After reading many reviews and watching a lot of videos, I chose this option for my first backup power station. ru-vid.comUgkxHypYDKHAN93Lp2RQpfvU_ksc70wJ00pt I was between this and a larger option that could power a wider range of items, but the price/size/capacity blend seemed right for this unit. Hasn't gotten a ton of use yet, but the build quality is solid and it charges fine via the Rockpals solar panel I purchased to pair with it. One thing to note is that the screen is optimized for a top down viewing angle, which makes sense, but this means it washes out at other angles - especially low angles. Not a huge deal, but perhaps a better option for the display could be used to provide wider viewing angles.
I'm happy to see you got 86% of the advertised capacity on your unit. I tested mine BEFORE the latest firmware update and I got only 82%! Benefits to testing a little later on launch I guess :) I may need to test mine again to see if it's improved (HoboTech got similar results as I did on his tests). Your videos with the BROLL and background music are just plain sick!
Thanks so much Jason, really appreciate that. Your review is amazingly deep and you covered so much more than I could. I'm going to re-run those AC tests a few times in my follow-up testing but I was surprised at how good it was. I think Jeff Hagen posted a detailed discharge curve he made on FB and he was around 85-86% for .2C too but things change a lot if it's a little more or less of a C rate so it's tricker than I thought to get a comparable number.
@@uhjyuff2095 Manual says it’s 10%. You’d only want to do this in an emergency when you know you can quickly recharge it because it can damage the battery if fully discharged like this. Bluetti makes it very hard to activate this for that reason - battery needs to be at 0% and you need to acknowledge the risk to get the last 10%
Hey T.P' Very, very good information on this system AC500+B300s powerhouse!! Bluetti is putting a serious hurting on gas generators for home backup!? I would love to have a setup like this in our home especially if Texas has a 2021 winter repeat 👍🏼👍🏼
Thanks for watching. If I lived in Texas or California I’d definitely have a decent sized power station and solar. We used to take the grid for granted but now, not so much
This is what a review should be like. Well thought out, scripted, rehearsed (at least it sounded that way), detailed. While this wasn't a thorough review like what you'll find on HoboTech's channel maybe you'll come through on the follow up?
I love the ability to charge the batteries from solar directly and solves my biggest gripe with these many-battery systems that normally mean you need wall power because 1500w of solar has no chance of re-filling 10+kw of battery while it is also being used for load.
So, two observations for folks looking at buying something with this kind of capability; the size and weight of these units puts them right at the upper limit of what you can really call "portable", and when you're talking about inverter and battery capacity in this range, you're probably better off going to a true component based system with a server-rack battery solution. You'll not only save money, you will have fewer things to fail in a single piece of equipment. I think these huge, "whole-house" offerings are a solution desperately in search of a problem, since dedicated, stationary systems are simply a better choice when talking these types of capacities.
I agree that this system is more of a stationary setup than portable. I carried the units to the basement and it’s a 2 person job to do it safely. I also agree that a server rack mounted system is a better value and although they are pretty simple now, there is still some wiring and knowledge to work with them safely so I think there is a place for a system like this for people that want to have backup power or run a tiny home off grid and want something super easy to install - there’s just one cable and you’re done.
@@todd.parker - I agree that setup time is fast and simple, on the "generation" side, but to use one of these in a conventional off-grid cabin or tiny home setup still requires wiring to your main panel or sub-panel. It seems like quite a premium to pay, and puts a lot of points of failure into that single "head" unit. At these capacities, a component-based system is probably more effective, at a lower cost.
I was hoping this would come with a 2048 watt hour battery built in like the AC200 as 5k is way better than 3k and it’s more portable to have an all in one.
That would be nice but I think it may be too heavy. My AC200P is 61 pounds and the AC500 is 5 pounds heavier and doesn’t have any batteries! It’s already almost a 2 person job
The AC500 + B300 does look pretty nice. But the question is if it will last. The EP500 and EP500 Pro was a failure, the AC200P was also a failure. So good luck to those who will be brave enough to buy these.
@@j-sonS My original ac200 and Max both have had no problems with daily charging with PV only and discharging to house loads for 2-1 years respectively. That said, I'm glad I didn't by any EP500's.
Yeah I bought one of those EB3A's. Bricked itself after a firmware update. I saw on Amazon reviews I am not the only one. I tried to contact Bluetti. Just got their voicemail day after day, tried a dozen times each day for a week. I messaged them. Got a response 3 weeks later to drive it down to 0%, and then recharge. I figured they, they gave me instructions on what to do I should be good. NOPE. I replied the thing is completely dead, as in DEAD. It won't even work at all. I sent another email 2 weeks later following up asking for an RMA. Another 2 weeks later, and they replied that I have to pay to ship it back to them. It was $209 and it would be almost $40 to ship it back. LMFAO. Bluetti crowdsources its product development, leaves no funding for customer support and warranty RMA'ing, and their firmware is beta version at best and should never be released to the public. These products are not worth investing major coin into. Not reliable when ironically they are for power backup!
Hi there, quick novice question. What is the max solar input you can have if you have an AC500 + 1 B300S battery? Also, if you exceed the max, would it likely short the AC500?
Most houses have 240v split phase appliances like well pumps, air handlers, and dryers so you’d need to combine 2 of these for that. If you only have 120v circuits you can connect this via interlock or transfer panel
For the price that I am going to pay for this system. They should have developed a more better looking interface. They just took out the LCD display from the AC200Max and that is about it.
It is pretty much the same same screen and UI, yeah. I wish it was brighter and a more streamlined UI for sure but it's solid overall. It's still a mystery why they have a screen of error codes you need to consult instead of just displaying the actual error.
You wrote that "Solar Input: 3,000W Max., VOC 12-150VDC, 12A. Basically you can’t exceed the voltage limit of it will fry it but extra amps is no problem." Can you go over 15 amps solar input? I have the AC500 with 2 B300S and and considering which solar panels to purchase for a townhome back yard.
Hi great video , I live in south spain where we have sun 300 days a year , I would like to use one of these ac500 to power my townhouse for my family of 4 due to high energy prices here . I have 1 refrigerator , 1 washing machine , 1 80 liter electric boiler , and typical oven couple of TVs etc , could I use the ac500 to power my house? How many solar panels and batteries do you think I would have to purchase ? Really at night we don’t use much power , I also have 2 aircon units but only put them on for short periods of time in the summer. Thanks !
To fully run a typical house off grid, you need quite a bit of power but if you can still use the grid and just want to lower you bill, it’s more reasonable. I’d suggest at least 2-3 batteries (6-9kwh) and to charge those every day you need a 2kw solar array at a minimum which would be 6x 350w residential panels. It gets pretty expensive. You also need to see if all your appliances will run off one unit. In the US, we’d need to tie two AC500’s to run bigger appliances like the washing machine or AC
Hi, Can I use a rigid solar array and plug a single cable into the ac500 inverter to charge all batteries, or do I need to run xt60 cords to each individual battery?
Yes, absolutely. You'd wire up your array with MC4 connectors then plug that into the AC500. There are 2 MMPT solar chargers so you can connect two different arrays if you want.
It's $4,800 on sale at Amazon: amzn.to/3HbDdx1 Buy from Bluetti: shrsl.com/3vwm2 Lowes: www.lowes.com/pl/Bluetti--Portable-solar-generators-Generators-Electrical/4294641573?refinement=710647484043
I have a 30 amp Camper that I currently use a 4500 Champion generator to power, will this power my whole camper? I have this camper on a rural piece of property in Florida, off grid and in the summer months, the AC is running about 20 minutes every hour to hour and a half. That means that I'm running this for about 6 hours a day. With other things like lights, water pump, TV and the like, do you think this AC500 Unit with 2 B300S batteries and 4-400W panels will do the trick? I just want to make sure i have enough power. With the panels hooked up, can you charge the batteries while in use or does one charge while the other is in use? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
@@todd.parker Thanks, the whole camper is 110 so no issues there. My concern is that a lay out $4K and then I don't have enough power to run the AC. We can't use the camper without AC.
Great question. I just checked the B300S manual and there is no mention of the feature at all. I’ll reach out to my contact at Bluetti and get the details for follow up video…
@@todd.parkerThank you for that. I can imagine having this battery charge on it own, outside a van or house in a small shed close to the solar panels running low voltage loads keeping thing going untill it is needed for larger loads with the AC500/300/200 inside.
There is a mention of this feature in the AC500 User Manual. It's on page 11 under "Notes": "When connecting B300S with the T500 adapter or AC500 to the grid, B300S is able to self-heat and get charged even at -4F/-20C." I saw no mention of any other configuration where it can self-heat. Hopefully Todd will get more info from Bluetti.
@@anthonydrake7767 Thank you for that information. Seems to me that when grid is available there is less of a problem to keep the battery's warm and that when there is no grid there is more need for the self heat. I hope I have it wrong and there is a workaround. I have a WATTSTUNDE Lithium 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery LIX100D-LT on my balcony. It say it is 19 degrees where outside it is 13 degrees. The problem with conventional lithium batteries is that they cannot be recharged at temperatures below freezing. This battery's smart, energy-efficient heater ensures that the cell temperature is high enough even in winter. The LIX100D-LT thus guarantees reliable operating readiness even at low temperatures. When the cell temperature drops below -5 degrees, the integrated heating mat is activated when the battery needs to be recharged.
I agree that all these expandable systems need lower profile cabling or (even better) integrated stacking connectors. Nobody had cracked that design problem yet but having a large, EV charging cable sticking out the side can't be the best we can do
The EP500 isn’t expandable so you have a 5kwh battery and 2kw inverter. The AC500 is just the 5kw charger/inverter and is combined with as many B300 3kwh batteries as you want so it’s a much more scalable and powerful system.
I have a class A RV, should I be able to plug into the 50 A and run as if it were plugged into shore power? Granted I had enough batteries and solar panels?
the 50amp receptacle will only connect one leg to your RV so it won't be like true shore power because it will only output 120v unlike shore power which is 240v. If you buy 2 AC500 and with the split phase adapter cable then you will be set but, I would choose to go with EG4 6000 inverter because it is cheaper and comes with split phase in one unit.
@@uhjyuff2095 Yep, exactly. It would be awesome if they had 2 inverters inside so you could handle split phase if needed or even shut one down with smaller loads for more efficiency. They include 2 MPPT chargers already so this kind of thing seems possible.
Depends on whether you need a permanent install or portable and the specifics of the panel. For home backup, go with glass panels. This can handle up to 150v/15a so you can probably hook up 5-6 12v panels (VoC around 20-25v) in series then connect another set in parallel.
@@todd.parker . Thanks! Have a B500 with 2 extension batteries. I am just going portable for now but am calling around to get an electrician to give me a quote on the wiring needed to go permanent. My regular electrician can't do it. He said I would need an electrician that specializes in solar wiring. In the meantime will be using the AC500 in basement as needed for emergencies for wash machine & dryer, 2 freezers, 1 fridge, a dehydrator and a freeze dryer, a stove and a 1500 w heater which will be used somewhat regularly on the AC500. So solar panels I buy now, I would like to use when going permanent -- if price is right and I can afford it. ☘️Thanks again ☘️
@@suklee1400 ....Yes, you're right. Will have to forgo the dryer (and stove, I believe) for now unless/until I get another Bluetti head unit and their 50A split phase AC charging cable for 240V. But that's down the road!
Ha! Nope. Your Tesla has a 60-100kwh battery and this thing holds 3kw per pack so even the biggest system would only charge it halfway. Cars have massive batteries
If you're a DIY'er, that is the cheapest way to go. Think of these are a more polished, consumer friendly version that is plug and play - no need to understand wiring, fuses, configuration, etc. so it has a place.
Bleuetti is super expensive and not even worth it. I actually ordered $4000 worth of their equipment and end up changing my mind and canceling my order when it is simple to realize you can buy a 10,000 W generator for $1200 and you won’t ever have to recharge it and worry about draining the batteries
Sure but they do very different jobs. Generators aren’t good for running continuously for days, are wasteful and loud running smaller or intermittent loads, and need fuel. Gasoline generators are a especially tricky because gas goes bad quickly for a prepper situation and requires maintenance. But they are cheaper, yes
The prices of these things are mind boggling and astronomically unaffordable and you are buying from a company that is crowdsource funding it's R&D? I get that this line is brand new, but to achieve a large array you are spending major MAJOR coin without any track record, from a company with very problematic RMA support. If you are going this route with this large of a capacity, it's so much better to just do your own setup. And if you don't know how, pay someone to set it up for you (any electrician could do it in a few hours with the parts you buy). The proprietary nature of this scares me as well. If one piece goes bad, you need to replace with the same if you want it to continue functioning. Being a brand new line, there isn't any long term reliability determination yet. And bluetti customer service for RMA has had some pretty atrocious stories. Also this setup has absolutely 0 portability despite being advertised as such. The main unit doesn't even have a battery, so there is no grab-and-go. IMO, that's a big negative and a no-go. My goal zero Yeti 1500x chained to my own LiFePO array on a shelving unit using my own charge controller that charges the LiFePO array which then feeds the Yeti (like what you did), is a much better option. In a grab-n-go scenario, I can disconnect the Yeti 1500x, throw it in my vehicle, and go
This unit is similar to the all in one inverter/charger units with rack mount batteries but doesn’t require as much wiring or know-how. Their prices are competitive for what you get and the quality but I agree their support is very slow. This is not designed to be portable like a Yeti but is more easily lovable than a rack mount system. It’s cool you were able to rig something up with your Yeti but Goal Zero is way behind Bluetti in terms of value, battery chemistry, charging speed, expandability, etc. I used to like Goal Zero but they aren’t competitive anymore compared to Ecoflow and Bluetti
@@todd.parker I get what you are saying. But I am less concerned with battery chemistry, and primarily concerned with the quality of the electronic components (or lack there of), the reliability of the firmware (or lack there of), and the quality of customer support and warranty RMA process (or lack there of). I really wanted to love Bluetti, but they completely screwed me out of a EB3A and their crap firmware that bricked it. They wanted me to pay $38 to ship it back to them when the damn thing was only $209. It was their firmware that bricked it. How much they fought me on RMA'ing a EB3A, I would never ever in a million years consider dropping thousands and thousands on a home backup system. I still consider my Goal Zero Yeti 1500x superior to the competition b/c it works flawlessly and I have put it through the ringer and back. These crowdsource power station companies just fall short when SHTF with the product. Over and out. I still wholeheartedly appreciate your vids though
FOOLED! All that is happening here is energy being transformed. Once the battery is flat you STILL have to power it up again transforming ac power to the battery bank to charge it up. Same wattage. Fuel prices will always be so that a genset will always be no different £ for £ which ever main source you use. IF however able use a wood gasifier whereby wood is almost everywhere. Then you can run your genset for free in turn charging your battery bank for free. No more bills.
I've only had this unit for a few days so that's why this is a first look and not an in-depth review. Trust me, I'm as critical as anyone you've seen but so far there is little to complain about. I'm going to do a follow-up review later this fall once I've had time to push this hard but in my initial tests, everything worked flawlessly and the AC and DC output is incredible. The thermal management is the best I've seen - this thing is quieter than any power station I've tested. The only cons are it's obviously large and heavy but that's just the nature of the a system of this size. I'm sure once I've lived with it longer, I'll have some cons but my hunch is they will all be minor which isn't typical - usually there is a lot to complain about. Watch my other Bluetti videos and you'll see I don't pull any punches, they just got this one right.
@@todd.parker imo, both the Ecoflow and the Bluetti don't automatically turn on if the battery runs out during the night. Please test this feature, because my GZ3000 turns on as soon as it charges all by itself.
@@todd.parker Yeah, like the 120v output is running at night and then the battery drains and the 120v turns off, but the 120v should automatically turn itself back on just like my GZ3000 does.
@@uhjyuff2095 yes that’s the main reason why I haven’t bought it yet it sucks to be away and it won’t turn back on with sun It’s definitely important for me or any off grid app
