Last spring I was charging my AC200Max from the 12v port in my dash. After some time, the plug was very warm. A day or so later the port stopped working. Is it normal for the plug to get warm? No other device I’ve ever used has done that. Is my 12v adapter defective? I would really like to be able to charge the unit while driving but don’t want to risk killing the 2nd 12v port in my van. Thanks…
Did you check the fuse in the van? It may have blown.
If the AC200MAX is set to car mode (and not solar) it should draw 100W max.
Hi @ATFTB , Sorry for inconvenience caused.
Do you have the mode set to “Others” when you use 12V car charging? Does solar charging work properly please?
I checked the fuse today - it’s fine so it looks like the “cigarette
lighter/Aux port” is toast.
I will have to check the Solgen for car mode. Maybe I had it in solar
mode? I found the interface a bit confusing at the time…
…Kevin
It may be that I had it set to “Others”. The interface was kind of
confusing at the time.
I haven’t been able to charge it with solar yet, as I have a GoPower
solar panel which uses Anderson 50 amp connectors and I haven’t been
able to find an intermediary cable to tie into the MC4 or XT90
connectors. May have to get one custom made.
Hi @ATFTB , When using car charging, you need to change the mode to “Others”.
Do you have any other solar panels that match the interface please? If there is no problem with PV charging, it means the product is normal. Thank you in advance for your cooperation
I just checked the menu on the AC200Max. I did have it set to “Others”
when I charged the unit from the dash. That was the confusing part I
mentioned earlier; there is no screen in the menus that sets it to “Car”
mode that I could find. Hence I set it to “Others”.
I also don’t see in the manual when to use it in PV mode. Would that be
what to use when plugged into solar panels? (What does PV stand for?)
Just to be clear, the unit did charge when I was using the 12v adapter,
so if by “product” you mean the solar generator itself, then yes, it’s
working normally. However the plug that went into the dash got very
warm, which was surprising to me. Is that normal?
Appreciate the help…
…Kevin
Hi @ATFTB , PV means photovoltaic charging, you need to select PV mode when you use solar panel for charging. Choose Others mode when using the car charging port.
You mentioned that wall charging with an adapter works fine (car charging/wall charging/PV charging are all the same circuit), so it’s probably a problem with your car battery. We recommend that you troubleshoot the car battery.
No - the van battery is fine. (It’s only a couple years old.) There are
two 12v ports, each on separate circuits/fuses. The other one works
just fine for everything I plug into it. If it was a battery issue, I’d
expect to see issues with the van.
The port that died did so shortly after charging the SolGen. Because
the cable plug got quite warm I’m hesitant to try it on the 2nd port as
I don’t want to risk toasting it too.
I’m still wondering, is it normal for the plug to get warm? That just
seems awfully suspect to me.
Thanks again for the reply…
…Kevin
Hi @ATFTB , Thank you for the clarification.
If conditions allow, we would still recommend that you try using solar panels to see if you can charge the machine properly. That way we can better troubleshoot the problem.
Looking forward to your updates.
I definitely want to use solar; as soon as I can get a cable made up
that can go between my panel (Anderson 50 amp gray connector) and the
XT90 or MC4 I will give it a test. I did find an Anderson to MC4 on
Amazon, but the polarity is reversed, so I’ll have to custom make one.
Best…
…Kevin
Thanks again for your help. I had to order some cables to get the solar
hooked up, and Bluetti couldn’t ship to my address so I had to have them
sent do family in Oregon. It will be a couple weeks before I can test
it out…
…Kevin
I’ve been on the road for the past few months, but I did try to charge with the solar panel. I also replaced the fried 12v port in my van. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, as the solar panel has a controller on it which runs on the battery one is charging. The AC200Max however doesn’t put out any power on the inlet port so the panel wasn’t able to fire up to charge the solgen. There was no easy way to bypass the controller on the panel to go directly to the solgen.
I took another look at the 12v adapter, and the little silver “nipple” on the end is loose. Normally they’re spring loaded I believe. I’m wondering if that may have been the problem. What are the options for getting a replacement for that?