AC200Max wit 200w Solar Panels - D050S Charge Enhancer

Product Discussion BLUETTI AC Series
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I have two Renogy 200w suitcase solar panels that have a 20A Voyager Charge Controller which is not needed because it’s for regulating charge to batteries, not power station. However, I want to know if anyone is using any third party 200w solar panels with their AC200Max and if so, are they seeing the expected charge rating of 200w? I’m trying to find out if AC200Max has it’s own internal charge controller\regulator? I’ve purchased a DC CHARGING ENHANCER (D050S) block because it indicates:

Enable more charging methods like solar, car, and lead-acid battery charging.

  • 500W Max input. This is strange because I watched a video that demonstrated liking 5 Bluetti PV200w solar panels which equals 900w of solar charge input.
  • Increase the PV input rate to 1200W for the BLUETTI AC200/AC200P; 1400W for the BLUETTI AC200Max.
  • Increase the overall capacity of the BLUETTI AC200/AC200P by connecting them with B230/B300.
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I would expect that you would see approx. 300 watts or so in perfect sun and solar panel alignment conditions.

The DC charging enhancer will not create addtional wattage as it only increases the input voltage to 58 volts. The reason for the 58 volts is that is what voltage is required to connect a charging device to the AC charger input. The charging enhancer allows you to connect a device at a lower voltage and then it steps up the voltage to a voltage that can be recognized by the AC charging port. It will not increase the output watage of your pair of 200 watt renogy panels.

I would make sure first that you are connecting your pair of panels in series wiring and not in parallel since parallel will not allow you to receive the full wattage potential since you will max out on the amperage of the two combined panels. Series wiring connection will double the output voltage of the two panels while keeping the voltage the same.

If I were you, I would connect a single panel to the charging enhancer and then connect the output to the ac charging input port and see what wattage you get. Then disconnect the panel from the DC charging enhancer and connect it to the PV input port and you should see slightly increased wattage.

Bottom line is that in most cases, the solar panels will max out at 75 to 80% of their wattage rating and this is completely normal.

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Thanks for the reply. I’ll try that.

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Jeff Hagen on a Facebook forum also mentioned.

  1. The max input for the AC200Max’s built-in MPPT controller is 900 Watts, not 1200 Watts.

  2. The DC Charging Enhancer can support an additional 500 watts of solar, not 200 watts.

  3. The voltage going into the DC enhancer does not affect the voltage going into the built-in controller. They are totally separate circuits with their own limits. You can run the built-in controller at up to 145 volts and it will pull up to 15 amps. You can also run the DC charging enhancer at up to 60 volts simultaneously. The DC charging enhancer can pull up to 10 amps.

This scales across attached B230 and B300 batteries and allows much more power as shown. The below diagram was confirmed by Bluetti’s customer service as a valid solar setup for the AC200Max.

When you add solar panels in series, you multiply the Voc of each panel by the number of panels in series to determine the Voc of the entire string of panels. Each controller should have all-identical panels on that controller.

Example:

Bluetti PV200- Voc is 26.1 volts. If I use 5 of them in series then the Open Circuit Voltage for that string of panels is 26.1v*5 = 130.5 volts

Since 130.5 is less then 145v, it is OK to use 5 panels. Yes, that is rated at 1000w where the controller will only pull 900w. It “wastes” a little bit at max output, but it also means it will get to max output faster. This is known as “overpaneling” and is generally considered a good thing.

If you are going to be in an environment that goes below freezing, increase the rated Voc of the panels by 10% in your calculations. Solar panels make extra voltage when they get really cold. In my case, it never goes below freezing where I live. I went with the rated voltage directly and will do so for these examples.

If I wanted to use 8 panels in series then the then the Open Circuit Voltage for that string of panels is 26.1v*8 = 208.8 volts

Since 208.8 volts is greater then 145v, it is not OK to use 8 panels in series.

Note that the voltage is calculated per MPPT controller. The DC Charging Enhancer has a max of 60v / 10amps. This 60V does not impact the max voltage of the built-in controller.

If I use the PV200 panels as an example again, it means I can use 2x PV200s in series to a DC Charging Enhancer and also use 5x PV200s to the built-in controller on the same AC200Max simultaneously.

The image below has 4 MPPT charge controllers: 3 are the D050S DC Charging Enhancers and the other one is the controller built into the AC200Max.

Each controller is unaware of what panels are plugged into the other controllers. Each controller only cares about panels plugged into itself.

You can have one controller with a single (or many) 200 watt panels and another controller with a 350 watt panel. No problem there.

As long as the voltage on each controller is less then the maximum for that controller and all panels on the same controller are electrically “the same” then you are good to go.

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If you want the max charging wattage you will have to “ overpanel” app 30%.
You could have 1200 watts of panels to get the 900 watts needed!
This is because panels may be rated at 100 watts, but due to efficiency issues you usually settle for 70 watts
You have to add the Voc rating for each panel and don’t exceed the 145 volts and 15 amps
This why Bluetti sells there 350 solar panels for this system. You can use 3 of these and not exceed 145 Voc
Problem is they are way overpriced!
Double what they should be!
You could buy “rigid” Newpowa 210 watt 19.83 Voc and buy 6 or 7 of them at $208 each and still be under the 145 volt requirement.
Rigid panels last longer but these panels are 27” x 65” and should be mounted on some structure like a roof and angled to the sun

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Does anyone know if the B230 batteries can be charged simultaneously by the AC200Max connected via P090A cable attached to battery expansion port and the B230 AC input with a D050S charge enhancer fed by a PV source?

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Interesting question which, after checking, isn’t answered in the B230 or AC200Max manual. However, we know that the AC200P/Max can be dual charged via PV and via the T500 or D050S charge enhancer. With a B230/B300 battery connected to the AC200P/Max you’ll be able to charge the battery using dual inputs on the AC200P/Max itself.

Now, your question pertains to not dual charging the AC200P/Max with dual inputs but taking the T500 or D050S while the AC200P/Max is charging via PV and plugging it into the B230/B300. I’m not sure why you’d want to do this if you can simply dual charge the AC200P/Max but I reckon you’d have to test it yourself to see if it works or ask Bluetti support via email: service@bluettipower.com.

One more thing: I don’t believe the B230/B300 (connected to your AC200P/Max) will charge unless you supply some input into the AC200P/Max (that is, the AC200’s internal battery cannot be used to charge a B230/B300).

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Thanks for the input.

I am trying to determine if utilizing all the solar input options available on the AC200Max and B230 can be used to charge the entire system in the least amount of time.

AC200Max - PV input + AC input with D050S fed by separate PV - 1400W
1st B230 - AC input with D050S fed by separate PV - 500W
2nd B230 - AC input with D050S fed by separate PV - 500W

In theory that could yield Max 2400W of PV input to the system.

After the AC200Max takes a full charge in ~2 hours @ 1400W. I am wondering if some of that 1400W power from the AC200Max inputs can simultaneously charge the B230s thru the battery expansion cables while they are also charging via their dedicated D050S.

The manual says it takes ~5 hours to fully charge a B230 via a D050S with 500W of PV input. If the B230 can be simultaneously charged via AC200Max it seems the 5 hour charge time for a B230 should be shortened quite a bit.

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Oh, I see. In that case the answer is yes, you can indeed utilize all solar input options as per the previous message in this discussion from tmryan7.

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Is it possible to keep this unit topped up with the a single Bluetti 200w panel, or does it not have enough voltage?

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you can with a single panel but unless your loads are small and short duration you will not be satisfied

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Thanks for your input Scott

I did make the same inquiry on another post of my own.

The power deficit should be reasonable in my thinking as i run smaller packs with the same 200W panel. So if the overall loss is not greatly increased we should be ok for our usual small trips.