I received my Smart Home Panel upgrade kit for EP500Pro and installed it yesterday. It looks like this modification isolates neutrals from the panel in both Disconnect (0) and Grid (2) selections. Only the Connected mode (1) has the neutrals from EP500/Pro connected to the panel. The wires that came with my kit were short, it was a tight fit to reach the neutral bar (I had to use one slot beneath the large wire connector). Likewise the module wire was a tight fit to reach the transfer switch.
Has anyone installed the Smart Home Panel to an existing main or other subpanel yet? If so would you please share how it has been working? Any tips/lessons learned or changes to breaker configuration in your setup? I plan to transfer only 20A breakers and have almost all of them as AFCI. I’m not planning on using any double pole breakers.
I want to clarify the above post (since I see that others are referencing it in discussions about transfer switches/AC300). The post is referring to EP500Pro output wires to the panel as it relates to the neutral bar. This configuration may be similar to AC300 (I believe only the output wires from the units are different between them in relation to SubPanel).
Note the neutral from each EP500Pro output are connected together (dual units) but isolated from the neutral bar except in Connected mode (1) – [EP500Pro supplying power]
However, for the inputs wires into the EP500Pro - the neutral are again connected to each other (dual units), but isolated from the neutral bar except in Grid mode (2) – [EP500Pro power is bypassed]
Hope this helps others. If your setup or experience is different please let us know. If anyone else has additional experience with Smart Home Panel please share!
Hi @PowerMat , I do also have similar setup with yours. This is actually my 2nd replacement of the EP500/Pro. I only have one machine.
My critical loads are connected to only L1 , 1-2, 5-6, 9-10, …
I’m still getting the same alerts when selected Machine Mode (1) and panel grid ON. I had stop my testing cause that’s how they broke. After double/triple checking my connections . I told bluetti support that their internal may be the problem.
I got the 011. H-Bus Voltage Hight and 012. BUS Voltage High alerts.
Hi @sparky I don’t have the panel installed yet, only installed the upgrade parts supplied into the panel.
That said, I did take some pictures. The Smart Home Panel itself is well-built – simple and solid construction in my opinion. I do like the EP500 4 prong locking connectors better than the 3 prong AC300 connectors in the manual. It does look like something I would want to keep attached to the house for a long time. Hopefully the issues will be worked out. I think the simplicity will allow other (newer) devices to also be supported in the future.
Hi @ryangamo I don’t have the panel installed yet, but this is concerning to hear. Are you saying that you receive the alerts as soon as the grid power is switched ON or as soon as you switch to Mode 1? Or do you get these sometime afterwards? Do you get these errors even if you are in Mode1 with the Smart Home Panel input breakers off? – Meaning, the high voltage coming in on the neutral wires and that’s why the EP500 is altering?
Do you by chance have pictures of how your Smart Home Panel is hooked up to your main or sub panel? I’m interested in understanding the neutral connections as it relates to your alerts.
Hi @PowerMat , the alert was on Mode 1 and grid power was turned on.
However, I was able to figure out the issue. As you identified, the neutral wire is isolated to the bluetti subpanel. One of my load, the GFI outlet was wired incorrectly.
When I traced all the critical load wiring to the subpanel, I noticed that my electrician had forgotten to disconnect the neutral wire from the MAIN panel ground/neutral bus bar. This was probably because the GFI outlet was right next to the main panel. I disconnected the neutral wire of the GFI from the main to directly to the neutral of bluetti subpanel. That fixed the issue.
Key takeaways. Make sure ALL neutral wires of the load in the subpanel are isolated to its own neutral bus bar.
Thank you for letting us know, this is reassuring! It’s good to share these types of issues with the community so we can all understand together.
It would be awesome if you could also share some pictures. Do you have AFCI breakers, and are those working well when the grid power goes out and is restored? I’m looking forward to having the Smart Home Panel hooked up soon.
Yes they’re QT type. However, they are slightly wider for the cover slots so had to trim of the dividers to fit to close cover.
Based on my sense monitoring, I average around 600w.
I have my water heater, furnace, fridge , my entertainment center (tv, streaming device, receivers/speakers ) , internet devices, lights that are intermittent on … also have basement pumps connected.
Not familiar with ACFI breakers and don’t have them.
By the way, I tested my pv200 solar panels , works as expected.
AFCI breakers are apparently required for bedrooms in the USA since the NEC electrical code in 2000. My house is from 2005 and has these for the bedrooms, but not the “office” (which is a bedroom really).
I just had my electrician install my 2 EP500Pros into the Bluetti sub panel. Like others, I had trouble connecting the upgrade part- but I found out that the housing on my transfer switch was actually rotated 90 degrees so that terminal 11, which is supposed to be on the bottom according to the diagram in the directions, is actually on the right side, making it impossible to connect the split wire connector to the upgrade part. We were only able to connect it to the bottom terminal and use that one to connect the neutral wires going to the AC input cables to the units. We just taped off the other one because it wouldn’t reach.
I am able to connect both units and sync them into split phase, and grid power is coming in fine, but when I turn on the AC output on the units, I am getting the 11 H-Bus Voltage high and 12 Bus Voltage high errors. The GFI neutrals are correctly connected to the panel.
Any ideas? I have emailed service, but they are very slow to respond, still no answer after a week.
Also I notice in ryangamo’s photo a white neutral wire coming from outside the panel and connected into the second terminal of the green upgrade part. What is that wire? It is not in the direction for the part.
My wires were also a tight fit. With the upgraded green junction box installed, the neutral wire coming from the main panel needs to be connected to this junction box (not the neutral bar). Look at the updated manual https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0536/3390/8911/files/Bluetti_Sub_Panel_1.pdf Check out figure 2.4
If it’s wired correctly, you should have the continuity on the neutral bar in the cases I’ve mentioned in the second and third paragraph in this post(2): Anyone with Smart Home Panel Installed? - #2 by PowerMat [Perform test only with power off and EP500Ps disconnected]
Thanks so much, Powermat, that is what I suspected. I just wish they had made it clearer, and even put it in the directions for the upgrade part. What do you think I should do about the split wire that connects the upgrade part to the transfer switch. There is NO way it will reach to both terminals- about 5mm too short for the top one. Should we try to splice it and make it longer or see if Bluetti will send a longer one? I will need to to reach both terminals, so I can use the second terminal for the main power neutral.
I agree, this should have been mentioned in the upgrade instructions.
We were only able to connect it to the bottom terminal and use that one to connect the neutral wires going to the AC input cables to the units. We just taped off the other one because it wouldn’t reach.
I wasn’t sure what you meant by this, if you have a picture, it would help. There’s really nothing special about the wires, so splicing the end without the connectors seems like the easier way to go, provided you use the same gauge wires.
Unfortunately I’m not allowed to attach a photo yet since I’m a new user. But I just spoke with my electrician and he said he will just splice it to make it longer so it will reach both terminals. Hopefully in a week or so I will have that done and retest. Thanks so much for your help.
Overall, I have to say I am very disappointed in Bluetti service. When they sent the upgrade junction box, I had no idea what it was (no instructions included), so I asked them. They sent me a condescending email saying my electrician would know how to install, but of course he did not. Not until I found the directions (that they should have sent with the blasted thing!) on this forum did I know what it was. They did not send the communication cable for split phase connection, and it took weeks to get them to send me one. Also, my sub panel had no predrilled holed for the cables and wires, and as I already stated, the housing on the transfer switch was rotated, and service seems to take forever to answer any questions.
Sorry to rant, but I think Bluetti needs to step it up a bit if they want to make it past start-up company status.
