I have a Bluetti SP200 which I have handled very gently (clean regularly, store flat, never put anything on top of it). On Monday it was working fine. Yesterday (Wednesday) I hooked it up again and got zero output to my EB55.
The EB55 can be charged by my vehicle (cigarette lighter) via the same input no problem so the problem is not there.
Multimeter shows zero voltage from the MC4 leads. No apparent damage to the exterior. I know it’s well past its warranty but I’ve taken very good care of it and it went abruptly from working fine to not working at all. Anyone know what the problem could be, what to test for, or (ideally) how to fix it? Am camping so this is a serious problem. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
I’ve had two SP200’s fail within the last year. On the first one there wasn’t any visible cause of the failure but on the second one there was small burn mark where the panel had shorted, see my post on it: SP200 solar panel failure - Product Discussion / Solar Panel - BLUETTI Community (bluettipower.com)
I would assume only one of the four panels in the array is bad so it might be possible to take it apart to salvage the other three and end up with a 150 watt array. Haven’t tried it yet.
Thanks Eric. Yeah, unless someone has a better suggestion I am considering cutting over the panels and testing each of them individually and trying to salvage something. If I do, I will post my results.
OK, I cut the MC4 leads off and tested the resistance, they checked out fine. Then I went to each hinge between the panels and checked the voltage from those wires, zero each time. I cut the fourth panel wires and tested just that panel, zero voltage. I took the hot and ground wires that used to connect panel three to panel four and tied them together and checked the voltage between panels three and two, and then two and one, zero voltage. I also checked the voltage with the hot and ground wires not touching, also zero voltage. I could not get any voltage at any point in the array. I tested my multimeter on a 10 W trickle charger solar panel to make sure it was working correctly and got 20 V no problem. So it would appear that all four panels failed at the same time somehow, unless I am doing something very wrong.
I don’t understand what happened, there’s no obvious damage to the panels, they worked fine on Monday, and even if one had gone bad I would expect to be able to get voltage out of one of the other ones. Given how catastrophically this panel failed despite careful treatment, and the fact that multiple other people have had a similar experience, I do not think I will be buying any future Bluetti products.
Thanks for your help Eric. Sorry I don’t have better news.
That’s bizarre all 4 would fail at the same time, almost like it took a huge electrical spike and shorted them out.
Since we had some decent solar today, I took one of my defective SP200’s apart and checked each panel individually (cut all the connecting wires) and found only one with no volts or amps. The other three had 6.1 to 6.5 volts and 8.3 to 9.4 amps each so in my case the defective one didn’t take out the other three.
Hi @Solaris, Regarding this issue, there are a few possibilities:
1 The MC4 cable might be damaged, but since it’s fixed to the solar panel, it’s not replaceable.
2 The solar panel itself could be faulty.
3 It might also be an issue with the multimeter. Could you try testing another device to rule out any issues with the multimeter?
Thanks to @eric102 and @Snips1 for their help and suggestions.
So I tested again and I must have had the multimeter set wrong because I was able to get 4-5 amps out of the 4th panel. I checked each of the other panels and determined that panel 3 was not passing current. Yesterday I wired a bypass and was able to get current from panel 4 to panels 2 and 1 and then to the MC4 and into my EB55.
Success? Not quite. Today I was charging the EB55 in direct sun and getting 80 watts which quickly dropped to 65 w for some reason. But it was working. Then I moved the panels because the sun was going to cast a shadow on them and they stopped working. Checked the connections again and reconnected the wires and was not able to get signal from panel 1 (where the MC4 is). Ground is working there but not hot. So I fed the remaining two (even numbered) panels directly to the MC4. I get 8 or 9 amps going into the MC4 and coming out of it, but the EB55 still sees zero watts coming in. I checked the EB55 input by charging off my vehicle and it works. But for some reason the input from the panels is not registering. Voltage too low? Maybe. But at this point I’ve had two of four panels die on me, I need my EB55 to charge so I can do work, and I’ve run out of ideas. This is not a good jam to be in.
Am I right about minimum voltage? Can anyone think of a way to get two panels to charge the EB55?
Thanks for your help and patience. This is a frustrating situation.
Hi @Solaris, I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused. You have 4 solar panels, all of the SP200 model, and 2 of them are not working, is that correct?
The open circuit voltage (Voc) of the SP200 is 24V, which means that EB55 can only connect to 1 SP200 for charging. Connecting 2 panels would result in a combined Voc of 48V, exceeding the acceptable range of 12-28V for EB55, which could potentially cause damage to the device.
