My question is could the Bluetti charger1 be used to top up a Motorhome 100amp lithium battery using one of the pre-set charging regimes ie: AC180 or AC70.
I would avoid doing this, the simple description of the C1 is a variable voltage, controlled output load power supply.
It is not a battery charger per se. It will push in 10A constantly at the voltage you set even when the battery should float.
It provides a power source to a power station, which has its own internal charging system. i.e to the MPPT solar input and within its input limit.
I can see using it to charge a LFP battery, but with an MPPT solar controller in between. I have a Victron MPPT 75V/15A. Therefore, the 56V 10A output of the C1 is within the input limits of the Victron for 560W. The Victron then controls the charging Algorithm to the LFP.
In other words, the C1 replaces a solar panel as the power source and is not weather dependent. 
I forgot to mention one very important point.
The C1 minimum voltage is 15V, which is too high for a 12V LFP battery and likely damage it.
As an aside, a Victron 75V 10A MPPT is all you need as 10A is the C1 limit anyway. (I just happen to have the 15A for solar mat use.)
Hi Mandp thanks for your informative reply and will just use my solar supply as I also have a 75/15A victron MPPT, so if I wired from the Bluetti C1 to the victron MPPT controller this would work.
Steve.
Yes, use the MC4 cable supplied with the C1 on its output and either make or buy something similar to then place in the input (solar) terminals of the 75/15. Make sure polarity is correct and you then can connect/disconnect if you need to use elsewhere.
I actually did not do this as all of my solar mats and blankets have Anderson plugs… I’ll go out and take a pic shortly.
This is some of my setup. I have not installed the C1 or Victron as for now I want flexibility for use with the 4x4, Caravan, Bluetti and other LFP batteries.
I’ll do this in note form;
- I made up a short heavy duty Anderson to C1 input.
- The output is the C1 OEM cable to MC4.
- This then connects to an extension cable (coiled) with MC4 on one end, Anderson the other.
- The extension Anderson then connects to the 75/15 MPPT solar input. This is so the Victron can be nearer the battery.
NOTE. The Anderson parallel double adaptor on the 75/15 output is not used there, I only placed it there to stop it falling of the draw as limited space. lol.
I have this parallel adaptor, plus a series connected doubler which are used to connect solar blankets to the Victron solar input in lieu of the C1. More…
As I have Bluetti AC70s & AC180S that can take 60V, I can connect my solar mats or blankets in series to get the voltage above 32V and therefor access the full 10A input.
I also have a spare 15A PWM controller used on the 4x4 auxiliary battery. As the blankets are only 120W, here I use the doubler in parallel to maximise Amps and keep the Voc below its maximum which won’t accept series voltages.
The biggest challenge is remembering what need a controller, what has inbuilt MPPT and their respective max voltages, lol. :)
I’ve seen some Youtube vids that boast, you don’t need solar if you use a Charger 1. I disagree. I prospect, sometimes camping in the same area for several weeks, without driving very far, very often. I don’t like the idea of idling my diesel engine (4x4) for several hours to power a charger. That’s why I have solar.
Forgot to mention. The Charger 1 is basically a step up voltage, amp controlled output device. I have a spare 100Ah LFP. If I wanted to use this spare to recharge an AC70 or 180 in a grid outage, I would set it at 35V @ 10A (to get the full 10A) for 350W charge.
If I connect it direct at around 13.2V, the input is only 8A for around 90W. Hence the short Anderson I made.
Which is a further reason at this time for not installing the C1 to the 4x4 permanently.
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Your setup is quite similar to mine and I’m curious if you’re running into issues with output. I purchased a Bluetti Charger 1 and installed it in my van and can use it with my Ecoflow Delta Pro running at 56vdc (I have issues adjusting to lower voltages).
I now have it connected to a Victron 75V/15A MPPT charge controller which is connected to a 20 amp breaker and then to a 400ah 12v battery but I’m getting inconsistent results. I get no where near the 10 amps and the input voltage (“Solar”) bounces between 15 watts to 112 watts but no where near the 500+ watts I was setting with the Delta Pro.
I ended up disabling charging after trying setting various output voltage (ranging from 15 to 56 volts) and pretty much getting no amps/watts at the MPPT.
I know this is not the recommended setup for a C1 but with a MPPT in between it and the battery this should work.
One thing I have noted is my C1 will not work when set to max output from the 4x4. I have a last model Toyota Prado, with a 130A alternator. I also have a 75Ah LFP auxiliary in the rear with an inbuilt 20A DC-DC charger.
The C1 will draw around 42-45A which is a total load of 62-65A of added load. When I have the caravan on tow, it has a 25A Redarc DC-DC charger which increases the total load to 87-90A.
From this is a “square peg in a round hole” scenario, it’s too much for the alternator.
My primary use for the C1 is to power it from a spare 100Ah LFP to boost charge rate over the 32V min to get the full 10A into my power stations. I haven’t tried it using solar in series as a source. As I am interstate prospecting and didn,t bring the C1 with me, that’s a test for when I’m home.
My priority for vehicle charging is the 4x 4 Aux as it powers a 40lt fridge/freezer and the caravan 25A DC-DC for the house batteries for a total load of 45A max, which the alternator can and does handle.
I see people put 50-60A DC-DC chargers into vehicles because they have LFP and wonder why it a. doesn’t work as it should, or, b. their alternator stops working.
I’ve found on a good sunny day my 460W of solar recharges my caravan batteries to 100% and can trickle the 15-20% of AC180 use (microwave) also to 100% from the caravan batteries. On overcast days, I have a small 800W inverter genny that tops up either the van or the AC180, once solar has stopped for the day. I try not to deplete batteries to low levels, then charge. I prefer to top up each days use every day, let solar do its thing and if needed use the genny.
When travelling, it’s a balancing act, in that there is only so much space or weight capacity. As I’ve previously mentioned, I would like more solar, but, don’t have the space or spare kgs to carry any. What I do have and the process I use, works for me.
@iambuckingham I forgot to mention, you don’t say what your solar array is, however, the basic equation is this.
Watts in = Watts out. (less efficiency losses.)
If you set the output to Max at 56VDC @ 10A = 560W. Therefore, given that the Max input voltage is a nominal 25VDC, you are limited to a nominal 12VDC solar panel and most output <20VDC. This means to get 560W output, you need a panel or panels in parallel with a combined amperage of 42.4A minimum or approx 800W.
Probably more as solar is not 100% efficient and that is in prime lab conditions. In the real world you can multiply that by a factor of 1.5 to 2.
The reason it works from a 100Ah LFP battery is that they have a load output voltage of approx 13VDC, but you can discharge them (mine is an example) at 1C or 100amps. Plus, a battery is a more stable output than solar.
So, although you will get some output using solar as a C1 source, it is not efficient or reliable.
@Mandp , no solar array. The input is the van alternator → Bluetti C1 → Victron 75v/15a → 400ah battery. My issue is very inconstant charger with this setup (vs my C1 to Ecoflow Delta Pro at 56VDC and over 500 watts).
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Some progress. I thought I changed the battery profile in Victron (I did not and only change the max amps out to 10v). Setting it to LFP and I can at least get 150ish watts (10a x 15vdc on the C1) but changing it to a higher VDC (30, 48, 55, 56, etc) it starts bouncing for watts and amps according to the Victron Connect app.
I rechecked my connection from the chassis battery, the C1, MPPT controller, and house battery and its solid.
Also, not sure if this is normal since I assume there is no two way communication between the C1 and Victron MPPT but my Bluetti app always shows 0 watts out.
I figured out my own issue (which was my math and not the products). I strictly used the 75Voc and 15 amps for the Victron in sizing but this model of MPPT controller only support a max of 145 watts at 12 VDC.
The C1 only has a max output of 10 amps so only setting at 15VDC (the lowest I can get) on the C1 is what works.