Hi @sealy1986, We have forwarded your feedback to the Quality Department. During our internal testing of the solar panels, no issues were found, but we will still attempt to replicate the problem you encountered.
Yes, the PV-pro mode of Elite 200 V2 allows the power station to obtain more PV input power when connected to low-voltage solar panels. Regarding the current limitation issue with your other power station, please provide the specific SN code and firmware version so that we can check if there is a firmware update to lift the restriction.
As for the stand design of the solar panels you mentioned, we are indeed considering upgrading to other appearance types of solar panels.
Thanks for checking but my gosh your 200 series cannot be used together! This is good to know (How would anyone know?) It just gets weirder and weirder, though.
The panels say they are 200D and 200S but both the panels were supposed to be 200Ws
The Oct 30, 2024 order detail that Amazon provides:
BLUETTI Solar Panel, 200 Watt for Portable Power Station EB3A EB55 EB70S AC2A AC70 AC180 AC200L AC200MAX AC300, Foldable Solar Charger with Adjustable Kickstands for RV, Camping, Blackout - leads to this link on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B9RJLM7?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_0_0&th=1
and it matches the description in the order detail
BLUETTI 200W Solar Panel for Solar Generator EB3A AC2A AC50B AC70 AC180 AC200L Elite 200 V2 AC300 AC500 B300K,
The December 30, 2023 order details which Amazon provides after the fact, does not, however, match the link I used to get the product. The order detail says I got a 200S:
BLUETTI Solar Generator AC180 with PV200S Solar Panel Included, 1152Wh Portable Power Station w/ 4 1800W (2700W Surge) AC Outlets, LiFePO4 Emergency Power for Camping, Off-grid, Power Outage
The Amazon link that I used to buy the product, says I bought a 200W:
BLUETTI Solar Generator AC180 with 200W Solar Panel (Ships Separately), 1152Wh Portable Power Station w/ 4 1800W (2700W Surge) AC Outlets, LFP Power for Camping, Off-grid
So I ordered a 200W and got a 200S.
Still Low Charging
Thank you for recognizing that the charging power is low :) But I have tried both panels by themselves, and I am still getting at most around 80 watts for the older 200-Watt panel and substantially less for the other, and the fact that they don’t play well together can’t account for that.
The reason I got the second 200W panel was that the first one was taking so long to charge the powerbank.
In the meantime, so far as I can tell Bluetti shipped me the wrong panel twice. Ordinarily I wouldn’t care but apparently it does matter…
The solar industry (not just Bluetti) all partially stretch the truth in terms of what solar panels are capable of producing realistically. The standard test conditions are inaccurate and don’t reflect real world performance. Their advertised rating is all in a perfect world scenario and mostly a fantasy. A more realistic approach is 70% of its total capacity (under no clouds and perfect alignment). There is ZERO reason why you should not be able to achieve that. That’s 140 watts. My PV200 panel can produce around that mark consistently, so luckily for me my PV200 is meeting expectations. What’s not normal is 40 and 80W.
Regarding differences in open circuit voltage here’s what I learned:
For parallel connections, use panels with the same or very similar open circuit voltages (within about 0.5–1V of each other) to minimize losses and avoid potential issues…They are within 1 volt of each other (25.6/24.6)
The reason why you want the voltage close when running in parallel is if one of the panel has “significantly lower voltage” than the others, the higher-voltage panel can/will back feed into it, producing waste heat, energy, but more drastically failure. Bypass diodes should step in, but it can only handle so much. This is why Bluetti always says put matching panels in parallel (i.e. PV200 with PV200) NOT PV350 with PV200
This has turned into another learning experience. I had never heard of OCV before and I didn’t know that the panels should be roughly equal in power. I’ve been running different kinds of solar panels on the van for years (lol). They are roughly equal in power but have had greater differences in OCV and functioned OK - although two are in bad shape…
I asked AI Perplexity - which seems to be doing pretty good thus far - about this…It said
Pairing two 175W solar panels (Voc 21.8V), a 160W panel (Voc 22.2V), and another 175W panel (Voc 24.48V) with an MPPT controller will not damage the panels or the controller, as long as the combined array voltage and current remain within the MPPT controller’s rated specifications . However, you will experience some efficiency loss,
The difference between 21.8V, 22.2V, and 24.48V is within about 10–12%. This is generally considered acceptable for parallel wiring, though the closer the voltages, the better the efficiency
Minor efficiency loss (typically <10%) is expected due to the voltage mismatch, with the highest voltage panel operating below its maximum potential
The MMPT controller - a Tristar 60 AMP MPPT - is apparently able to handle that as its doing fine- and yes, thank you - it’s an Elite 200 V2.
That’s what I thought! Thanks for the numbers :)
The key word in OCV is “open circuit”. It’s what the panel produces by itself while under no load. It’s an “open circuit”. Example my PV350 is 46.5V OCV. When you plug in the solar panel, open up the app and quickly look at the voltage. It’ll be near the OCV. Then once the unit clicks over, it will go down to around the “VMP” (voltage at max power) numbers. In the case of the PV350 a solar noon Sun will net you around 37.5V. When planning your solar configuration you have to factor in the OCV of the panels and not the power they produce while actually being used.