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)
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…
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.
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. 
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.
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.
The 2nd AC180 is connected to the 55" Sony TV, a DVD-R and a power board on the desk. That power board can run the laptop, printer, LED desk light and charge mobile phones. With everything operating, I see the AC180 AC power output hover between 80 to 110W. This will give approx 10 hours of operation, however, we rarely will sit for 10 hours straight watching TV, lol. (It sits on top of the AC200P for 2 reasons 1. It’s somewhere to put the AC200P and 2. The TV power cords were a few inches short when the AC180 was on the floor. A small table will suffice if I need the 200P. It is therefore 2,000kWh of spare power that can top up the 2 x AC180s, spare 240VAC outlets and can be then wheeled outside to recharge from solar or generator.
The 3rd unit is the AC70 used to power the Fibre Optic box and the WiFi Router in my walk in Robe. With both operating, I see a power draw of 25W @ 240VAC, which equates to approx 30 hours operation. (less AC70 efficiency losses). As we have gas cooktop & hot water, a power out won’t stop cooking. We also have Ryobi lanterns, torches and a gas kettle. As mentioned in previous posts, not whole of home, but we won’t go hungry, get bored or walk in the dark, lol.
As to this setup. I periodically take my RV out gold prospecting. My wife is unable to travel with me and also unable to deploy all of the above. I will shortly be off on a trip for a couple of weeks and now confident she will have power in the event of a grid outage.
As it’s too hot in Australia to prospect in our summer and likely 5-6 months before the next trip, all of the above can be disconnected and stored. This means no battery cycle use when not needed, as my setting it up will only take around 5 minutes for each unit if needed. Or as the power stations are in UPS mode anyway, I may just leave them as is, with a possible cable tidy as I’ve used what I had in the tool shed.
All up the house now has 8,400W of inverter access with 6,224kWh of battery capacity, all portable.
For the last few months my 5 Bluetti units (AC200P, 3 x AC180s & AC70) have sat in the house located as shown above, near where they are used. AC180-1 -house fridge, AC180-2 - TV/Desk, AC70 - Home Wifi/Fibre optic, AC200P - spare & AC180-3 - spare at home & caravan power when away.
They only get used at home during grid outages and when I am away from home. They all collect dust and in the absence of a commercial solution, I’ve made my own. Thought I would share their design on the forum.
AC180-1 at the fridge…
Covered.
Material, construction and cost in next post…
Materials -
The green sheet is 5mm thick Corflute sheet, from a 1200mm x 900mm sheet. (4’ x 3’ for U.S.)
The tape is 3M all weather duct tape 48mm x 22.8M roll. (1-7/8" x 25yds U.S.).
I used 3 sheets of Corflute at AUD$12 per sheet (US$7.81) and the duct tape was AUD$21.45/roll (US$13.97). For a total cost of AUD$57.45 (US$37.42) Note currency conversions are correct at the time of this post.
I cut each panel for each cover from the 3 sheets of corflute to make a cover for each of the 5 power stations. The size of the cover is 10mm (3/8") bigger in length and depth than the Bluetti specs and 5mm (a bit under 1/4") smaller than the height. The reason I went smaller in height is that the cover sits on the top of the power station, not on the floor and allows a little air to circulate. (They can not be covered during use at this size, as cable plugs will not fit. )
Hopefully this will markedly reduce dust ingress into the fan vents, along with any possible fluid spills. When not in use all 5 of my Bluetti’s are covered for under AUD60 bucks. (US$40)
Note - Marking out - approx 1 hour total, cutting - approx 1 hour and assembly for each cover - approx 30 minutes. Total time less than 5 hours. (I did the mark out on one day, the cutting another day and the assembly of a further 3 days, during spare time etc.)
In Australia materials are from Bunnings. I checked U.S. and Home Depot stock similar.
Why Green Corflute? It is available in AU in white, red, blue and green. I figured green was asthetically more pleasing to me and white would show any dirt over time much more.
Edit - Yellow is also available.
