I just read this in the manual for AC200P and it looks like it’s saying you will overload the unit if you use it to charge your fridge. I want to mk. sure I’m understanding this correctly. My fridge is 7.9 amps and 115 VAC, which is 908.5 watts I believe. If it will have a starting power of 5 x’s this (4542.5 watts) how can I use this to keep my fridge going in an outage. Hopefully I’m not understanding this correctly. Thank you.
Manual says:
● Can AC output charge refrigerator, air conditioner or electric drill?
Lower power for those devices can becharged . It is not recommended to use more than 1400W power. The starting power of refrigerator, air conditioner and electric drill is generally 5-7 times of the nominal power, which is easy to trigger AC overload
The amps shown on your fridge are the peak/starting power, your fridge will use much less per hour which is a good reason to get a watt meter so you know exactly and can budget your Bluetti’s power. My big kitchen fridge uses about 125 watts per hour at night when the doors aren’t constantly being opened. My smaller garage fridge uses about 50 watts per hour.
You will find having a watt meter very helpful. I used my Kill A Watt meter to check the wattage requirements of my big kitchen Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer before I bought the AC200P. It was essential to me that the AC200P could handle the fridge. The Whirlpool is a big unit, with Energy Star rating. It requires a surge of about 850 watts to start up the compressor, but only for a few seconds. Normal running wattage is 95 watts, which is on most of the time. Occasionally it goes through a defrost cycle which requires about 550 watts and lasts a few minutes. Occasionally it’s off altogether, but it draws 95 watts nearly all the time.
The AC200P handles this with ease and power to spare. I can, and often do. run other devices off the AC200P at the same time that the refrigerator is being powered by it. No problem. I even use a 1200 watt electric burner to heat up some food at the same time as the refrigerator is on and running. Again, no problem – still with power to spare.
Thanks! Do you know if you really need to run down the AC200p all the way before charging it again. I asked Bluetti and they told me they recommend running it completely down before charging. But knowing that they don’t necessarily give accurate information I wanted to ask here.
Thank you. Yes, we have a big Kenmore and I thought there wouldn’t be an issue until I mis-understood the manual! We, like you, want to be able to run the fridge and a few other things at the same time. I do need to get a watt meter. Someone sent me a link and I need to go bk. and find it. Thanks so much for the great info.
We can safely assume that full drain and full charge are very stressful on the battery. If you were recommended to do that, then perhaps it was for specific break-in or maintenance procedure. Generally speaking, if you magically keep it between 33% and 66%, which is gentle use, then eventually a memory will develop and a full cycle can be useful. If you schedule the full cycle routine correctly, in theory the cells might last a hundred billion years! DISCLAIMER: I am no expert and have only used traditional LIon batteries.
I contacted Bluetti’s customer service and just asked them if they recommend charging “whenever” or only after the battery is used up. They told me they recommend using the charge completely before re-charging. But their customer service is awful. Thanks for the reply.
I probably do it once or twice a month whenever its convenient. If I remember right Bluetti has said that doing so recalibrates the BMS so the % meter is more accurate. If they recommend it I doubt it will hurt the batteries plus when going to 0% there’s still a hidden 10% reserve so the batteries aren’t really being completely drained.
LiFePO4 cells have no memory effect. All the charge fully and then discharge to 0% stuff is to make sure the SOC display is somewhat accurate (it never is totally accurate BTW). It has nothing to do with the cell’s health, capacity or performance.
we can disagree, DJI has BMS drain out battery that is high charged after a day or so because it is destructive, and states to leave batteries in reset state around 50%, never leave sit in low charge state.
Unless magically some new LiPo tech is being used, we can disagree about being reckless in our usage when wanting to extend life without adjusting lifestyle. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
RE “…once or twice a month…”
Really? Is that necessary — or even advisable?
“……plus when going to 0% there’s still a hidden 10% reserve so the batteries aren’t really being completely drained.”
Good to know, had not read that anywhere!
Virtually all sogens (and cell phones, tablets, laptops) do that. You drain any lithium battery down to true zero and you can permanently damage it. That’s what the BMS is there to keep it from doing, and shutting off the unit when voltage drops to a certain level. 0% on the display does not mean the battery is completely drained.
Thank you.