I have confusion around the AC200L custom UPS mode.
I set the low and high SOC sliders to 10%-30%. It’s charged by solar.
It’s currently an off-peak time,and the battery has reached 58% – well past the SOC High level – and I have > 1 kW solar coming in.
But the AC200L is still pulling from the grid via AC, to match whatever load is connected to the AC200L.
According to the documentation though, I think this should not occur, although the documentation is sparse and unclear: “SOC High: when the battery reaches the set level, the unit will stop using grid power and switch to solar charging for the rest”
Why has it not switched to solar for the rest, and why is it still using grid power?
SOC is far past the SOC High threshold, so it shouldn’t be using grid power. I have solar coming in so there is no reason for the AC charge.
@BLUETTI any thoughts? What am I missing for how to only have grid power active when the SOC is too low, and use ONLY solar after that? Grid shouldn’t be used when it’s not needed.
The grid charging and discharging time period has not been set, and the grid defaults to bypass with load.
The correct time zone has not been set in the app.
Could you please share your SN and software version? Also, please provide the charging and discharging times you have set so that the technical team can better troubleshoot and analyze.
Either way regardless of time zone and time: why would there be charging from the grid when already far past SOC High? Doesn’t the SOC High value determine when to stop using the grid either for load bypass or battery charging, and once charge is above that then grid will not provide power?
" 1. The grid charging and discharging time period has not been set, and the grid defaults to bypass with load."
It has been set.
" 1. The correct time zone has not been set in the app."
Per my other thread asking about what time is set in the AC200, the correct time has to be set because my iPad has the correct time.
“Could you please share your SN and software version?”
AC200L2439 0008 25420
What is meant by “SW version”? Do you mean the app? If so, it’s whatever the latest iOS one is (2.3.12)
BMS: 1043.13
DPS: 2098.22
“Also, please provide the charging and discharging times you have set so that the technical team can better troubleshoot and analyze.”
0:00-16:00: offpeak
16:00-21:00: peak
21:00-23:59: offpeak
SOC setting is set to: 10%-30%
And I have “charging” slider set to Off
@jCs
This is the UPS strategy for time control mode:
Discharge time period: When the current power level is below SOC_low, the load switches to bypass mode with load, and the battery pack does not discharge, maintaining 20% power. When above SOC_LOW, it matches the load.
Charge time period: When the current power level is above SOC_high, it is charged fully by solar power, with the grid in bypass mode with load. During the charge time period, charging to the set SOC will be in bypass mode with load.
Other time periods: Bypass with load.
Considering that if the grid stops charging, the system will rely on solar power to maintain bypass with load. If the solar is insufficient, battery power will need to be used, which will naturally decrease the battery level. After it drops, the grid will charge back up to 30%, then stop charging and restart charging. This will have an impact on battery life.
You can improve that by setting the charging time shorter and the discharging time longer.
[quote=“BLUETTI, post:4, topic:35289”]
Charge time period: When the current power level is above SOC_high, it is charged fully by solar power, with the grid in bypass mode with load. [/quote]
@BLUETTI Thanks. But I don’t understand this…
How can I make it so that solar is the only source for loads, and not the grid? I do not want bypass mode from the grid when SOC is above SOC High – I only want to use solar.
My purpose is to NOT use the grid except starting in emergencies when the charge gets too low (10%), and then I’d like to use the grid to charge up to 30% – and once at 30%, do not pull any electricity from the grid.
I have plenty of solar available, and my loads are low power, and I’m trying to have 0 grid usage except in emergencies. I don’t want to pay for grid usage.
It sounds like you’re saying the 200L will always use the grid in bypass mode for loads, but then I’m paying the exact same amount for electricity as if I didn’t even use the 200L. But if this is the case, I don’t see how the 200L is useful for reducing electricity costs.
Because the machine will only bypass the load during the charging period. This mode is designed to be like this. You can set the charging time to be shorter and discharge the rest.
But it didn’t seem to be doing that: it was still bypassing the load at 58% by using grid power, even when SOC High was set to 30%.
Or maybe i’m misunderstanding what you said…could you say it another way?
If during the charging period the SOC_High has already been reached, but it is not yet the discharging period, the grid will bypass the load. The battery chooses neither to charge nor to discharge.
Charging and discharging are for the battery, not the grid.
“Also, based on thread consistency and verticality, please try to express your thoughts within one single thread to avoid creating multiple similar topics.”
Understood. I thought they were different enough topics, and didn’t want to cause confusion of replyies by having multiple topics in a single thread. But noted, and I won’t create a thread for each issue in the future
“Because it’s solar charging the battery, so the SOC has risen to 58%. In reality, the grid is not charging the battery.”
I’m trying to find a way to not have grid usage once above a certain charge threshold, and only use grid in emergency low SOC situations.
You’d mentioned PV mode can do that. But I’d also like to control the time this emergency charge can occur, to do this in off-peak times. From all the YouTube videos i’ve seen, Custom mode allows that.
Is that incorrect then? And the only way to not use the grid is PV mode which unfortunately pulls from the grid at arbitrary times?
“Discharge period” or “charging period” refers to peak and off-peak periods. This mode sets the battery to discharge during peak periods and charge during off-peak periods.
During off-peak times, the battery will be charged while the grid also directly supplies load. If the battery charges to a set value, the grid will stop charging the battery and will only bypass the load.
Why is it 58%? Because it’s solar charging the battery, so the SOC has risen to 58%. In reality, the grid is not charging the battery.
Also, based on thread consistency and verticality, please try to express your thoughts within one single thread to avoid creating multiple similar topics.
“Also, based on thread consistency and verticality, please try to express your thoughts within one single thread to avoid creating multiple similar topics.” @BLUETTI Understood. I thought each topic needed a thread and didn’t want to cause confusion by having too many running topics in a thread. But i’ll change that in the future
“Because it’s solar charging the battery, so the SOC has risen to 58%. In reality, the grid is not charging the battery.”
So is PV mode – which unfortunately pulls from the grid at arbitrary times – the only way to guarantee grid isn’t used when SOC is above a certain threshold?
From YouTube videos and the Bluetti documentation, I was under the impression that Customized mode behaves just like PV mode and Time Control mode put together, ie also adds time control to PV mode.
But it seems this isn’t the case based on what you said, since the grid can still used even when SOC is near 100%.
→ Is there any way to do what i’m trying to do, ie pull from the grid only in emergency situations when SOC is too low, but only during off-peak times?
If you are using SILENT charging mode, try changing to NORMAL charging mode. There appears to be a bug previosly documented with the AC300 where it would continue to draw from the Grid when in SILENT even when it should not have based on the UPS mode.
Changing to NORMAL charging mode appeared to fix the issue with my AC200L where it would draw from the Grid but not indicate the Grid usage on the AC200L.
Yes, photovoltaic charging can draw power at any time, and it must ensure a certain level of SOC reserve to handle emergencies. The best solution is to shorten the charging time.
Sorry but no. The mode is designed to work that way. If it doesn’t meet your expectations, you can tune it to PV priority mode.
Thanks @BLUETTI . I’m trying to understand some behavior i’m seeing for energy statistics from last night, after I switched to PV mode:
I set PV mode with a 13%-SOC settings.
At what SOC is it expected that the grid would stop being used? I ask since I was still seeing grid usage at ~25% SOC.
Thanks for the feedback. Theoretically, it won’t charge if it exceeds 13%, but in actual operation, there may be errors, not much.
Can you provide some screenshots via PM indicating from when the PV priority was set? The tech team will analyze it based on your grid power and SOC.
A quick remedy to get to the point of no GRID POWER.
I have the same unit and use it in a similar way.
I set the AC200L in PV Priority and I just don’t plug the AC200L into the grid.
I only connect to the grid when doing Updates and Re-Calibration.
If you are interested, I can send you a link to a very good Bluetti UPS Mode settings video explaining in more detail the in’s and out’s of how the function works best.
B
Bluetti’s UPS mode settings
