@apoc Hey Francis what firmware are you currently running with your ac180?
So I loaded DSP firmware v2077.07 (also have ARM v2073.04 and BMS v1033.06).
This did nothing to solve the problem regarding the AC180 not resuming solar charging each morning.
I upgraded the software on evening of Sep 12 with AC180 at state of charge 64%.
The evening of Sep 13, it was still at 64%.
The evening of Sep 14, it was at 63%.
Today (Sep 15) at 1:30pm, it was at 62%.
This evening, it was at 64%.
We had sunny weather during all of these days, though the solar panel is on top of my van parked beside the house, and only gets direct sunlight for a few hours each day. On a day that I wake up the AC180 in the morning, I can add 13% to the state of charge.
At each of the above times, except the last, I fount the AC180 apparently asleep (no indications) and briefly pressed the power button to wake it up to take a reading. On the last time, I thought it might still be “awake” because I had pressed the button just a few hours earlier that day and so was able to make connection via the Bluetooth app. I did not touch the AC180 at any other times.
So, you can see that the AC180 did not charge during any daylight hours on Sep 13 or Sep 14, and was not charging on Sep 15 until I pressed the power button at mid-day, and which point it did charge for a couple hours at about 60 watts (my panel is rated for 100 watts, but is mounted horizontally).
All of the above behavior the same as what I observed before loading the new firmware. Did I get a placebo firmware update?
So where to we go from here?
I’m thinking to try a similar test charging from my van’s 12-volt cigarette port to see if the AC180 wakes up autonomously or not. I’ll run the van few a few minutes on one day, then run the van for a few minutes on the next day to see if the AC180 automatically wakes up and starts charging. I think it will since this is what I have observed in the past. So this makes me think that the AC180 is just not responding to a slow ramp up in DC input voltage like you might get from a solar panel.
One other observation: While the Bluetti AC180 does not appear to autonomously start charging when connected to a solar panel, it does autonomously start charging when connected to a vehicle’s 12 volt cigarette port. These are both DC inputs. So why would AC180 autonomously start charging from vehicle’s 12 volt port, but not from solar charging?
@BradMitchellPhotography I think it has something to do with the current/amperage being pretty “constant” from the 12v charging source such as the cig plug. Whereas the pv/solar charging doesnt have this constant number to draw from, so that is throwing off the mppt charge controller and creating all these issues. I say this also because with my variable DC power supply (which feeds a constant 8amps and adjustable voltage…) I can get the ac180 to automatically start “solar” charging at around 10volts regardless of power state the unit is at. So this leads me to believe its an issue withing the mppt charging algorithms and @BLUETTI is aware of this and is working on an update for all us.
I am having the same issue. The mppt controller in the AC180 appears to stop accepting anything at 60vdc to 14vdv once charged. I have mine tied into the grid, the priority is suppose to shift to any other source once connected. It should utilize solar, battery or 12vdc, or any other power source at the barrel plug input over 120vac. It is not clicking or switching until you manually unplug it, then plug it back in. I have captured it actually switching when unplugged from the grid and it hits 99%. I really hope we can get this fixed so I do not have to send it back and purchase ecoflow again. I purchased a victron mppt to override these issues right now and that’s $250.
I have the same issue. I bought this AC180 from Amazon in July 2023. I’ll need to see this fixed before commiting to using it with my RV while travelling this fall as planned. AC1802320000646453. Needs to wake up every moning and start charging through solar panels without daily user interference and without significant increase in power consumption. Please advise.
I’ve upgraded my AC180 to the latest firmware available. The latest version available according to the app is v1033.06.
We will push BMS version 103307 for you in 12 hours, you can update the firmware to test later. Looking forward to your update.
I loaded BMS firmware 1033.07, and now the AC180 is auto charging from solar each morning. That’s great. And the AC180 now seems accessible via Bluetooth more often without having to press the power button.
However, the AC180 now has a high self-discharge rate of about 3.4 watts, which is too high. Basically this means that the AC180 will loose 81.6 watt-hours each day, which is a loss of 7% capacity each day.
Perhaps this additional power consumption is related to the Bluetooth radio being on all the time. If so, I’d like to see a firmware/app update that adds a checkbox where we have the option for Bluetooth to be active only when the AC180 screen is on (I can really live without Bluetooth most of the time).
If this additional power consumption is related to the MPPT circuit, perhaps a firmware update could put the circuit to sleep when DC charging input is less than 1 watt, and then wake up every 5 seconds to check whether DC charging input has increased. Such low duty cycle may save significant power at the cost of only having to wait up to 5 seconds for a new DC charging session to begin.
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@BradMitchellPhotography Yes, the firmware will higher the self-consumption. I will check with our technician about the possibility. If there is any update, I will inform you.
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So what if a customer don’t want a higher self-consumption / discharge.
How can you make HIS product perform worse without his consent?
This is why you MUST have change logs for the updates.
For this firmware, I have asked for advice and indicated possible drawbacks before pushing it. At the same time, we also considered the possibility that this firmware would not be accepted by all the customers, so it was not pushed to all machines. The feedback regarding the need for change logs in the updates has been forwarded to the relevant departments for evaluation.
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So… with the new firmware, can the unit be switched completely off so no drain will occur? I was going to purchase this unit this week, but I can’t have drain on a unit not being used.
ARsolar: The short answer to your question is “yes”.
I just ran some tests regarding this issue over the last several days with the updated firmware (ARM v2073.04, DSP v2077.07, BMS v1033.07). I ran each test over at least 24 hours and observed how much the state of charge changed. I then calculated continuous self-discharge rate as (Capacity)(Lost SoC)/(Time), where Capacity is 1152 W-hr for AC180. There were no AC or DC loads plugged in during these tests. Here is what I found:
- AC180 in standby*: 3W continuous self-discharge rate.
- AC180 DC output circuit on: 3W continuous self-discharge rate.
- AC180 AC output circuit on: 12W continuous self-discharge rate.
- AC180 off **: 0 self-discharge rate (i.e. not measurable over 24 hours).
*“Standby” is a term I made up. It means that AC and DC output circuits are both off, but AC180 is not off (though its screen may be off). It is still “responsive” and can still be charged by solar (i.e. MPPT circuit will recognize solar input and do its thing to regulate the solar charging) and the unit is still accessible via the Bluetooth app and will wake up if accessed via Bluetooth app. Standby can be initiated by simply turning off both AC and DC output circuits, but not pressing the physical Pwr button. The screen will go dark after several seconds but still be in this “standby” mode.
**“Off” means the unit is turned off by manually pressing the physical Pwr button on the unit for multiple seconds until the AC180 turns off. In this state, it cannot be charged by solar and the unit is not accessible via the Bluetooth app (until it is turned back on again via the physical Pwr button).
I’m glad that “off” has 0 self-discharge, otherwise I’d probably be returning the AC180. Even though I’m not happy that it can’t solar charge unless in “standby”. I live in rainy western Washington State and can’t get enough juice from my 100W solar panel to keep up with 3 watts of self-discharge for days at a time.
Hope it helps,
Brad
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I am also having the same issues with my AC180. Can I have the updated firmware? DSP and BMS.
Currently
ARM v2073.04
DSP v2077.06
BMS v1033.06
SN AC1802328000677988
@10001110101 For the problem of PV activation, the problem can be resolved by updating the BMS version currently, but it may little higher the consumption. Would you like to test?
Yes I would like to test.