote camping trip, I’ve set up 2 power stations to a generator transfer switch so my wife has backup power, should the grid fail.
I have 2 x AC180s, one on top of the other. The bottom one has its 240VAC charging cable plugged in, but not connected. The top one has its 240VAC charging cable plugged into the 240VAC outlet of the bottom AC180. There is an extension cable with a 10A plug connected to the top AC180s 240VAC outlet. The other end is a 15A socket, plugged into the generator plug to the house.
With both AC180s turned on and both their 240VAC outputs also on, there is 1,800W of inverter, with a combined 2304Wh capacity. Usual load is around 300W, with me not home.
Would I use the Elite 100 v2 for grid backup? I am not sure, I would want to trust it yet. The 2 x AC70s, 3 x AC180s and the AC200P, I know, will all work.
I do believe Bluetti makes high quality equipment, and own an AC300, Apex300, AC70, EB3A, multiple B300(k), EB70 plus a few Jackeries. I just want to flag this so we can get it fixed, hopefully in software.
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One can imagine that it is important for a battery inverter backup to work for a freezer or fridge, and not just resistive heating coils. It is not reasonable for a brand new E100V2 to not work like this.
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Let’s hope Bluetti can get this fixed. Am I am open to running whatever experiments to help gather info.
Hi @snowstorm, thank you for your feedback. Today, we have rolled out the new ARM firmware for the AC70 in batches.
Customers can upgrade it by themselves to obtain the System Switch Recovery function. With its help, the AC70 will automatically restore AC power after it shuts down.
Yes, we have received your email and will push the latest DSP v2200.11 to you. This may take some time. Please test it after upgrading tomorrow.
Point taken. Fair assessment. Regardless of “design improvements” at its very core you have to understand your client base. What type of equipment do they use with your units? Take a common 12V fridge. There are ton of dirt cheap power stations which cannot reliably run even a basic 12V fridge. You have to at least nail the essentials in quality and control testing. Use of these compressor style appliances (on one of these more portable units like AC180/Elite 200 etc) are not common, so I can see this being a specific one-off niche type of issue. A lot of people who run window A/C units I imagine are using larger inverters like APEX series style or larger. Another possibility is if the parameters of the appliance itself changes, for example going from an inverter style unit to soft-start compressor. Maybe an old device from 5 years ago is compatible today, but a new unit from tomorrow may not be due to internal parts changing. I have to ask myself am I being realistic at what I am asking my Bluetti unit to run? We often just look at things at face value without taking into consideration parameters like startup characteristics, how stable the voltage may need to be coming in, does it demand a neutral ground, etc. It’s not as simple as “this appliance runs at this many amps and this many volts” since my power station has higher then that it will run. You must size the inverter not just for continuous watts, but for surge as well. Numbers can be deceiving. My original concern about the issue with my compressor-based dehumidifier not running was due to the fact the behavioral characteristics was contradictory to the capability/demand of the unit itself. I could understand if I went from an overpowered to an underpowered unit, but it was the opposite, henceforth why I was raising a concern about potential cost-cutting measures within the internals or if something like inverter logic changed which makes the unit less tolerable to certain appliances. For clarity I have a Midea 22 pint dehumidifier. It’s inrush current/surge current/constant voltage/amps is all within the parameters of my Bluetti units. It would run on my smaller EB3A and larger AC180, but would not run on my AC70 or the Elite 30 PP unit. Keep in mind my remark about cost cutting is just a theory, not a valid claim. The claim is baseless, however, the expected behavior is certainly contradictory. All of the product design change happens at the C Level but what often is left in the dark or omitted is what they changed (or otherwise cost-cut). Remember back in the long ago when General Motors used to make dependable cars? Why did their quality slip? Well I come to find out that the reason why their cars break down more often (lack of quality) was due to the fact more people were “leasing” cars vs. owning them, so the C Level made an executive decision to put in the cheapest of parts to offset the cost of depreciation/damage caused by customers neglecting their cars. The product was pushed at still obtaining high quality and the price point reflected it, but internally under the hood at the C Level they made a poor decision. I hope this is not the case with the newer Bluetti units. What I can say is this… if it is indeed truly a firmware or software change, then it can be fixed. I can reinstall Windows on a PC that was infected by a virus, but I cannot reinstall Windows on a hard drive that physically failed.
The Elite 100 V2 was explicitly promoted on their buy page for home backup and even has an example of run time on a fridge. So it is reasonable for one to buy it for that advertiser purpose. Let’s hope Bluetti team sees this and is working on a fix that can be applied via software.
I noticed a DSP V2200.10 > V2200.11 for the E100v2 this morning and applied the update. However, the behavior didn’t change.
My freezer is still short cycling and won’t run continuously. It would try to start, pull 350w, stop after 1 minute, then retry again in 5-6 minutes. When on grid power or AC70 or Apex300, it would pull 120-150w and run for a much longer period of time. Another thing I tried to do is to run a hair dryer on low (350w resistive) together with the freezer, to see if a mid-sized resistive load would stabilize things by adjusting the blended power factor, but it didn’t seem to matter and it is still short cycling. I tried to run my miter saw with it, this is also an inductive load and pulls >1800w for a split second on startup, but then stabilizes around 800w when spinning. There are no apparent issues, though this is a “dumb” device and would keep going no matter what so it might not be the best indicator.change.
On the AC70, I did receive an ARM update and it activated the restore function, so it can finally function as a UPS. Thanks! I have posted an update on the AC79 thread for there as a reference.
I do need help with the E100v2, please let me know what else I can try and test to help.
@sealy1986 Your comment re 12V fridges, I have 3 of these; An Engel 40lt combi fridge freezer in the 4x4, a 110lt Dometic upright in the caravan and a Dometic 30lt drawer fridge also in the RV.
None of them run from a power station - The Engel runs from an auxiliary 12VDC LFP in rear of the 4by. Both Dometic fridges run from the 12V RV house batteries.
The Engel and the upright Dometic both have 240VAC power capability. I’ve never run any of these fridges from 240VAC. Even if the RV is on shore power, they stay on 12V as the shore power charges the house batteries anyway. I do the same for my laptop and television, both of which could run from AC power, but don’t.
I can’t see the point in inverting battery output to then convert back to DC.
The issue I have is with my 240VAC only home fridges.
As mentioned in other posts, the big 540lt fridge works well on the AC*** power stations, but from the Elite 100 not the same. The smaller 90lt 240VAC only drink fridge won’t work from any of my power stations. I’m now part way into my trip, I set up 2 AC180s for my wife to have home backup if the grid goes down. I also turned the 90lt fridge off before departing; a. it’s empty, as I took the drinks for the trip, and b. I don’t want bad things happening, if it’s left on and I’m not home. Like you, I wish that every 240VAC device worked, worked well and had no noticeable issues when powered by a power station.
