EB3A - 12VDC Output voltage drop

I received my EB3A yesterday. I gave it a full charge and confirmed that the firmware was the latest. I tested the AC output, wireless charger, USB-A and USB-C, all good. The 12VDC (cigarette lighter port) is giving me trouble. I tried to power my diesel heater (which draws 9amps from my car battery at start up and then goes down to low power consumption) but the voltage from the EB3A drops to 9VDC during the heater start up (while showing only 55watts on the EB3A display) which faults the heater display.

Questions:

  1. Should the EB3A regulate the voltage? In what range?
  2. If I overload the 12VDC circuit is there an error or fault at the EB3A?
  3. Do you think I have a bad EB3A or am I asking too much of it to provide 12VDC at 9amps for the 90 second start up?

Thank you,

Hi @Inky , If the cigarette lighter is overloaded, the machine will report an error, can you use a multimeter to measure the cigarette lighter port is how many volts?

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I think the heater is drawing too much during the start up and you are right at the ragged edge of overloading the 12 volt output socket

The EB3A measures 13V unloaded. With a 5 amp load the voltage drops to 9V. I can run my diesel heater with my Suaoki S370 on the the 12V 10Amp plug with no issues. I think the EB3A is not operating properly out the plug.

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If you are only seeing 9 volts under a five amp load, that is def not right

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13V unloaded, 9V with a 5amp load. I can run my diesel heater on a similar size competitors unit with no problem. I’m pretty sure the EB3A is defective please let me know next steps.

@Inky , Can you use the cigarette lighter to carry other devices to see if it will report an error? It may be that the diesel heater has too much instantaneous power, causing the output voltage of the cigarette lighter to be pulled down.

Maybe it’s the internal resistance of your cigarette lighter connection, or perhaps the wiring is too thin or too long. A lot of them are garbage, which wouldn’t be the fault of your Bluetti. Also, as you sure that 9amp is the maximum, or is it possibly drawing higher inrush current when starting up?

According to the techncial specs, the EB3A should be able to support 10a at 12v.

Just received my EB3A today and am so excited to join and learn more. So I’m new to forums and how to ask questions. Be patient as I’m old. I charged it up 100 per cent, but the LED light doesn’t turn on. Is it defective or am I missing something?

@ Joanremainfearless You should start a new post to ask your question, as it is off-topic for this thread.

Ok thanks I’m learning

@Joanremainfearless ,
Sorry for the inconvenience. Is everything else (charging/discharging) working properly except the LED is not lighting up?
If it’s normal, then it should be the LED light broken, you can use it normally if you don’t mind. If still not satisfied, please contact our support department for further solutions. Thank you very much.

I am having the same issue with mu EB3A and my diesel heater. And when i plug the same length cigarette lighter jack to a car, it fires up right away… Any updates from Bluetti?
I mean I’ve seen countless youtube videos where they use Jackery 240 or other cheaper reg. Lithium battery without any issues…

have the same issue. did you find a resolution?

Having the same issue as well. seem like we need to find away to maybe go to 15amps and we probably won’t have an issue. I don’t think they can program them to up the amps for us and it only would be at 15amps for maybe 3 mins then drop down to 3-6 amps from what I’ve seen on YouTube. This was one of the reason I bought this product to run my heater for winter camping.

I can run my diesel heater with 5 other power packs rated 12V 10Amp without any problems. The EB3A is not capable of providing the power needed, even though it is only 8 amps max. Must be a momentary spike that trips the unit. Needs reprogramming to allow for a spike.

No, Bluetti says they are buying a diesel heater to test it. That was weeks ago, no updates from them.

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LoL. Wow. Thinking about just returning it and getting a different brand.

Im dealing with Same issue with a vevor 2kw heater. The heater keeps saying reduce voltage. My outet shows its putting out 13.4 volts which errors out the Heater system with an E2 code meaning reduce the voltage. Plug it into my truck outlet and it works fine. Sounds like I maybe looking at returning and going with a different brand which sucks cause I like Bluetti features.

@jwt355 Have you done all the firmware updates with your unit?