I am considering purchasing a Bluetti AC180. I plan to connect it to 2X100W solar panels and then attach a continuous load of at least 25W, which is my modem-router. What I expect to happen is for the power station to use power all night and then draw enough solar power from the panels to keep the system charging and discharging continuously. Depending on the amount of sunlight I get each day, which will vary a lot day by day and seasonally, since I live in Wisconsin, I expect to also charge other devices and small power stations when extra power is available.
My question is whether this is an appropriate use for the AC180. Will all that constant input charging and output discharge damage the unit or cause it to lose its chargeability in any way, or have any other adverse effect I should know about or compensate for?
welcome to the bluetti community forum, thanks for your question.
The first thing that comes into my mind is the size of the unit for your usecase. AC180 is a fairly powerful unit with big inverter. Big inverter means more selfconsumption.
When you router draws 25W, that means 24h would take about 600Wh for the whole day. The AC180 does have 1152Wh. So nearly double the energy you would consume a day.
A better alternative, when you have enough sun to charge the unit over the day, would be the AC70 or AC70P with 768Wh or 864Wh. The unit is cheaper, smaller inverter but still enough to cary you router through the day and night. The Solar Input is nearly the same (60V on AC180 and 58V on AC70).
When you thinking about other usecases too, like take the Powerstations sometimes out for some other appliances, then the AC180 could make sense. Just for the Router, i would go with AC70.
AC70 and AC180 are both designed to use as UPS, so no problem with that to let it run longer.
Hope that helps
Erik
Totally agree with Erik.
I use my AC70 as an UPS for my fibre optic modem, the WiFi router and my Cat 6 connected security cameras, WiFi.
The total load is around 30W. This is a far more efficient power supply than the AC180s I use. I’ve tested it to “run flat” at 25 hours, so 200W of solar will recharge the use in normal conditions and extend use when solar is low.
The AC180s I have are used on the home fridge and my TV entertainment area (1 x on each). Their loads are around 90 to 120 for the TV depending on DVD-R use. Home fridge is cyclic at around 100W as it is an 465lt inverter fridge. Although the AC70 would run all of these items, the reason for AC180 use is battery capacity.
The other option to cover low solar output for a time is;
I have a spare 100Ah LiFePo4 deep cycle battery, along with a cable to connect to the MC4 Bluetti solar cable. Connected to the AC70 or any of my AC180s, it will extend run time by a further 1200 to 1300Wh.
On the 25W load it will charge the AC70 quicker than the load depletion and replace 90W of the 100+W loads of the AC180s.
For your load this will give you around 45 hours of extended use. (likely, slightly less due to inverter efficiency loss) This turns the AC70 into a 2,000Wh battery.
FYI - I’m in Australia, it’s summer here, the house has a 6.6kW solar array, 5kW 240 VAC inverter and at this time of the year we are “pumping” out between 45 & 50kWH of solar/day. Our issue here is heat, the next few days are forecast to be 40-42 deg C (104-108F in your speak). Consequently, grid outage is quite probable, hence our need for fridge, internet, lighting and TV UPS, lol.
Although not relevant to your Q. We also have an AC200P, during hot weather power outs, I have a small evap aircon, that draws around 90W so, close to 20 hours run time.
If we have cold beer, can be cooler drinking it, with entertainment, ya gotta be happy, lol.
Thanks. I really appreciate the input, but a couple of things.
In Wisconsin, especially in winter, it is not unusual to have 2-5 days of continuous overcast days, which I worry would not recharge the AC70 with the 2x100W panels I intend to use. I suppose I could add an additional panel, but lets just assume the 2x100w setup for now. I am worried that the extra load would deplete the charge and the system would fail to keep the 25W continuous load working.
I also have a couple of small (±270Wh) power stations that I use now to keep small things, like my laptop, phone, a couple of table lamps with LED bulbs, etc. going. I am concerned I would have to keep these charged separately from some other source if I go with the AC70. This is not out of the question, and efficiency is not something I paid that much attention to when I was leaning towards the AC180.
Also, see my reply to Erik.
With all that said do you guys still think the AC70 is the way to go?
Thanks. I was thinking that I might sometimes need the unit I choose for emergency power, which means I would want some to spare. Long power outages are rare around here, but last winter we had one that lasted 26 hours, which is longer than i can remember ever having before, but I want to be prepared for another one just in case. But I would be unlikely to need a power inverter as powerful as the one in the AC180.
I suppose another option is to use a smart outlet to turn off the modem/router between 1:30-5:30 AM or something.
See also my reply to Mandp. Does any of this change your position at all?
@kerner01 - There are 2 basic considerations in choosing a power bank - Inverter size and capacity of battery.
Given your stated use and loads, any of the power banks from AC180 and smaller will suffice re inverter size. As Eric mentioned, the larger the inverter, the higher the parasitic load or internal power use is.
Your next issue is capacity - if you use an AC180, you have 1152Wh and the AC70 is 768Wh. In other words the AC180 has 1.5 times the capacity of the AC70.
In an off grid back up scenario, although there are other options, your 2 main methods of increasing capacity (extending run time) are solar and additional battery capacity. Solar is climate reliant in as much as it needs sunlight to do its thing. Whereas a fully charged spare LFP battery will hold its charge for months ready for use.
I won’t sway you in choosing between the 70 & the 180, I have both. That said, my choice would be the AC70 with solar and if that is not working for me, a spare 100-200 LFP deep cycle. (Which I also have.)
The other charge options I’ve not mentioned are generator, wind turbine or car charging, all of which exceed your loads. After all said the AC2A inverter would suffice, so the primary issue is capacity/runtime. Your choice is, a bigger power station with more capacity or a smaller PS with additional external battery plugged in.
Thanks a lot. I do have a cheap 500Wh that I have charged but not in use for emergency backup, which I could use free standing, or I could connect DC output to the AC70 input if I really needed to boost the capacity. I’m pretty new to solar energy, so I am kind of easing into it. I only got into it at all because of that power outage last winter. I wanted emergency power, but I also wanted equipment that I could use to save power when no power emergency exists. And that means solar.
Bluetti has dropped its prices lately and that makes its higher quality products more within my reach. The AC180 is only about $100USD more expensive than the AC70, but that would give me 50% more power. That sounded good till you told me that the higher power inverter would reduce the efficiency thereby making the higher capacity less attractive.
The 1000W output from the AC70 would run almost everything I would need it to run, except some power saws and a high power electric heater. Although it might not give me continuous use for very long. Based on your advice, I may go with the AC70 and maybe add a smart outlet that will power down my internet for 4-5 hours at night.
I guess I could get an LFP battery for backup capacity. But, those backups Bluetti sells are kind of expensive. Would a free standing battery serve that purpose with a proper connection?
Thanks again for all your help. I don’t think all year whole house solar is practical in my part of the US yet. In December-January we get maybe 8-9 hours of daylight, and the sun is so low in the sky only about 5-6 hours will provide enough solar energy to get enough power for the panels to charge the power station. On overcast days, like now, I get maybe 20-25W out of a 100W panel when the sun is at its highest point. Of course, in summer the opposite is true.
Any reasonable quality 100Ah LiFePo4 deep cycle battery is far cheaper than a B80 and has more capacity, albeit, no added DC sockets. This is one of my own options as I already had a spare 100Ah LFP. It also has a larger capacity i.e. 100Ah @ 12.8V = 1280Wh.
All you need to connect it is a reasonable gauge piece of cable, I suggest 8AWG or 10AWG at the least. Ring terminals for the battery end and MC4 on the other to connect to the solar cable you get with the AC70. This will give you 2,048Wh of capacity = to the larger AC200 series Bluetti power banks and a lower self consumption with the smaller inverter. Just make sure you check polarity is correct. Here in AU such a patch lead is available commercially, but I make my own as I have these items in my shed stocks.
As an aside - Here in AU a B80 Bluetti expansion battery is AUD$999 for 806Wh, this = AUD$1.24/watt. Whereas a 100Ah LFP of reasonable quality is around AUD$600-700 for close to 1300Wh. This equates to AUD$0.54 cents/watt.
I know the B80 is a nominal 24V x 30amp output and has additional DC outlets. However, in power bank mode to the AC70 or AC180, it will limit to 8amps or around 200W. If your load is less than 90W a 12V LFP will keep up with load, at a far cheaper price per watt and for much longer.
I will add - I am not against the B80 or similar in any way, but note that although the B80 will work with the AC70-180, it was not designed for them and can not be charged directly by them.
The 100Ah I already owned is charged by a Victron Bluesmart AC charger at 15A - 12V either from grid or Bluetti. So it would pay to factor in a suitable LFP charger should you use a 12V LFP battery for capacity expansion.
Again, thanks for all your help. One more question. Do you know how much power the AC70 consumes per hour when under no load but still turned on? I understand the Bluetti software will allow users to disable the auto shutdown when under no of very low load, but I wanted to know how much power I would lose by leaving it on for a long time with no load.
Вы можете просто зарядить станцию до 100% включить AC и оставить.
Засеките время за сколько она разрядится.
Обычно потери могут быть от 20 до 50Вт
В зависимости от инвертора
