I have a complete system with AC200 Max, 2 b230 batteries, an 14 100W panels which can fully charge the system in about 3 days.
It worked as expected until I added the second b230 some 6 months ago. Over the last 6 months the system has reported steadily increasing speed of power drop as reported by the main unit. After closely monitoring what was happening, I found that one of the B230’s steadily loses power, shows “discharging” on the screen, even with no load and AC/DC output turned off.
So, when it hit zero again, I unplugged it from the system, charged it up from the wall which took about 5 hours, plugged it back into the system to verify it was charged to 100%. Then I unplugged it from everything and turned it off. The next morning (7 hours later) I turned the b230 back on, it won’t turn on. After 5 minutes of wall charging, the b230 turns on and shows 1% charge. So it has a self-discharge rate of at least 300 watts.
I understand the next steps are either to return it for warranty which would require buying another b230 since nobody keeps the required original packaging for things they buy (since you’d need another house to store all the boxes), not to mention the insane cost to ship something that heavy. Or updating the firmware, which from what I read here and in other forums nearly always bricks the units.
Any other ideas I can try before I drive it to the nearest nature preserve and chuck it in the lake? Or maybe take it apart to at least salvage some of the parts for a homemade battery pack?
Ok, it’s been a few days since I posted this, so I don’t know when this will post but updates:
On the advice of another forum, I powered up the problem b230 when it was warmer (it’s been around freezing temperature here, and I don’t use heating), and it miraculously charged itself up from 1% charge to 100% charge while powered off and not plugged into anything. Ran it down to 30% before turning everything off for the night. Seemed to work normally. Maybe it’s temperature related. I will report back here.
Disconnect the AC200MAX and calibrate the SOC of B230. Completely drain the battery until it automatically shuts down, and then charge it with AC or DC until it is fully charged and automatically shuts down. And yes, low temperatures can also affect battery performance.
Is the BMS version 1017.04? If not, please provide me with the SN and the firmware version then I will push a firmware for you to test. Not all the firmware update bricks the units.
In case you need to return it for warranty and you don’t have a packaging box, you can contact after-support and they will propose a solution suitable for you.
Lithium batteries do not like cold temperatures. It’s strange that only the one battery does it and not the others though. This post is a good reminder for others, I hope your problem corrects itself with warmer weather. A lot of people do not realize that these types of systems may not be the best choice for off grid locations in the northern latitudes.
I don’t have any suggestions, but I an curious about the placement of your B230’s. Is the one not having problems stacked on top of the AC200MAX? Maybe that’s keeping it warmer?
I had read somewhere that optimal range for lifepo4 is 32 to 113 degrees. Temperatures are dipping to high 30’s/low 40’s at night. The problem b230 is on the bottom of the stack, so it would be cooler than the others. Checked it this morning, it had dropped from 30% charge to 0 again overnight. It has been through 1 complete charge discharge cycle, I’ll repeat again tonight (someone said 2 cycles are sometimes needed).
Oh, I almost forgot. Bluetti_care asked the BMS version. Are you asking for the A300 max or the B230? It’s 1018.02 for both the bad and good b230’s. AC200 max is 1010.07.
Bluetti mods: you can delete my other topic that would have appeared in a few days. I was new to the forum and didn’t understand that on this forum, new subjects take a few days to appear. I was used to Reddit and the like where everything is instantaneous. I’ll delete it myself if it does get posted.
@Emperatorzacks I can push a BMS firmware (1010.08) of AC200MAX for you to correct SOC. If you want, you can provide me with the SN. There is no firmware for B230.
Oh, ok. I assumed the second and third bms versions listed on the screen were for the addon battery packs. I’ll get the serial number when I get home from work.
Most recently the problem B230 went from 30% to 0% overnight while unplugged from everything and off. Charged it to 4% to verify normal charging, then turned it off. The next morning, it had retained the 4% charge overnight, so the problem isn’t even consistent. Both the other B230 and the main unit continue to work perfectly as expected.
Please also consider that the SoC seems to be not very precise , if you charge with very lower values e.g. 10 oder 30W by solar.
Carging with 200W DC constant or 500W orig. supply, SoC is increasing correctly. Charging with small values, I also see surprisingly happening jumps on AC200Max. Connection of my B230 did not influence this.
Bluetti posted also the internal power consumption nicely for only on , AC/DC on,…
I assume that the flat curve of the LiFePo is here the big challenge but also not sure if the shown inputs from solar, are already compensated on internal consumption or raw added value to the battery…
@Emperatorzacks The BMS firmware (1010.08) of AC200MAX will be pushed in 24h. You can have a test. For the B230, if you use it alone without connecting the AC200MAX and have done a complete charge and discharge cycle, there may be a problem with the battery.
Thanks, I’ll try it and hope for a non-bricked outcome.
The B230 has been fully charged and discharged multiple times now.
The large drops in charge occur with the battery not turned on or plugged into anything, and show in the indicator lights on the battery itself, so I doubt it’s just a matter of the AC200 Max not reading the state of charge correctly.
It does seem to be somewhat temperature related, as it only occurs at night when it’s cold, never during the day when it’s warmer.
I generally run a load of around 300 watts, and the main and good b230 together will get me through a full day (I shut everything off at night), so my numbers seem about in line with these charts for the 2 good units. Eventually when I get around to it I’ll use a kill-a-watt meter and get some hard numbers on actual useable capacity. Still waiting on the firmware update mentioned earlier, I assume it just appears on my phone app.
@Emperatorzacks correct. If there is an update available for your unit, it will show up after you connect to that specific device via BT, and toggle thru advanced settings → Firmware . Note: You can do all this while the b230 is attached to the Max, but I dont believe there is any updates available for the b230 solely.
@Emperatorzacks Yea it doesnt appear that you have any updates available. I am currently running the same versions as you too. And if you are experiencing dropouts when connected to the max via BT… is there anyway you could try to use a different phone/tablet or something? You only want to perform updates when the BT connection is solid.
@BLUETTI_CARE can you tell us what the BMS 1010.08 version does that you mentioned above?
