Bluetti AC180 Power Battery Pack - Charging While Using

[KBabione]

In the fall I picked up a Bluetti AC180 (1152 Wh, 1800W, 2700W peak) for $450 to use as a buffer for my electric appliances while camping. While I don't require the juice often, when warming things up I discovered it was easy to exceed the 1500W limit of the Rivian inverter and cause it to trip.

Alas, my master plan was somewhat foiled when I realized that when the Bluetti is plugged into an AC input source it passes all demand straight through to the AC input. That means that if my draw exceeds 1500W while the Bluetti is plugged into the Rivian, the breaker will trip and the Rivian will stop providing power. I went back and forth with the Bluetti Tech team hoping that they'd be able to limit the draw when plugged in but they couldn't. They offered a solution that would connect to the 12V battery directly (not really an option with the Rivian) or suggested solar. My interim solution was to keep the Bluetti unplugged from AC when I'm using it and to plug it into the 12V which will trickle 90W into the battery while I'm using it. When finished, plug it back into AC to fully recharge it.

Then one night I realized that it will accept up to 500W of solar (12-60V) of DC input. Solar won't really work for me and my use case (which will often be after dark camping), but why couldn't I find a power supply that would plug into the Rivian AC and output 500W to the Bluetti? I couldn't find one ready-made, so I assembled my own using these two components:

48V 400W Power Supply
DC7909 Power Pigtails with 90-Degree Plug

Here's the completed project:

Now it was time to test it with one of my anticipated use cases: My sous-vide (1100W) and my induction cooktop (600W/900W/1500W depending on setting):

And I'm happy to say it worked! Here's a screenshot from the Bluetti app showing that I'm drawing 1700W while simultaneously charging it at almost 400W:

I'm really pleased with this relatively inexpensive setup that I'll use at most 5-10 times a year and thought I'd share.

Sponsored

 

[Mellowyellow]

Sous-vide while camping?!?!

 

[BrayBay]

This is a very useful sharing!

After losing power last year during a hurricane and having to run off the Rivian battery for a week, there were a couple instances where the power demands were too much and tripped the Rivian inverter.

I was actually considering buying one of these solar generators to act as a buffer as well for the next time a power outage would inevitably happen. I didn't need high capacity, but did need something that could handle more than 1500W demand and simultaneous charge/discharge.

Well looks like based on your experience, that would not have worked as I imagined and the inverter would still trip. Unfortunately without a lot of research it would be very difficult to determine what solar generators out there would not passthrough to the AC input.

That DIY power supply is a great idea! Maybe I'll do some of the research on a good solar generator but if that fails I'll definitely go this route.

 

[KBabione]

Sous-vide while camping?!?!

What? Doesn't everyone? I'm embracing the concept of having electricity at our favorite camping sites (which are tent-only sites without power or water) by swapping my propane-powered cooking things for electric appliances.

Okay - I will admit that I've never taken my sous-vide camping before. One of my daughters turns 30 in a month and she wanted to go camping Easter weekend to celebrate. Her favorite meal is steak and mashed potatoes and, since there will be 11 of us, I'll sous-vide the steak (because I can) to 125 degrees and then quickly do my sear over the fire. Trying to manage 11 steaks over open flames is above my skill level!

 

[KBabione]

Well looks like based on your experience, that would not have worked as I imagined and the inverter would still trip. Unfortunately without a lot of research it would be very difficult to determine what solar generators out there would not passthrough to the AC input.

Thanks for the note...I don't know that it will take a lot of digging to see which solar generators don't have a passthrough to the AC input. I'm learning a lot and never even considered that I might have this problem, but by the time I learned it (by having the Rivian breaker trip multiple times while I was cooking) it was too late to return my AC180 so I started looking for an alternative solution.

It's probably worth a little time to investigate other brands. The DJI Power 1000 is available for $521 and jumped out at me the other day (I didn't even know they made solar generators). I didn't see anything about AC passthrough in the owner's manual so it's possible that it will charge the unit at 1200W (standard) while you're pulling up to 2200W from it. Someone here with a lot more knowledge than I have may know of an Anker model that will behave more like the buffer I really wanted.

 

[HyperionMark]

EcoFlow definitely has pass through power. Mine should be arriving tomorrow and will let you all know how it goes.

 

[KBabione]

EcoFlow definitely has pass through power. Mine should be arriving tomorrow and will let you all know how it goes.

Thanks - My ideal solar generator would be one that allowed you to set the input power to say 1400W while still maintaining output in the 1800-2200W range and used the battery as a buffer.

 

[HyperionMark]

Thanks - My ideal solar generator would be one that allowed you to set the input power to say 1400W while still maintaining output in the 1800-2200W range and used the battery as a buffer.

Sounds like EcoFlow would be perfect for you!

 

[KBabione]

That's what I thought about the Bluetti...Please confirm that you can draw more than 1500W from it while it's plugged into a Rivian and that the Rivian breaker doesn't reset.

 

[KBabione]

I just saw that I think the Ecoflow Delta will have the same issue:

I believe this means that it functions the same way as the Bluetti - when plugged into AC power it passes the draw directly through the device to the grid (or, in my case, the Rivian). Please show me that I'm wrong...I saw the Ecoflow Delta 2 is available right now from Amazon for $414

 

[R1Thor]

I just saw that I think the Ecoflow Delta will have the same issue:

I believe this means that it functions the same way as the Bluetti - when plugged into AC power it passes the draw directly through the device to the grid (or, in my case, the Rivian). Please show me that I'm wrong...I saw the Ecoflow Delta 2 is available right now from Amazon for $414

This sounds like you'd specifically need to put it into bypass mode to achieve what's specifically outlined in the text you're citing.

That said, I own a Delta Pro, so it's possible that there's a difference in function between the Pro and the Delta 2. My Delta pro does work exactly as you'd want it to: it'll recharge while still pushing AC to your devices. And you can control your load limit by customizing it to whatever you want (In my case, I set it to ~1200W to recharge from the truck). That said, if you set your recharge load limit to, say 1200, and your devices are pulling more than 300 at that point, it'll pull more than 1500. So, you set your load limit to recharge accordingly.
At least that's how the firmware behaved a few revs ago--I haven't recharged it from the truck in awhile. You'd be surprised how much you can power on ~3kW before you need to charge the thing!

 

[babock]

The only issue you may have is due to the MPPT solar controller. Typically, an MPPT controller does an occasional power sweep that can put zero impedance at the solar input. That could potentially fry the MPPT input. You should see what the short current spec of the MPPT input is and hopefully that current is more than what your 400W power supply can output.

Doing it with a power supply like you are doing is WAY better than doing it with a battery which can source a LOT more current than your 400W power supply.

 

[mikehmb]

Sous-vide while camping?!?!

I never gave this idea a single thought, but honestly it's a great one.

In California, wildfires have pretty much precluded any campfire or bbq use unless you're at an approved site (and we always boondock), so this is kinda great to set and leave.

Then reverse-sear on cast iron.

This is genius and bougie and I'll feel like a d-bag doing it, and plan to do so many times this summer.

 

[NY_Rob]

One of my daughters turns 30 in a month and she wanted to go camping Easter weekend to celebrate. Her favorite meal is steak and mashed potatoes ...

Bravo to raising her correctly!!

Now if you tell me she likes Pink Floyd and tequila you might just have restored my faith in humanity ?

 

[cadueitt]

Amazing idea. I ran into the exact same thing with my Anker F2000 and it quickly became a pain having to unplug the AC to run certain devices. Sad to have to convert from dc->ac->dc but it will be a nice option to have in a pinch.

Sponsored