Hello all…we have a 30ft 5th wheel and are trying to decide between a built in unit with lithium, inverter etc or a Bluetti power station that we can use both in our home and when we travel. We currently have 400 watts of solar on our RV that maintains our house batteries but since those are wired into a MPPT controller I understand we couldn’t use those panels to charge our Bluetti. I like the idea of just being able to flip a switch on the built in unit to have instant 120 volt power when needed but if we ever get rid of our RV then there is a huge investment that goes with the unit. How are most people who use their Bluetti’s with their RV’s charging them? Where do you store them when going down the road and are you using just the AC200P/Max or are you also carrying B230/300 batteries? Any help and/or experience would be greatly appreciated.
I added a female plug to the box my shorepower is rolled into (mine has the cord pushed inside the trailer, not the removable type). I use a short computer style plug to go from the 110 in the ac2000 and plug it into the female recepticle I installed in parallel with the shore power. The one issue, if I plug into shore power with the plug plugged in I’m sure it will fry my bluetti.
That being said, so long as I’m mindful it works fantastic, powers the house just like it was plugged into shorepower and didn’t have to make any other modifications to the trailer.
I would like to split off my solar thats currently connected to the house batteries and make it so the solar will charge both the house batteries and the bluetti (realizing it will do both at half the amperage).
Not sure if you’re familiar with dog bones, but a much safer alternative to back feeding your RV with a pigtail would be to purchase an appropriate adapter. There is no room for error where as a pigtail can not only fry your Bluetti, but could seriously injure or kill someone if they decided to play around in the electrical bay not realizing what’s going on.
I’m not promoting this specific brand or Amazon, but here is an example. I would personally try to find a 20amp version instead of this 15amp version to get maximum wattage. You would simply plug your shore power cable into this like you would a pedestal at a campground
I was contemplating this very issue several months back until I came across the AC300. I decided for the cost and portability that the AC300 was the best option having a built in 30 amp NEMA TT30-R receptacle on it as we aren’t sure exactly how long we’ll keep this exact RV.
I recently posted about my experience with the new AC500 and compared it a bit with the AC300. As fulltime RVer, reliable electricity source is a must as I still work fulltime on the road. Hopefully the link to my post below helps. I do have 1 350 watt solar panel that I occasionally use and am waiting for my two new PV400s to come in so I can boondock a bit more. We do have a built in generator, but I’d like to only use that to charge the batteries during day hours if necessary.
The biggest benefit of the AC500 is that I’m able to get about 42 amps on a 30 amp pedestal. I call the Bluetti a “meat shield” since I can draw the 42 amps when needed, but charge at a 30 amp rate. We never consistently use over 30 amps, so we aren’t at risk of depleting the battery.
I have converted a 12 x 6 cargo trailer into a camper van and use Bluettis for power when no shore power is available. I have two 15 amp shore power inputs and an adapter so that I can hook into a 30 amp campground power source when that is available or use one of the 15 amp inputs when “mooch docking”. I have 400 watts of solar (2 200 watt panels in parallel) on the roof for the AC200P and multiple portable panels for the EB2400 and EB70S. I did it this way so that in the event of a power outage, I can use them in the house or have 4 family members sleep in it.