Here are the kettle and Toasty maker, although both are shown plugged to the AC70, when in use it is one at a time as their combined W draw is well over the AC70s 1,000W inverter.
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Here is an interesting result from a recent test on my caravan charging system.
The charging system is a Projecta PM300, rated at 30A charging to 2 x 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries. The charging amps is from the PM300 display. I used a separate power meter to measure V, A & W, Vmp is the voltage under charging load. The Watts AC70 & AC180 are what was read from the Bluetti display screen.
Of note, the power meter read 531, 531 & 531 from all 3 power sources, so constant. the additional Watts of 49W from the AC70 & 39W from the AC180 are the actual draw from the Power Bank battery and would be the efficiency loss of their inverters & the internal electronics. (7.3% for the AC180 & 9.2% for the AC70).
These % are as a % of the watts load and as far as I am concerned anything less than 10% is good.
These readings were all taken within 4 minutes and the 29.1A charge rate was constant.
From a RVers perspective, I also did a test on the queen size electric blanket fitted to the caravan bed. It is a 3 setting control of Low, Medium & High. I tested the AC180 only to power the electric blanket. (FYI, to remind readers, this test is done at nominal 240VAC 50Hz)
I set both sides (2 controls) to High for 15 minutes, to pre heat the blanket and the AC180 was at 100%. After 15 minutes the display read 96% and the average Watts read approx 92W on the AC180 screen.
I then turned both sides to the Low setting and ran the test for 4 hours. I also noted that the Watts fluctuated and periodically read zero W. This means the control acts similar to a compressor fridge thermostat, by turning on and off.
At the 4 hour mark, the AC180 reading showed a further 18% of capacity use. This calculates to 45% use over 10 hours set at low using both sides of the blanket, or approx 517Wh.
Given there were no bodies in the bed at the time, I can assume that the actual 10 hour usage would be less than the 517Wh, however 1/2 a kWh for 10 hours is pretty good.
As an aside, if I used a small 150W PS inverter from my caravan 12VDC system, it would equate to approx 40Ah of nominal 12V battery use. :)
thanks for the post…great setup. I use a AC200L in my travel trailer and a AC200MAX in my sprinter van. Both do the job.
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I tested my electric blanket again, this time from the AC70. To remind readers, this is at 240VAC at 50Hz and the blanket has 3 settings of H, M and L. The AC70 display was at 98% battery capacity at the start of the test and both sides of the blanket (queen size) were on and equal settings. Here are some pics;
Next post = Results
I have tabulated the results, below;
To explain; the Bluetti AC70 used 9% of capacity with the blanket set to H for 30 minutes. There was a 27.7W difference in power use and as mentioned due to the inverter, BMS parasitic loads.
I then ran the blanket at the L setting for 1 hour, again noting all of the data. At this setting the AC70 used 4% battery.
Conclusion - Most people may sleep for 8 hours, however for ease of calculation and “worst case scenario” I have assumed a 10 hour use at the L setting plus a 1 hour preheat at H.
The total capacity used calculates at 58%, leaving 42% from a fully charged AC70.
Does an AC70 have the battery capacity to run an electric blanket overnight? My answer is Yes it will, however, there will be a recharge of approx 400Wh to recharge.
Here’s my setup for the Caravan, when the sun doesn’t shine for several days. When that happens, not only can’t I charge the power bank/s, (PB) the van house batteries also suffer. I have enough stored power for 3 days of “crap” weather, but, I do watch the forecast, lol.
I am able to top up the van batteries from any of the PBs I own, how much is dependent on their capacity. The orange box is an “Amphibian”, it has a 15A - 240VAC socket for RV connection, a 10A circuit breaker and a 10A plug top. This is the only legal way to connect a 15A load to a 10A supply in Au.
The 288W shown on the AC70 is the charge rate, set to silent from a Generator and AC load is off as I’m not charging the Van.
To save weight and space, I bought a Gentrax Pro 800W inverter generator with a 700W constant load and weighs 9.3kg or just over 20lbs. My caravan charger draws 510W at full load, it will therefore charge from the AC70 & AC180 inverters. Plus, set to silent the Genny will charge the AC70 & 180 and probably both in Standard mode, but why run a genset flat out. :) As mentioned, previously, I also have the 375W Victron in the rear of the 4x4.
Even tho’ the Gentrax is only 700W constant, it has a 15A socket.
The primary thing to note is, redundancy;
My setup shows, multiple sources of battery power, multiple sources of grid equivalent power and multiple methods of charging i.e. solar genset and vehicle. We can’t guarantee the weather, sometimes run out of fuel, sometimes don’t drive for several days and that’s without equipment failure. When free camping, the last thing we need is a warm beer, lol.
I returned from a recent 3 week off grid camp. This trip, I took the AC180 and left the AC70 at home. As it is winter here, my 460W of solar did not make it on 4 days of the 20 away. I used the above 800W inverter genset to cover these days to top up both the caravan batteries and the AC180. Not a huge impost as I was prospecting and on these wet overcast days, couldn’t go out anyway.
However, I did note an issue using the AC180. I use an electric toothbrush and on occasion an electric shaver. both are rechargeable battery operated. As I use the AC180 primarily for microwave use, when using, I also plugged in the toothbrush. The microwave was 6-7 minutes use, but I would leave it on for a couple of hours to give the toothbrush a charge as it is a daily use item.
It didn’t charge and I found the shaver was also not charging. More…
I did some tests from a 12VDC LiFePo4 battery and a small 150W PSW inverter I have using a DC power meter between the battery and inverter and an AC power meter on its output. The results;
- The toothbrush showed zero W on the AC power meter and a net 1W increase on the idle load of the DC load.
- The shaver showed an AC load of 4W and a net load of 4W on the DC side.
Even added together the total load seems too low to trigger an AC output from the AC180.
(Note: As I previously noted “Redundancy”, I do carry a normal toothbrush and a razor, just in case.
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I am going to use the above 150W inverter from the caravan (RV) house batteries to provide the small load VAC charging. I’m estimating roughly 15-18W of load = 1.25 to 1.5A. As the shaver if charged after each use only takes a couple of hours to recharge and similarly the toothbrush, it’s a small load of <5Ah. If plugged in before I go out for the day and switched off on return, the solar array will drive this load with no net loss on the system.
As an aside, I also have a Samsung Flip3 mobile phone (Cell) and another on a different provider as signals can be sporadic. These were also plugged into VAC power via their adaptors.
The total loads for both phones, toothbrush and shaver were; 50W of 240VAC from the inverter. I should note, the phones are normally charged via 5VDC USB from the “Van” 12VDC system when travelling, as it’s not efficient to invert 12VDC to 240VAC to then drop to 5VDC via adaptor.
Unfortunately, no pics, I forgot, lol.
A couple of days ago, I had home solar installed, nearing the end of the install, power was cut to the home for the electrical part of the install. Therefore this is what I setup as home backup during the 90 or so minutes of outage.
As mentioned, I have an AC200P, AC180 & AC70, connected as follows;
AC200P - the kitchen fridge and a small bar fridge using an extension cable were plugged in.
AC180 - Here I plugged in the large TV and DVD-R, laptop and 2 phones on charge.
AC70 - Walk in robe powering the fibre optic internet box and the WiFi modem/router.
Both the AC70 & AC180 were pre positioned, fully charged and connected to the grid ready to operate in UPS mode. Both operated flawlessly in everything connected not “missing a beat”. Once grid came up and after the installers left, all got put back into storage.
The AC200P does not have UPS and is not pass thru, but I know it will operate the fridges for near 24 hours, so it was plugged in midway through the day. I recharged it, the next day with the help of the newly installed solar array.
FYI - The modem and fibre boxes combined drew 25W and the TV etc around 80-85W total.
Conclusion - keeping in mind this is not an auto switch or even manual switchable system, the units did everything I needed to keep important and want to have home systems working. All 3 power banks combined came in at a 1/4 the price of something like a powerwall.
As an aside, I’m going to run the home solar for around 6 months, monitor the savings and how much grid power is used at night when solar is not operating. Then will calculate the cost of a powerwall v how long it will take to amortise that cost.
The second reason for delaying is the Tesla Powerwall 3 is about to be released in Au and I believe the chemistry is changing to LiFePo4 in V3. The better cycle life of LFP4 and safety being 2 reasons for delaying.
Why PW3, well the inverter now on the wall will not need to be changed as PW3 has its own VAC driven charger inbuilt. (To my knowledge)
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I recently had a 6.6kW solar system installed on the house. Where I live we are limited to a 5kW inverter on single phase. I enquired about installing a Tesla PW3 home battery and was quoted around AU$17,000 installed.
As I have an AC200P, AC180 & AC70 bought when on special for a combined AU$4,000, I looked at other options as the payoff on a PW3, for me, is around 14 years and the warranty is only 10 years.
When the grid goes down, I need power for; Home fridge and WiFi internet. Also the TV/Laptop (geographically in the same area). I’ve done power use figures with a meter for all I might need. The only other item is the hot water system, which is a gas instant heat, but it requires grid power to ignite and stay lit and in a grid out, would only be for showering. More…
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Another factor is that on occasion, I am away from home and my wife is not able to connect all of these to the Bluettis. Therefore the AC200P not being ups is a reserve battery and any other use device for me.
When home, I have no issue deploying what I have, but am gearing the need for when away. So, before I leave, an AC180 gets connected in UPS mode to the home fridge, the AC70 to the home WiFi again in UPS mode, another AC180 to the lounge TV and desk for laptop, mobile phone and desk light. If away I need another AC180 for my RV use as noted in previous posts. An power extension lead can then be run from the AC200P with 2,000Wh of additional battery to charge any or all of the above as needed for a total of 5kWh of backup.
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To achieve this, I’ve ordered 2 more AC180’s on special for AU$2,498 somewhat cheaper than $17,000 for a Tesla. Although not whole of house backup, it’s more than I’ve ever had in my 70+ years and I control what, when and where. I have a 2kVA Honda, a 2nd 800W genny, solar and car charging options to extend power bank capacity, just needs planning and some perspiration, lol.
I Write this to show there are options to cover emergencies without spending huge $$$. Would I like more power? - Yes, would I like more capacity? - Yes. However, I think I’m at the limit of what the wife will accept as a justifiable expense, lol. 
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I should note, all of the above power could be provided by several smaller units, but their capacity is short lived. Hence my decision to go for the AC180 as it’s a balance between size and capacity that works for me.
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Received the 2 new AC180 units. Here are 3 pics (1 post each) of their deployment. First the home fridge. It is a 540lt (19cu ft in U.S. speak) inverter fridge freezer. It is rated at 260W @240VAC, but It seems to draw around 130W when it cycles, this may be more during a defrost cycle. I’ve tested the Wh over a day and calculated my AC200P 2,000Wh battery will run it for 25+ hours @ ambient of 25C (77F). The AC180 at 1152Wh should therefore last approx 14.4 hours.
