AC300 charged by generator

I’ve been using my AC300, 2-B300s and 3 solar panels for a week now. I’m off-grid. My state of charge is currently 1%. I have a 3000 watt generator that I bought from Home Depot about ten years ago. When i attempt to recharge my system with the generator, nothing happens. Do I have to push all the right buttons on the AC? Is my generator too big/small? HELP! Is there a phone number I can call? Don’t give me Bluetti’s phone number, they’re worthless. Any guidance is appreciated if you can keep the explanation understandable to someone who doesn’t get ‘electricity’.

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I had the same problem years ago, but now I bought a inverter generator with a pure sine ware power. I runs great, 2200 watt Champion generator.

My first advice is to verify that your generator is in fact producing 120 volt AC power. If verified, connect the AC charging brick to the generator and then plug the end of the charging cable into your AC300. If charging is occurring, the problem is solved.

If no charging is occurring, take your power brick and AC300 to a location that has grid supplied 120 volt AC power. Connect the power brick to the grid supplied power and then to the AC300. If charging now occurs but would not in the scenario above, your generator is not producing power or the quality or quantity of the power is not sufficient for the charging brick.

Ok, I’m ay my wit’s end. I just bought a “pure sine wave generator” and I still get nothing. I’ll ask again, do I need to push “all the right buttons” on my AC touchscreen or will it automatically begin to charge? When I first bought the unit, I charged it through the grid with zero problems using the ‘brick’ that I’m trying to use now.


Is there a phone number to call to help? This message board is ok but I need help now!

If I’m reading the manual correctly the AC300 needs at least 15 amps of AC input. At 1100 running watts your generator is only producing 9 amps at 120 volts or 10 amps at 110volts. I don’t have an AC300 but seem to recall some threads here about lowering the minimum amps needed via some button pushing. You might want to do a search or wait for others that have done it to chime in.

You have referenced a ‘manual’ and I’ve seen it mentioned in other threads. I never received a manual. I spent $7500.00 on a Bluetti solat set-up and you would think a manual (printed out) would be part of the price. And here I am in a community forum begging for assistance because Bluetti does NOT have ANY customer service. I’m still waiting for a Bluetti tech to chime in.

There should be a manual in the AC300 box. You can download a copy here:

https://www.bluettipower.com/pages/user-guides

I think @eric102 is right you may need to lower the input current. You can set it down to I think 1 amp now.

I just emailed Bluetti and told them I want to return the whole unit for a Full Refund. I’ve had it with their non-existent customer service. Thank you to everyone who tried to help. And I want to be clear, everytime I click on a youtube video that say’s how great Bluetti is, I’m going to be adding my own story so no one goes down the same tortuous path that I did.

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You ask for help and you have completely ignored each person that has offered assistance to you. You bought a high capacity unit and are trying to charge it with a generator that is not of sufficient capacity. If you turn your charging input amperage down you should help with your issue. The gasoline generator you bought is also considerably underpowered for charging a high input device.

I ignored no one. Bluetti is doing the ignoring. My first post, I said I was trying to charge my system with a 3000 watt generator. I asked if I needed to push the right buttons…no response from Bluetti. I asked if my generator was too big or too small…no response from Bluetti. I asked for a phone number several times…no response from Bluetti. Bluetti suggested the ‘brick’ remedy and I mentioned I tried that. A community member mentioned a pure sine wave generator and the size he bought…no response from Bluetti about what size I need or if that might be the remedy. I bought one. Another member mentions reprogramming my system to accept my sine wave generator but I should wait for a Bluetti tech…no response from Bluetti. And after saying I’ve had it with Bluetti’s horrible customer service, only then does a Bluetti tech respond and you can see the date and time stamps. What a joke. A 5 minute phone call could’ve prevented this disaster from occurring. It wasn’t from my lack of trying or ignoring anyone.

It sounds to me like the disconnect here is that you are expecting replies from Bluetti by the act of you commenting on this forum. The forum is not Bluetti Service but is monitored at times and they will comment sometimes. If you need to contact Bluetti Service, they need to be contacted directly. I have seen E-mail to be the best result. I made the second comment to your thread which you seemed to have ignored which was an attempt to assist you with your issue.

You have purchased a device with a large storage capacity which requires a large amount of electrical output to charge if left at the factory settings. The Bluetti is adjustable to limit the amount of charging current required but that also requires an action on your part to perform. By limiting the current allowed into the Bluetti, a lower powered AC outlet or a smaller generator may be used. I do not understand why your choice of charging generator would make you upset with the Bluetti device when it is performing exactly like is should be.

I think that what you are experiencing is something else.

1st a question, when you connect the generator do you see the AC powering indicator from the AC300 changing color as to start trying to charge?
2nd do you hear the relay inside the AC300 clicking on/off? Different intervals?

If so, you probably need to connect a (serious) load to the AC300. Sound strange? It is, but I have experienced something similar.

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Thank you Wappie,
I have made several attempts to remedy this situation. I’m at first going to explain what happens when I try my 1100 watt generator (pictured above).
1100 watt generator- I have turned my amps down to 1. in this situation, my refrigerator is drawing 112 watts and my generator is producing 121 watts. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THAT THIS GENERATOR IS NOT BIG ENOUGH. But it does illustrate that things are working. I would like your COMPLETE FOCUS to be on the 3000 watt generator.
3000 watt generator- I have changed my amps anywhere from 4 to 11 using this generator. My AC recognizes it immediately. It will then be at least 15 seconds before “the click”. Watt data will begin to show up, sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for ten. In either scenario, there will be another “click”, watt data disappears, and then there’s an alarm. I have to hit the alarm button quickly. It’s almost always “#57 grid voltage high”. I think I have seen “grid voltage low” as well. And again, all this would take is a 5 minute call from Bluetti but since they have ZERO customer service, here I am.

It sounds to me like your 3,000 watt generator is not producing clean stable power in the acceptable input range the AC300 needs. You have shown your AC300 will charge with the voltage produced from your smaller generator. You have not shared any info on what your “3,000 watt” generator is, but I would guess that it is not a decent quality generator that is designed to power electronic devices.

If you connect to normal grid power and charging functions correctly, you connect to your smaller generator and charging occurs but charging will not occur with your 3,000 watt unit this seems to be a logical finger pointing to the problem area.

You need good quality full sine wave power in the correct voltage range in order to function. Your grid voltage high and grid voltage low errors should be a clear window into seeing that you are not supplying your AC300 with correct power.

@Indy This sounds very familiar to me. In practice I have the same issue but not with a generator but with power coming straight from a AC200P.

@Scott-Benson Therefore I think it quite unlikely that this is some kind of sine-wave issue. If it would be, that would imply that the AC200P does not supply a correct sine-wave… Many tests have shown that is does and therefore that would not be the issue. I also have a 2nd AC200P which has the same behavior so it is not bound to this unit.

From my experience, things DO work once the AC load exeeds the AC input. Meaning if the AC-input is 1000W, you have to draw 1100, 1500 or more AC from the unit. Only in that case after 1-3 on/off clicks it will stabalize and AC input current keeps flowing.

I had hoped that this issue would have been fixed when I got the 2nd AC300 unit last week. Unfortunatley it has not, since I updated the software for both units.

I do have a workaround which works all the time. I use the powerbrack that comes with the AC200 units and connect it directly to one of the AC300 batteries. This works fine but creates lots of unwanted noise. I think in case of using a genertor, the extra noise of the power brick will not be such an issue :wink:

Also, I have limited the AC input on the AC300 to max. 3A via settings. Therefore a “small” generator should also not be an issue.

The fact remains that small generator power charges the AC300, large generator power does not charge the AC300. The AC200P power output “may” also not be compatible with charging the AC300. I have an Ecoflow River product that I can charge with any of my “sogens” except one. It give the same cycling and clicking symptom described as described with the AC300 issue. It produces a pure sine wave but for whatever reason, the power is not compatible with charging circuit on my Ecoflow unit.

I am fairly confident that the $ investment in the AC300 setup is greater than the $investment in the 3000 watt generator mentioned. As you mentioned, either use a charging brick or…get a better generator that will do the job.

The overvoltage and undervoltage errors received when using the large generator indicated wide fluctuations in voltage being output from the large generator.

Interesting… even more interesting to know its behavoir under AC load and then try charging. Might be a similar issue? Would be nice to find out the real cause. Once known it can be reported to bluetti to replicate the issue and then come up with a solution.

I’ll just chime in here for a moment. I also have the AC300 with 2 B300’s, and I have used my generator to charge it, as a test since it may be necessary in an extended bad weather situation. My generator is a 2200 watt Yamaha inverter generator that is about 12 years old now. I set my AC300 to charge at 12 amps, or about 1440 watts. When the AC300 was charging from the generator it was showing approximately 1445 watts and charged well.

Now, regarding your 3000 watt generator, it is also an older unit, and it requires the engine to maintain speed correctly to generate the correct voltage and frequency. When it comes to both of those factors the AC300 is quite picky. Since your generator is old it’s gas engine response time to load fluctuations might be somewhat slow (due to worn/dirtly throttle linkages, etc.). I would like to suggest a test. Set the AC300 to charge at a lower rate, say 10 or 12 amps. Then get the generator running and put a different load on it, say a small heater running around 1000 watts. Once that load is being powered plug in the AC300 and see if the generator handles the load increase better with an existing load on it.

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Is your 10 year old generator a “ pure sine wave inverter?
Older inverters might not be and they have issues with some electronic devices.
Why are you down to 1% charge??
That could be the issue also!!
If you let a solar generator go down that low…… asking for trouble
It goes into a wired protection mode.
Why can’t you first get the charge up using your solar panels?
Can you charge your trailers house batteries with your old gas generator??

Also…… make sure the Bluetti is set to take an “ other” charge instead of “ PV” …… unless you are charging with PV(photovoltaic panels or solar panels)
Study your manual and experiment
It’s the best way to learn