Just did photography for. Percron e2000 today. Video to follow. It's a 2000 watt monster power station and i loaded this sucker up to try to break it. I failed. Good thing too as it's a 1900.00 power station.
Wow, didn't expect the components to be assembled this way! I learned that the power station could have been even more compact and lightweight. Thanks for the video!
We had a 5 day power outage this summer and my little genny worked very well keeping the fridge and freezer running. I did however turn off the genny each night for 8 to 10 hours to keep the neighbors happy. I just may look into a larger Bluetti pack and use it like a UPS for just this sort of power event. I could run the genny all day to run the appliances and charge the battery pack. Then just shut off the genny at night and allow the larger Bluetti to power the fridge and freezer.
You don't need to run your fridge all night. Just fill some milk jugs and/or juice bottles with water and freeze them. When you shut the generator off at night move some of the frozen bottles from the freezer to the fridge.
Buy like 2 6v golf cart batteries and put them together to make 12v buy a small 500 to 800 watt pure sine wave inverter have the generator charge the batteries during the day then when shut off gen have the 2 batteries plugged into inverter that is plugged into one of these power banks that way you extra long run time on one of these smaller units for just what you need.
Great idea with the frozen water concept! Also.. we added a 12v 100ah LifePO4 battery with a DC-DC boost converter module to extend the EB3a. Even though the EB3A unit can only take in 10a at 12-30vdc, we went with the 20amp rated boost unit to minimize heat generated. The added battery keeps the EB3a running far longer than with just the internal batts. The boost converter allows you to push more power in than just using 12v. (
Great video! The only dilemma…. They used crappy fans on ALL of the units. I bought 3 to use as UPS units to replace older APC SmartUPS models for my home network gear and 2 radio repeaters. They ALL make a noisy racket and buzz and would be intolerable if used in the living areas of the home.
Pretty nice review!I’ve ordered same unit in official store and still waiting for it.Meantime I bought elder version(eb70).It can feed my fridge & Mac for a ~ 7 hours without full discharge.I live in Kharkiv,which is under rocket attacks almost everyday.This little tiny generator is saving a lot of people here together with a 200watt solar panel.I think that I’m ready for a touristic trip with all that survival stuff here😂.
Mine's been keeping my computer on full battery backup for the past several months ever since I did this review. I turned off the auto power off feature and leave it turned on 24/7 it's a great UPS zero delay switch over if the power goes out and that's because it's always running on the inverter
I bought the PV68 because I liked the compact size. I purchased a second, thinking I could use them together, but they told me to only use one panel. My logic was if it takes 4.9 hours to charge, maybe it would be half of that with 2 PV68 panels. I would have 136 watts of solar panel. How long does it take you to charge your EB3A with a 200 watt solar panel? I was just trying to have something in case the power went out for an extended period.
@@tracycaldwell1736 the charge is limited to 110 watts on the DC charger. So even if you have a 200 watt solar panel the charge time is the same. A 200 pv however will put out more power in less light than a 100 watt panel.
@@tracycaldwell1736 Check the specs of your solar panels. The Bluetti EB3A powerstation can accept Voc: 12-28 Volts, Imp: 8.5 Amps, Max input power: 200W.
14:35 Thankfully LiFeP04 is extremely safe. Fire is very very very rare. I know there's a video of one guy on here that managed to get combustion the second time he drilled into it. Really curious how they did that 7S pack....which is kind of a strange pick for LiFeP04. It makes a good 24V but since 4S is used for 12V the common in the industry is to just use 8S and 16S for 24V and 48V even though it leaves those two just a tad on the high side, especially 48V ends up in the high 50's depending on which max charging voltage you want to use. A lot of people have tried using techniques from NCA/NCM/LMO lithium ion which is only having an 80% DOD or a little less. Quite common to see people using salvaged cells in powerwalls running the cells from 4.0V or 3.9V down to 3.3V or 3.2V since you're still getting 70% to 80% of the capacity in that range (on your typical 4.20V to 2.5V cell/CHECK THE DATASHEET FOR YOUR CELL BEFORE ASSUMING THESE NUMBERS APPLY TO YOU!). Some people say degraded cells are more likely to go crazy and internally short the closer you get them to 4.20V but I've seen the data the data on cycle life to 80% SOH and its true. Even reducing the maximum charge voltage to 4.10V is quite beneficial overall and REALLY beneficial if you find yourself accidentally leaving them fully charged up for more than a week at time. 3.70V'ish is the ideal storage charge that should coincide with a 50% SOC level but if the cell never sees 4.20V, every 100 millivolt reduction will likely give you a couple hundred extra cycles, obviously the lowest max charge voltage that makes sense is 3.90V as that is where the bulk of the capacity exists, 3.90V down to 3.20V. I would always recommend never discharging below 2.80V there is damn near nothing to gain below that level. Seriously, I think on my 3500mah cells I see an extra ~50mah get squeezed out in the fast free fall from 2.80V to 2.50V. Many people choose 3.0V for the easy math of when to cut the battery pack off when looking at a voltage display and there's not a ton of capacity they are missing out on in that 200 millivolt range eitiher. Yes, I know the Mini 2 is LiFeP04 but I figured I'd go on a rant about the (not for long) more popular lithium chemistry since it is much more sensitive than LiFeP04. They use to charge LiFeP04 up to 4.2V back in the early days and its not dangerous to do that as some data sheets point out the dangerous overvoltage is past 4.20V. I would not recommend being so conservative with LiFeP04 DOD since two recent papers point to a potential memory effect where the cells think the Ah provided in your limited DOD window is all it has and will never get that extra last bit that you've been choosing not to use. So from 3.65V to 2.50V I recommend 3.60V/3.55V to 2.80V. Apparently EcoFlow and Bluetti are extremely conservative with the very bottom of the discharge and the AC500 amongst others will let you use it once your battery hits their set "0%". This would explain why a normal DC output has such terrible efficiency ratings when you do a capacity test even though a buck converter should do pretty decent, you also have to factor in the reserve battery capacity.
Ive had mine for a few days and am very impressed with it. It powered my portable fridge for 10 hrs. If you look for deals you can get one for around 200.00 (US). That price beats what I could have built one myself for. This runs circles around the Echo River Mini and is around 100.00 cheaper.
@@mikepanchaud1 well considering the old 400 watt APC ups i bought many years ago was at least 400 and it only powers the computer for about 20 minutes and this will run it for over 2 hours plus a bunch of other stuff. It operates as a full UPS as opposed to a standby power supply. Sps there is a small delay or up to 1 full cycle for it to switch over. This one has no delay because the inverter is always rinnjbg powering your devices full time.
Far too small a capacity to be truly useful but a positive sign that bluetti is listening to feedback and improving their products. Along with Ecoflow switching to Lifepo4 with the Delta 2 options are improving.
It'll run a string of LED lights across a campsite all night, or charge everyone's cell phone. We don't really need much power camping, but a little light is nice. The 12v out is nice enough for a low-powered radio transceiver.
You can run a cable modem + basic wifi router and a couple of other small loads (total ~40w) for about 4hrs similar to a $200 lead acid UPS, and the lifetime of the unit is better in theory than a regular lead acid battery UPS. We'll see if that proves true in 2 years.
Nice teardown! well explained. I was wondering...is it possible to turn bluetooth off? If not, did you notice where on the mainboard the bluetooth chip is located? I would need to be able to turn it off; and if not to know if it is on a daughterboard than can be unplugged or if it needs to be soldered off. Thanks!
Something is not quite right here. The device is specification says it has a LifePO4 battery (max charge per cell for LifePO4 is 3.65). Measured battery voltage is 27.2 (12:48). The device has 14 cells (15:53), with the measured battery voltage we could conclude that the battery has 7S2P configuration. So average voltage per cell: 27.2/7=3.89 which is way more we would expect from a LifePO4 cell..
I wonder if it’s possible to connect external batteries to this unit by DIY? I have experience with building battery packs but I’m not sure how the capacity measurement will handle the extra capacity. I would connect the extra batteries in parallel with each of the cells.
Yeah, I thought about this too. It would make no sense to use the external battery to charge the internal battery [via inverter or DC input] to discharge it immediately. At the same time, if we add a switch to the battery main cables to disarm the main battery and add the external battery input to those cables, the internal BMS would drive crazy. It would see the cell's voltage of the internal battery and get the overall voltage of the external battery that does not sum... dead end.
Great review as nobody did before, opening it up. Full disclosure. Man do they build good quality stuff these days. If I am right you could actually replace these 14 cells (7s2p) with prismatic cells. Wont fit but hey you could attach a cord with a breaker to switch from internal to an external pack. soAhmething they should have considered doing from the factory. If you have a DIY Camper van you build a giant 24v 1000Ah LifePO4 pack out of 16 cells under the bed somewhere. Connect this EB3A model to the pack and charging at 160 Watt Solar. Van Aircos with 450 Watt modes do exist.
I wouldn't be moding anything with a lithium battery myself. Only because i have see what has happened on the news when a few e-bikes that the owner "upgraded" the battery only to have it light up when charging and take the house out with it. I don't fux around with lithium batteries.
Lots of these units are DC pass thru, meaning the USB and cig plugs work while charging, but not AC/110v. For me, as long as I can run my 12 volt fridge/freezer off the cig, run some string lights and charge comms off the USBs,.. all is well.
Everything can run while charging from AC. For that matter the inverter will run when charging from DC or solar but it is possible to use the battery faster then it will charge if you have a full load on the ac side. I use mine as a UPS
Besides the obviousness of charging with a solar panel, thus free electricity, I just thought that this would be a great way to save a bit of money on the electric bill. Considering that bills in the UK are set to go over £3500 or more a year for typical usage, someone, if they were very meticulous in switching things over etc and were on an "economy 7" tariff which is one what has a cheap night rate, they could charge during the night and then use that power from this during the day. Now it will involve remembering to switch things about etc and it wont power everything all of the time but it may actually make the difference enough that you can actually have money to spare to buy food etc. Technically this should be able to run my microwave. (I remember a news story about a woman who refused potatoes from the food bank because he couldn't afford to actually cook them). Just me thinking about uses beyond power outages. If you were careful to charge at night during the cheap times it could assist a little, take the edge off. Course, you have to buy the thing first! But I do wonder if devices like this can be programmed to charge at certain times. Or just use a timeswitch but I would be cool if it had that functionality built in. There is a lot of talk about having "smart" appliances that will switch on and do their things during times of low power demand and cheaper rates.
Thanks for the great review and teardown....it really looks good. What are your thoughts on adding an xt60 connection for a external battery? Thanks again 👍
I think it went from 100% to 90% due to an EEPROM reset on the DSP update. It had no SOC state so it guessed a new one based on voltage, which is never accurate.
Good review. One that actually behaves as a UPS (most don't). One disappointing aspect though of this and similar units is that they are not really waterproof. One of the intended uses is outdoor when caravanning / camping and a sudden shower for example can destroy them. It's a shame a little more can't be done to protect the outputs. Fully waterproof units are few and far between and astronomical prices.
@@12voltvids True, inside OK, outside not ok. I was thinking that just adding some of those lift-up covers to the AC outputs would offer some basic protection in a shower. I had a design requirement in the past where such a unit would be carted out to an outdoor muster point in an emergency. Still, the closest I have seen to something that would actually work.
I just commented above, but I didn't see in the video where this unit was shown completely as a UPS. Yes, power was maintained to devices when line power was removed. Additionally, if the battery drains completely and all devices turned off as a result, the unit needs to restore power to those devices automatically without pressing any buttons AND it needs to recharge the batteries automatically once line power from the electric company is restored. This is what would need to happen in the scenario where you are out of town and the power is out long enough to drain the battery completely. If the unit doesn't do this, then all of your devices would reman off until you get home and press a button on the unit. I've tested APC UPS units and they operate this way as they should. I'd love to know of the Bluetti unit does too.
I'm glad to see the teardown. DO NOT use this as a UPS for a computer. The time delay from pulling out or losing power is simply too long, you will still mess up your computer. I'm not talking about a laptop, I'm talking about a regular home computer, laptops don't care, they run off their internal battery to begin with, they never run off A/C power. Buy a real UPS for power sensitive equipment, not one of these.
I own this power station. I really do like it. You can't beat it for the money. I wish you would have gotten the type and numbers off of the LifeP04 cells. I was curious what they used. I had always built my own before I bought this one. Thanks for the video. I forgot to mention that you can charge with A/C and solar at the same time. I actually connected a 13.8 volt battery and it was able to charge the battery while the power station was in use.
I'm curious about the cells also. Look like 26650 cells. I own 4 of the EB3A and really like them. Use them for UPS on security cameras and monitor, TV and cable/ internet. 2 for backups.
@@charlesd3376 no they're not 26,650 cells those are li-ion. These are lithium iron phosphate chemistry. Much safer than the old lithium ion. It's a great little unit I've been using it for the last little while as my UPS on my computer system and so far it save me when two small Powers outages would have interrupted rendering out a video.
4:53, not all of what you need in order to call it a UPS. Yes, you need the devices to keep operating when line power is lost just as shown in your video but you also need to make sure that if the battery drains completely and all devices connected to the EB3A turn off, you need to make sure that when line power is eventually restored, the EB3A powers back up and your devices automatically start getting power without you pressing any buttons. If the unit does that, then it's an amazing unit and an amazing value. If it doesn't, then it's not a UPS.
Yes when it is powered by ac if the power goes off it will run till the battery is flat and then shut down. When the AC comes back on the output is restored as long as it was powered up initially with ac connected. If you power it up and then plug in ac and the power goes off it runs till the battery dies. Then shuts off. When power it restored it charges the battery FYI I have several tripplite ups and when the battery dies they shut off and do not cone back on. The idea is if the power goes off you finish your work and shut down the computer anyway. Bigger units will run far longer and I have much bigger units but i use this on my PC as 2 hours of run time is more than i will ever need.
@@12voltvids I appreciate the reply. The use case in my situation isn't a computer, it's modem/router and the idea is that you don't want the UPS to leave you worse off at the end of an extended outage than if you had no UPS at all and were out on vacation (remote control of cameras, security, etc.). I have 2 APC UPSs and they do NOT function like your tripplite units. I've tested them to be sure. Unplug them, run on battery till it dies, router and modem obviously shut off at that point. Plug the APC UPS back in, everything comes back on and the battery recharges. No user intervention required.
@@Redneck_Ed my apc is like that but it is as old as the hills. Has a mechanical power switch and a cold start button so you can start it without any power. That one is used for my wife's CPAP machine for obvious reasons. Don't want that going out in the middle of the night.
Something doesn’t work out in this math, the lifepo4 3.2vfully charged is 3.6v per cell some push them to 3.65v X 7 cell serie = 25.55v absolute max but your battery pack reading voltage was 27v plus 🤔 Are they being overcharged? Each cell is 6Ah so 7+7 parallel =12ah checks 👍🏼 fine. Maybe your multimeter is slightly off calibration?
When the 9v battery in fluke meters goes dead the readings are all high. That's just the way it is. As soon as the low battery icon appears it would be a fluke if it was accurate.
@@12voltvids First of all, thank you for the video…… is very good and informative! 👍🏻 So for the voltage being higher the only thing I can imagine is that maybe the circuitry of the bms sends that high voltage under NO load 🤷🏻♂️. Is that I have never seen anything like this before. But new unknown technologies are always showing up.
@@arecibo1974 take a look at my meter you'll notice that the low battery indicator is on. My meter battery was getting low and on fluke meters when the battery is low the voltage measurement is not accurate. It always reads higher than the actual voltage and this is because the 9-volt battery that powers the meter is used as a reference. What's that voltage drops below the reference regulator, which is what the measured voltage is compared to it will cause the reading to read High. I believe it something like 5 volts on the battery when the 9-volt battery drops below five the readings go off big time on the meter. Basically on a fluke meter as soon as that low battery indicator comes on your readings are not accurate it also will not measure resistance properly either.
@@12voltvids Now! I noticed it after you pointed it out. Now everything makes sense 😉👍🏼 Thanks for taking the time in clearing it out for me. Keep up the great work.
What do you think, is it possible to extend the capacity by replacing the battery block to a "bigger" one? Or some changes to the firmware/control are also required to let the device "see" full capacity if it is bigger than the original?
The instructions say not to have AC charging on whilst powering high wattage devices or in power lifting mode. I would think that it turned off charging as your heat gun on low draws 700 watts yes?
I believe it draws about 600 on low. I have been using this as a ups on my PC since doing this video. It runs 24/7 and runs about 350 watts when computer is on. Not so much as a hicup and the power has gone off twice when i was working. Saved my work.
Great review video! BTW, can I still use the unit without downloading the app? If the local device requires the app download/log in (or to a cloud service) more than the convenience reason, there may be a privacy concern - just wondering.
Assuming the Bluetti EB3A will sit idle for months at a time for a SHTF moment (typical FPL blackout), is it okay to store it at 100% charge? Or does it have to be discharged to 50-60% for longterm (4-8 months) storage? 🧐
It used LiFEPo4 batteries so look them up for storage details. For long term storage like 6 months or more you want them pretty low for max charge cycle life. But if you don't plan on charge cycling it often, 100% should be fine.
@@v12alpine Oh, it sounds like you are saying that if it isn't my intent on using the battery except in rare instances maybe once every 6 months (during a power outage, for example), then leaving it ready to go at 100% will be fine. Correct? But that if I want to extend the life of the battery--how often it will discharge and charge--then I have to not leave it bursting with energy in long term storage, which may limit its remaining cycles. Is that right? Sorry about my ignorance, but science is not my strong suit, and I'm just trying to really understand what many of you are kind enough to explain.
@@mavirek It's not ideal, but from what I know, LiFe handles sitting fully charged better than LiPo. Some similar units let you set a max charge, say 80%, which I suspect Bluetti could add with a firmware update.
No, man, they are not reverse, they are marked by the solar input plug, not the receiving side. Once you take the 'negative' solar black cable with the '-' plug, you will only be able to plug it into the + Bluetti plug of the same black color cable.
I bought the EB3A a month ago and so far I’ve loaded it 40 times. One charge a day in standard mode from the wall plug and discharge throughout the day on different appliances (washing machine (cold program), laptop, mobile charging, home lighting,...) and I noticed that it takes longer to charge from 0% to 100% from day one and a slightly faster discharge. And I guess someday it’ll be time to change the battery. Is it difficult to build an internal battery pack with its BMS as seen in the video? Do we need to use the same BMS?
Get the phone app for it and you can change the settings so you can turn on you blow dryer at the same time but may damage the unit, surge mode if i rember.
I would not ever recommend any modifications to anything with a lithium battery. The manufacture designs the BMS for specific cells. Any modifications could result in explosion or fire. There have been many fires reported on the news caused by people modifying electric bike batteries to add extra range. Making any changes to any lithium battery device can result in a very dangerous situation. If you need more power buy a bigger one or 2 of them. My river delta for example you can buy additional batteries and stack them.
Are these power stations repairable? I already had one power station stop working and no clue how to fix it. Are the parts universally replaceable or should I build my own DIY power station so I can replace parts as needed? I don't want a $2000 paperweight in 5 years
I’m enjoying your videos. I just got the EB3A and while I’m liking it it doesn’t charge my iPhone 12 max very good on the wireless top part when it’s not plugged into an AC power supply. The phone gets hot. The top of the device gets hot and I don’t know if I have a bad unit or if that’s typical. 🤷♂️ Also it regularly puts out an unusual smell while only having my CPAP and one light on while on AC power. I’m wondering if I should return this one or if this is all normal for this little guy? IDK? 🤷♂️
I got a question about EB3A air flow direction fan. Fan on the top left of the unit supposed to Suck the air into the Unit or blow back out. My unit is sucking the air into unit, I think it’s kind of strange.
Same with mine. The fan blows on a hot inverter's panel through the plastic tunnel, but then spreads the overheated air across the box and batteries all the way to the bottom of the case. What a nonsense...
I literally just bought one haven't received it yet but been looking at the reviews and I'm just loving this unit I built a standby system using a 120ah lifpo from big battery, renogy battery monitor and so on but this is so portable.. But after seeing you take it apart got me wondering 🤔 can you supplement its battery cells and run it on a bigger battery??.. Can anyone comment on this!! Looking forward to your response.. Great job 👍
I doubt it. The charge/discharge metering would get thrown off since it's calibrated to the watt/hours of the stock battery. In otherwords it would only charge to the stock watt/hour then stop thinking it's 100%.
Dave - This was a great video, so thanks for sharing your insight. It looks like you may be a ham radio operator? Wondering if you saw inside any way to overcome the 10A DC limitation? For portable operation at full power, my FT-857D draws about 20 amps on TX. Supplemented with a solar panel I believe this would keep it charged (or charging) for a while. I'd appreciate your thoughts. 73 -- Paul
Is the wireless charging and bluetooth using the same component? If not how can bluetooth be disabled? While you can use this as a power backup does this unit have any surge protection?
Looks like a 7s2p li-ion pack. would have been nice to see a 8s3p lifep04 pack. How much did that unit cost? I like the idea of one of these verses a APC ups running lead acid. I have 500+ 18650 li-ion cells I could use for extra back up storage.
This model is advertised as LiFePO4 chemistry, but the measured voltage doesn’t make sense. Something is not right. They claim 2500+ cycles rated life vs 1000+ on the older model.
@@bru_haha I know right... 7x3.7= 25.9v for li-ion. 7x 3.2=22.4v for lifepo4, you need 8 cells in order to get the correct voltage for life cells. So those cells are li-ion they are selling in their units. Also lifepo4 have 2/3 to 3/4 the capacity of a li-ion of similar size.
@@DavidSmith-dm8ew He said 27v fully charged. Which is 3.85v per cell. It's a bit high for LFP, but they must be using the full capacity of the cell as typical chemistry is around 3.6-3.7v for 100% SOC on LFP. If these were nickel based cells, I'd expect a 7S pack to be around 30V.
thanks for the review, there is something i didnt understand well... when you were using the ups mode with the heat gun and charging through AC, the EB3A stopped charging... why is that??
Great video. Subscribed! I understand Mah. Like my phone is 5000mah & I have a 20,000mah power bank that takes about 8 hrs to charge. I can only charge my phone about 4.5 x. I never get the full 20k. I just bought this Bluetti on sale for $198. I am looking forward to having a good power source to charge all my 18650s, phone, AAs & AAAs, cordless drill battery that recharges quickly. What's this Bluetti comparable to? As in 4 or more of my $70 Anker 20K power banks? How does Mah translate to watts? I'm actually autistic so forgive my weird way of trying to conceptualize the capacity of this Bluetti.
Is adding a external 24v battery an option with this unit, tying into the battery wires. This would give the option of much more than the tiny 268wh that it has. I would not be worried about charging the external battery, just use it for extended run time when needed. I know charging it with a 12v battery is an option, but that cannot keep up with the total output.
Easiest would be to connect the 24V battery to the EB3A solar input. As long as it's over 12V, it will start pulling power to charge. I tried with a 4S lipo (~16V). and it was pulling about 120W. A 24V battery should do almost the 200W max.
@@briank794 Yes, it's likely the same battery layout. EB3A is 7s2p. so 28.7V fully charged, and 21V dead. The biggest issue is balancing the two batteries. I'm not sure how the BMS of the EB3A will react to the battery bypassing the inverter board.
Well, I went ahead and attached an external 24v 200ah battery to the eb3a. I first unplugged the XT60 battery connection on the main board, made a splitter for XT60 to reattach battery and the other was a 45amp Anderson power pole panel mount that I attached to the back of the unit, and using a 40 amp fuse in this line. My procedure is to be sure the eb3a has a decent charge, be sure to turn that on first, apply a load, then plug my battery to the back of it. When shutting down, unplug the battery before attempting to power off the unit. The battery percentage may or may not be accurate??? There is no intention of charging the extended battery through the unit, so I am not concerned if it would be able to do that. But yeah, I have ran this through a kil a watt meter and have went well beyond the rated 268wh several times. The highest I have pushed it is 1.8KWH so far. Time will tell….
Great video. I have a question. I accidentally dropped this same exact unit. Everything still works perfectly except the AC output reading shows 000 watts being used. The outlets work perfectly. I just don't know how many watts I am using. DC shows output watts. There is nothing wrong with the display either. Could something possibly unplug or disconnect from the impact?
Is the white glue safe in the long run? I don't know much about electronics but I saw some videos of "yellow glue" used on PCBs becoming conductive in the long run and causing shorts.
Question - this uses a 24v lifepo4 battery. Could i just add an xt60 splitter and drill a hole connecting my 24v lifepo4 200ah battery? I dont see why it wouldn't work as both batteries have BMS and will be connected in parallel.
We have used the th-cam.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
if you're powering a device and it shows a half hour ( left to run) but your also charging it, how do you know if its a half hour left to run, or to charge ? I suppose if the draw is greater then the charge, it is time left to run. if the charge is greater than the draw, it'd be time left to charge. either way, thank you for your teardown, it gives me confidence I bought the right device. intent? charge FPV Drone batteries on the fly, between sites, to keep flying all day. once you get an additional 100 watt 12V SUB C adapter, and 110V 100 Watt USBC adapter, its perfect, with pass through charging.
Mine has 'UPS bypass mode' that auto-kicks when plugged into mains. You see 'UPS' lights up on display. In this mode the charger is used to charge the battery only, not to power devices connected to AC outlet(s) through built-in inverter. Devices connected to AC outlet are connected to mains in this mode. So, if I see '0.5h' for your scenario the answer will be '0.5h to charge'. I clearly see UPS mode disengaging in the video when powering a heat gun but have no idea why it happens.
Can you leave the unit plugged in, charging, all the time to make full use of the UPS? Or will that damage the battery, staying at 100% capacity all the time?
I have the bluetti ac50s . Not sure I made a mistake yesterday or just bad luck. We had a brownout, so I used 1 DC for the internet modem, 1 extension with 2 cctv camera's, and in same extension cord I plugged in my amp 300watts for some music while doing stuff in the garden, and as soon I turn the amp on it all shuts down on the ac part. I had a overload before, but that time it just shut down and recovered. Unfortunately this time not the case. All is working except the ac outlets. That's how I end up on yt vids. I have 0 knowledge on this, so even when I open it up, looking at the parts, is the same as reading Chinese for me. Local technicians here in the Philippines have an skill in overcharging foreigners, so not much of an option too. If ai only knew what the issue could be, and if it might be cheap to fix, or even if it's possible to fix, would be big help. Some others online had same issue, but they still in warranty period, and had replacement. I passed that a few months ago. Hope anyone can suggest something helpfull. Thanks in advance
Thanks so much for the video. I'll add my experience. UPS mode cuts power at random times (maybe 3 times in 48 hours). The fan is amazingly loud, even before it ramps up. This thing off-gasses a LOT. It's still super oppressive after 5 days, especially when the fan kicks in :) I'm pretty certain I'll be returning mine. Even though I like it otherwise. I'm curious if your long term UPS usage has been similar? Or if you don't notice.
Mine has not blinked since I put it in service as a UPS. It runs my editing computer. It is left running 24/7. Yes the fan is audiable. Big deal so are the fans in the PC. As far as off gassing haven't noticed anything from mine other than the new electronics smell that were done after s few days. I had a power failure when i was editing last week. Or should i say rendering a project. There was 45 minutes to go and it chugged along flawlessly. My computer draws about 220 Watts when doing any type of rendering and display showed 1.3 hours when the power went out. Just before it finished rendering the display still showed I had 30 minutes of reserve when the power came back on. I didn't even need to shop my computer down but I would have as soon as the rendering had finished. Save my ass because my old trip light we give me about 10 minutes at that power consumption before it shut down which would have meant I would have had to abort the rendering save everything and then start up again. I can't say enough good things about this unit as a UPS
@@12voltvids Thanks. I'm glad you got a good one. It sure is the right size for something like that. In my lab I wouldn't mind the fan either :) I'm sad to see it go honestly. On paper it's really great. My living room load is always under 300 watts. But, It has killed power twice now since I initially messaged you :) every ~12 hours ish. It also did survive a power outage though :) I've seen a lot of reports of people saying it goes into "overload" when it randomly restarts, even at 40watts. For me it just blips. Seems hit or miss. failed firmware fixes etc. Soon I'll have my important circuits centrally backed by a larger system so it's moot. I appreciate the tear down! I got this thing because it was inexpensive, and I didn't mind the build quality you showed us :) I've picked up more than a few things from watching you work so I really appreciate it! I'm a closet electronics person. Caught the bug doing repairs on boards in my youth, for work. Never could give it up. Still suck at it :) Take care and thanks again!
Is it best to leave this plugged into the A/C when not using so it is always charged? (Will it harm batteries) Or only plug-in right before you plan to use?
i saw another video testing the discharge and it turned out that the remaing hours before fully discharge was not accurate at all..i was hoping you would test that too.. but nice teardown though 👍
It's in use 24/7 being used as a UPS for my computer. So I am not using the battery on a regular basis just when the power goes down but this I've operates as a full UPS not a standby supply. The inverter rubs full time and the AC input powers the inverter and keeps the battery charged. On average i draw about 500 watts through it.
Good-day & question; ??Is there a solar generator that provides the USB signal to turn-off a computer just like modern uninterruptible power supplies??
Don't know. Never had one not needed here. This provides smoke power to finish whatever is being done on PC and then shut it down. I don't leave my PC running 24/7. I just don't want it crashing while I am working. That means i am sitting there doing work and I can finish my work and shut down. This gives a few hours run time to render out what i am doing.
I couldn't tell you. I wouldn't be changing any batteries to anything other then the manufacture specified batteries and anyone that does is playing with fire literally.
Did you use it in UPS mode for a longer time? There are many users complaining that it is resetting devices every now an then (20min or 40min, different cases).
@@12voltvids I bought two to use as a UPS. one works fine, the other shuts off and displays "overload".message on the screen after a random time, may be 2-5 days. This is with just a router plugged in. A search on the internet shows it to be a somewhat common complaint.
@@metrowash mine running 24/7 powering up my PC, a bunch of hard drives and monitor. Average power running through it 300 watts and not so much as a hiccup. Have you tried updating the firmware?
@@12voltvids firmware apparently up to date and tech support is not responding to my email. I tried calling and the tech support mailbox is full. I wanted to love this little guy, but lack of support is a deal killer. I had an ecolfow kick the bucket after about six Months of use. I guess it's back to the more traditional setup. At my previous home I had a xantrex 2.0 with a lead acid battery bank that ran for ten years without a hiccup.
Neat unit but this could have been made smaller or added more cells because there is a lot of empty space on the inside compared to some of the others like the ecoflow river mini that is using up all the space inside the casing
You do realize that they sell different capacity models that have more cells. Making a comparison to a different model that has a higher cost make absolutely no sense and is wasted space to post about it. Everyone else reading just shakes their heads at some of the comments posted comparing completely different products. Extra space is left between cell banks for cooling air. Stuff to many cells into confined space and you are asking for trouble. This is a ups, not a standby supply. The inverter is constantly running and the cells are kept on tricky charge. These ones are designed to run 24/7 which this one has since the day this video was published. It's saved my computer during many power failures. I have been rendering videos when the power goes out and the computer just keeps humming along till its done.
I haven't noticed an increase but I live in noise central. Neighbours on both sides running plasma tv so hf is pretty much useless for me most of the time. I don't even bother anymore.
They pack a fair bit of power in them. The higher the capacity the more batteries it contains the more more it costs. If you only need a few minutes of backup go with a cheap apc or triplite with lead acid battery. If you want hours so the computer can say finish rendering a video when the power goes down then you want one capable of running it for a few hours to finish up before the power goes down.
If you are full discharging and charging every day shoukdblast 10 years. By the time the batteries are worn out it's probably time for a new one but I'm sure you could change the batteries if needed.
@@12voltvids thank you for your feedback, here in South Africa we have power cuts everyday for 3hours. I'm sure I will buy this power station after your demo thank you
Can this be used without a smartphone? Is there a default setting for charge speed and is the fan quiet as it comes without an app? Can you turn off eco mode with no smartphone?
one of the best reviews I have ever seen in one of these units. We even got to see the insides and cells and everything. Thanks!
Just did photography for. Percron e2000 today. Video to follow. It's a 2000 watt monster power station and i loaded this sucker up to try to break it. I failed.
Good thing too as it's a 1900.00 power station.
Wow, didn't expect the components to be assembled this way! I learned that the power station could have been even more compact and lightweight. Thanks for the video!
High energy devices like this are generally built pretty good. They have the potential to start a fire so they don't skimp on construction quality.
Its business :P
Grateful for your help in knowing how to use & maintain my unit. I will watch plenty of videos to see whst all I can safely power with this unit.
We had a 5 day power outage this summer and my little genny worked very well keeping the fridge and freezer running. I did however turn off the genny each night for 8 to 10 hours to keep the neighbors happy. I just may look into a larger Bluetti pack and use it like a UPS for just this sort of power event. I could run the genny all day to run the appliances and charge the battery pack. Then just shut off the genny at night and allow the larger Bluetti to power the fridge and freezer.
You don't need to run your fridge all night. Just fill some milk jugs and/or juice bottles with water and freeze them. When you shut the generator off at night move some of the frozen bottles from the freezer to the fridge.
Sounds like you need a transfer switch
Buy like 2 6v golf cart batteries and put them together to make 12v buy a small 500 to 800 watt pure sine wave inverter have the generator charge the batteries during the day then when shut off gen have the 2 batteries plugged into inverter that is plugged into one of these power banks that way you extra long run time on one of these smaller units for just what you need.
Great idea with the frozen water concept!
Also.. we added a 12v 100ah LifePO4 battery with a DC-DC boost converter module to extend the EB3a.
Even though the EB3A unit can only take in 10a at 12-30vdc, we went with the 20amp rated boost unit to minimize heat generated.
The added battery keeps the EB3a running far longer than with just the internal batts.
The boost converter allows you to push more power in than just using 12v.
(
That looks really well made, no shabby bits noticed.
Clever box of tricks 😀
well they did slap the bms right on the side of the cellpack ,that should have been isolated from the cells,,
Great video!
The only dilemma…. They used crappy fans on ALL of the units.
I bought 3 to use as UPS units to replace older APC SmartUPS models for my home network gear and 2 radio repeaters.
They ALL make a noisy racket and buzz and would be intolerable if used in the living areas of the home.
Pretty nice review!I’ve ordered same unit in official store and still waiting for it.Meantime I bought elder version(eb70).It can feed my fridge & Mac for a ~ 7 hours without full discharge.I live in Kharkiv,which is under rocket attacks almost everyday.This little tiny generator is saving a lot of people here together with a 200watt solar panel.I think that I’m ready for a touristic trip with all that survival stuff here😂.
Mine's been keeping my computer on full battery backup for the past several months ever since I did this review. I turned off the auto power off feature and leave it turned on 24/7 it's a great UPS zero delay switch over if the power goes out and that's because it's always running on the inverter
I bought the PV68 because I liked the compact size. I purchased a second, thinking I could use them together, but they told me to only use one panel. My logic was if it takes 4.9 hours to charge, maybe it would be half of that with 2 PV68 panels. I would have 136 watts of solar panel. How long does it take you to charge your EB3A with a 200 watt solar panel? I was just trying to have something in case the power went out for an extended period.
@@tracycaldwell1736 the charge is limited to 110 watts on the DC charger. So even if you have a 200 watt solar panel the charge time is the same. A 200 pv however will put out more power in less light than a 100 watt panel.
@@tracycaldwell1736 Check the specs of your solar panels. The Bluetti EB3A powerstation can accept Voc: 12-28 Volts, Imp: 8.5 Amps, Max input power: 200W.
good luck !! we are on your side !
Excellent review, BTW. You cover the important quality of build aspects that make me want to buy one of these.
That Fluke 12.
just bought the AC200MAX model. Waiting for delivery. Very encouraging that my favorite electronic technician approves of Bluetti products.
Great review… i love the tear down part where one can determine how well the unit is built
Thanks for the review & teardown Dave, my EB3A should be here early September
Thanks for the tutorial. It was helpful in repairing my unit. The people that shipped after refurbishing it never reconnected the ac wires.
Thanks for the review and teardown, Dave 👍
14:35 Thankfully LiFeP04 is extremely safe. Fire is very very very rare. I know there's a video of one guy on here that managed to get combustion the second time he drilled into it.
Really curious how they did that 7S pack....which is kind of a strange pick for LiFeP04. It makes a good 24V but since 4S is used for 12V the common in the industry is to just use 8S and 16S for 24V and 48V even though it leaves those two just a tad on the high side, especially 48V ends up in the high 50's depending on which max charging voltage you want to use. A lot of people have tried using techniques from NCA/NCM/LMO lithium ion which is only having an 80% DOD or a little less. Quite common to see people using salvaged cells in powerwalls running the cells from 4.0V or 3.9V down to 3.3V or 3.2V since you're still getting 70% to 80% of the capacity in that range (on your typical 4.20V to 2.5V cell/CHECK THE DATASHEET FOR YOUR CELL BEFORE ASSUMING THESE NUMBERS APPLY TO YOU!). Some people say degraded cells are more likely to go crazy and internally short the closer you get them to 4.20V but I've seen the data the data on cycle life to 80% SOH and its true. Even reducing the maximum charge voltage to 4.10V is quite beneficial overall and REALLY beneficial if you find yourself accidentally leaving them fully charged up for more than a week at time. 3.70V'ish is the ideal storage charge that should coincide with a 50% SOC level but if the cell never sees 4.20V, every 100 millivolt reduction will likely give you a couple hundred extra cycles, obviously the lowest max charge voltage that makes sense is 3.90V as that is where the bulk of the capacity exists, 3.90V down to 3.20V. I would always recommend never discharging below 2.80V there is damn near nothing to gain below that level. Seriously, I think on my 3500mah cells I see an extra ~50mah get squeezed out in the fast free fall from 2.80V to 2.50V. Many people choose 3.0V for the easy math of when to cut the battery pack off when looking at a voltage display and there's not a ton of capacity they are missing out on in that 200 millivolt range eitiher.
Yes, I know the Mini 2 is LiFeP04 but I figured I'd go on a rant about the (not for long) more popular lithium chemistry since it is much more sensitive than LiFeP04. They use to charge LiFeP04 up to 4.2V back in the early days and its not dangerous to do that as some data sheets point out the dangerous overvoltage is past 4.20V. I would not recommend being so conservative with LiFeP04 DOD since two recent papers point to a potential memory effect where the cells think the Ah provided in your limited DOD window is all it has and will never get that extra last bit that you've been choosing not to use. So from 3.65V to 2.50V I recommend 3.60V/3.55V to 2.80V. Apparently EcoFlow and Bluetti are extremely conservative with the very bottom of the discharge and the AC500 amongst others will let you use it once your battery hits their set "0%". This would explain why a normal DC output has such terrible efficiency ratings when you do a capacity test even though a buck converter should do pretty decent, you also have to factor in the reserve battery capacity.
Nice unit, I like how you can control it from your phone very handy feature
I'm using it as a UPS on my computer now. Working great so far.
Thanks for the video, I thought I was shorted the AC power cord. Your video helped me find it!!
Excellent review and teardown. You put most other reviewers to shame !
Ive had mine for a few days and am very impressed with it. It powered my portable fridge for 10 hrs. If you look for deals you can get one for around 200.00 (US).
That price beats what I could have built one myself for. This runs circles around the Echo River Mini and is around 100.00 cheaper.
Yes it is good. I use it as a ups for my computer.
Mil disc avail from bluetti also Saved $11
They are a steep £369!! on Amazon in UK, £349 on the Bluetti UK website. Hoping for a black Friday deal!
@@mikepanchaud1 well considering the old 400 watt APC ups i bought many years ago was at least 400 and it only powers the computer for about 20 minutes and this will run it for over 2 hours plus a bunch of other stuff. It operates as a full UPS as opposed to a standby power supply. Sps there is a small delay or up to 1 full cycle for it to switch over. This one has no delay because the inverter is always rinnjbg powering your devices full time.
What portable fridge are you using? How many watts does it pull on 12v?
I just ordered one of these! They look pretty good! Just wish they had a setting to keep the display on all the time if want to and be perfect 👌
yes but is yours going well..i see all sorts of unusual reports saying overheat
@@gglee1720 so far no overheating issues charging or using. I use for normal use though. Has horrible smell when new but goes away over time.
Far too small a capacity to be truly useful but a positive sign that bluetti is listening to feedback and improving their products. Along with Ecoflow switching to Lifepo4 with the Delta 2 options are improving.
It's basically for survival but not in luxury for sure.
It'll run a string of LED lights across a campsite all night, or charge everyone's cell phone. We don't really need much power camping, but a little light is nice. The 12v out is nice enough for a low-powered radio transceiver.
It will run my editing pc, hard drives and monitor for a few hours which means I can finish what i am doing and then shut the system down safely.
You can run a cable modem + basic wifi router and a couple of other small loads (total ~40w) for about 4hrs similar to a $200 lead acid UPS, and the lifetime of the unit is better in theory than a regular lead acid battery UPS. We'll see if that proves true in 2 years.
Nice teardown! well explained. I was wondering...is it possible to turn bluetooth off? If not, did you notice where on the mainboard the bluetooth chip is located? I would need to be able to turn it off; and if not to know if it is on a daughterboard than can be unplugged or if it needs to be soldered off.
Thanks!
Who cares. It's not like it draws much power and unless you connect to it it isn't doing anything.
Need app to control certain functions of unit, and updates
Something is not quite right here. The device is specification says it has a LifePO4 battery (max charge per cell for LifePO4 is 3.65). Measured battery voltage is 27.2 (12:48). The device has 14 cells (15:53), with the measured battery voltage we could conclude that the battery has 7S2P configuration. So average voltage per cell: 27.2/7=3.89 which is way more we would expect from a LifePO4 cell..
Maximum charge for lifepo is 4.2v so 3.89 is right in the sweet spot.
Thank you for a very good review, I bought this unit in December 22 and now I know it was a very good choice for a small solar generator.
Still working?
I wonder if it’s possible to connect external batteries to this unit by DIY? I have experience with building battery packs but I’m not sure how the capacity measurement will handle the extra capacity. I would connect the extra batteries in parallel with each of the cells.
Did you end up with some results reguarding this idea?
Yeah, I thought about this too. It would make no sense to use the external battery to charge the internal battery [via inverter or DC input] to discharge it immediately.
At the same time, if we add a switch to the battery main cables to disarm the main battery and add the external battery input to those cables, the internal BMS would drive crazy.
It would see the cell's voltage of the internal battery and get the overall voltage of the external battery that does not sum... dead end.
Wow, very informative video. I was planning to buy one of these on Sept. 1st, so I am really happy I came across your channel. Thank you!
I have been using this one as my ups for my computer since i did this video. Been running 24/7 since. Flawless.
12:32 Safe? Did you discharge the capacitors?
Great review as nobody did before, opening it up. Full disclosure. Man do they build good quality stuff these days. If I am right you could actually replace these 14 cells (7s2p) with prismatic cells. Wont fit but hey you could attach a cord with a breaker to switch from internal to an external pack. soAhmething they should have considered doing from the factory. If you have a DIY Camper van you build a giant 24v 1000Ah LifePO4 pack out of 16 cells under the bed somewhere. Connect this EB3A model to the pack and charging at 160 Watt Solar. Van Aircos with 450 Watt modes do exist.
Thanks for taking this apart. I am about to mod mine and this saved me some time. :)
I wouldn't be moding anything with a lithium battery myself. Only because i have see what has happened on the news when a few e-bikes that the owner "upgraded" the battery only to have it light up when charging and take the house out with it. I don't fux around with lithium batteries.
Lots of these units are DC pass thru, meaning the USB and cig plugs work while charging, but not AC/110v. For me, as long as I can run my 12 volt fridge/freezer off the cig, run some string lights and charge comms off the USBs,.. all is well.
Everything can run while charging from AC. For that matter the inverter will run when charging from DC or solar but it is possible to use the battery faster then it will charge if you have a full load on the ac side. I use mine as a UPS
Hi. Great video. Just want to know the size and length of the screwdriver used to take out the bottom four screws. Thank you.
🤣
Hey doncha know you gotta scratch the plastic to see if it has embedded glass fibers! What kinda tear down video is this? ;) (just teasing)
Besides the obviousness of charging with a solar panel, thus free electricity, I just thought that this would be a great way to save a bit of money on the electric bill.
Considering that bills in the UK are set to go over £3500 or more a year for typical usage, someone, if they were very meticulous in switching things over etc and were on an "economy 7" tariff which is one what has a cheap night rate, they could charge during the night and then use that power from this during the day. Now it will involve remembering to switch things about etc and it wont power everything all of the time but it may actually make the difference enough that you can actually have money to spare to buy food etc.
Technically this should be able to run my microwave. (I remember a news story about a woman who refused potatoes from the food bank because he couldn't afford to actually cook them).
Just me thinking about uses beyond power outages. If you were careful to charge at night during the cheap times it could assist a little, take the edge off. Course, you have to buy the thing first! But I do wonder if devices like this can be programmed to charge at certain times. Or just use a timeswitch but I would be cool if it had that functionality built in. There is a lot of talk about having "smart" appliances that will switch on and do their things during times of low power demand and cheaper rates.
They are now sending out mc4 cable mine didn't have one
Thanks for the great review and teardown....it really looks good. What are your thoughts on adding an xt60 connection for a external battery? Thanks again 👍
I think it went from 100% to 90% due to an EEPROM reset on the DSP update. It had no SOC state so it guessed a new one based on voltage, which is never accurate.
Good review. One that actually behaves as a UPS (most don't). One disappointing aspect though of this and similar units is that they are not really waterproof. One of the intended uses is outdoor when caravanning / camping and a sudden shower for example can destroy them. It's a shame a little more can't be done to protect the outputs. Fully waterproof units are few and far between and astronomical prices.
Well if it is in your camper or trailer or motor home it isn't getting wet. I have it under my desk using it as a ups right now.
@@12voltvids True, inside OK, outside not ok. I was thinking that just adding some of those lift-up covers to the AC outputs would offer some basic protection in a shower. I had a design requirement in the past where such a unit would be carted out to an outdoor muster point in an emergency. Still, the closest I have seen to something that would actually work.
@@ralphj4012 stick in inside a plastic tote. Presumably one would be transporting it in a tote with power cords ect.
Put it in a car battery box for trailers and such. It has openings for wires but would be immune to rain.
I just commented above, but I didn't see in the video where this unit was shown completely as a UPS. Yes, power was maintained to devices when line power was removed. Additionally, if the battery drains completely and all devices turned off as a result, the unit needs to restore power to those devices automatically without pressing any buttons AND it needs to recharge the batteries automatically once line power from the electric company is restored. This is what would need to happen in the scenario where you are out of town and the power is out long enough to drain the battery completely. If the unit doesn't do this, then all of your devices would reman off until you get home and press a button on the unit. I've tested APC UPS units and they operate this way as they should. I'd love to know of the Bluetti unit does too.
I'm glad to see the teardown.
DO NOT use this as a UPS for a computer. The time delay from pulling out or losing power is simply too long, you will still mess up your computer. I'm not talking about a laptop, I'm talking about a regular home computer, laptops don't care, they run off their internal battery to begin with, they never run off A/C power. Buy a real UPS for power sensitive equipment, not one of these.
Excellent overview and teardown! What's your experience with the glue used on these components? Any long term issues?
Hi, Thanks for the video
What happen if you plug the AC input to charge it and 12/28dc input from solar at the same time?.
I own this power station. I really do like it. You can't beat it for the money. I wish you would have gotten the type and numbers off of the LifeP04 cells. I was curious what they used. I had always built my own before I bought this one. Thanks for the video. I forgot to mention that you can charge with A/C and solar at the same time. I actually connected a 13.8 volt battery and it was able to charge the battery while the power station was in use.
I'm curious about the cells also. Look like 26650 cells. I own 4 of the EB3A and really like them. Use them for UPS on security cameras and monitor, TV and cable/ internet. 2 for backups.
@@charlesd3376 no they're not 26,650 cells those are li-ion. These are lithium iron phosphate chemistry. Much safer than the old lithium ion. It's a great little unit I've been using it for the last little while as my UPS on my computer system and so far it save me when two small Powers outages would have interrupted rendering out a video.
@@charlesd3376 I opened up my EB3A. The cells are LifePO4 32700 6000mah
Did you update the firmware. Cause it can charge up to 400. But have to have the firmware updated out of the box.
@@jaccourt9531 Yes I did and it will charge at 400 watts with the A/C charger plus Solar.
You got some nice aerials hanging there ;-)
4:53, not all of what you need in order to call it a UPS. Yes, you need the devices to keep operating when line power is lost just as shown in your video but you also need to make sure that if the battery drains completely and all devices connected to the EB3A turn off, you need to make sure that when line power is eventually restored, the EB3A powers back up and your devices automatically start getting power without you pressing any buttons. If the unit does that, then it's an amazing unit and an amazing value. If it doesn't, then it's not a UPS.
Yes when it is powered by ac if the power goes off it will run till the battery is flat and then shut down. When the AC comes back on the output is restored as long as it was powered up initially with ac connected. If you power it up and then plug in ac and the power goes off it runs till the battery dies. Then shuts off. When power it restored it charges the battery
FYI I have several tripplite ups and when the battery dies they shut off and do not cone back on.
The idea is if the power goes off you finish your work and shut down the computer anyway. Bigger units will run far longer and I have much bigger units but i use this on my PC as 2 hours of run time is more than i will ever need.
@@12voltvids I appreciate the reply. The use case in my situation isn't a computer, it's modem/router and the idea is that you don't want the UPS to leave you worse off at the end of an extended outage than if you had no UPS at all and were out on vacation (remote control of cameras, security, etc.). I have 2 APC UPSs and they do NOT function like your tripplite units. I've tested them to be sure. Unplug them, run on battery till it dies, router and modem obviously shut off at that point. Plug the APC UPS back in, everything comes back on and the battery recharges. No user intervention required.
@@Redneck_Ed my apc is like that but it is as old as the hills. Has a mechanical power switch and a cold start button so you can start it without any power. That one is used for my wife's CPAP machine for obvious reasons. Don't want that going out in the middle of the night.
Something doesn’t work out in this math, the lifepo4 3.2vfully charged is 3.6v per cell some push them to 3.65v X 7 cell serie = 25.55v absolute max but your battery pack reading voltage was 27v plus 🤔 Are they being overcharged? Each cell is 6Ah so 7+7 parallel =12ah checks 👍🏼 fine.
Maybe your multimeter is slightly off calibration?
When the 9v battery in fluke meters goes dead the readings are all high. That's just the way it is. As soon as the low battery icon appears it would be a fluke if it was accurate.
@@12voltvids
First of all, thank you for the video…… is very good and informative! 👍🏻
So for the voltage being higher the only thing I can imagine is that maybe the circuitry of the bms sends that high voltage under NO load 🤷🏻♂️.
Is that I have never seen anything like this before. But new unknown technologies are always showing up.
@@arecibo1974 take a look at my meter you'll notice that the low battery indicator is on. My meter battery was getting low and on fluke meters when the battery is low the voltage measurement is not accurate. It always reads higher than the actual voltage and this is because the 9-volt battery that powers the meter is used as a reference. What's that voltage drops below the reference regulator, which is what the measured voltage is compared to it will cause the reading to read High. I believe it something like 5 volts on the battery when the 9-volt battery drops below five the readings go off big time on the meter. Basically on a fluke meter as soon as that low battery indicator comes on your readings are not accurate it also will not measure resistance properly either.
@@12voltvids
Now! I noticed it after you pointed it out.
Now everything makes sense 😉👍🏼
Thanks for taking the time in clearing it out for me.
Keep up the great work.
What do you think, is it possible to extend the capacity by replacing the battery block to a "bigger" one? Or some changes to the firmware/control are also required to let the device "see" full capacity if it is bigger than the original?
Won't touch that one.
7S2P @27.2v that’s like 3.8v 3.9 per cell, anyone concerned?
I am really annoyed that it is not 8S for an easy 24 V external expansion
The instructions say not to have AC charging on whilst powering high wattage devices or in power lifting mode. I would think that it turned off charging as your heat gun on low draws 700 watts yes?
I believe it draws about 600 on low. I have been using this as a ups on my PC since doing this video. It runs 24/7 and runs about 350 watts when computer is on. Not so much as a hicup and the power has gone off twice when i was working. Saved my work.
Perfect prepper gear!
Great review video! BTW, can I still use the unit without downloading the app? If the local device requires the app download/log in (or to a cloud service) more than the convenience reason, there may be a privacy concern - just wondering.
App is not needed. It's just to configure certain things and is not required
Assuming the Bluetti EB3A will sit idle for months at a time for a SHTF moment (typical FPL blackout), is it okay to store it at 100% charge? Or does it have to be discharged to 50-60% for longterm (4-8 months) storage? 🧐
It used LiFEPo4 batteries so look them up for storage details. For long term storage like 6 months or more you want them pretty low for max charge cycle life. But if you don't plan on charge cycling it often, 100% should be fine.
@@v12alpine Oh, it sounds like you are saying that if it isn't my intent on using the battery except in rare instances maybe once every 6 months (during a power outage, for example), then leaving it ready to go at 100% will be fine. Correct? But that if I want to extend the life of the battery--how often it will discharge and charge--then I have to not leave it bursting with energy in long term storage, which may limit its remaining cycles. Is that right?
Sorry about my ignorance, but science is not my strong suit, and I'm just trying to really understand what many of you are kind enough to explain.
@@mavirek Leaving it at full charge won't hurt anything, it'll probably be down to 80% in 6 months anyways.
@@mavirek It's not ideal, but from what I know, LiFe handles sitting fully charged better than LiPo. Some similar units let you set a max charge, say 80%, which I suspect Bluetti could add with a firmware update.
@@v12alpine kind of defeats the purpose if used for emergency backup, but good to know.
I have an EB55 and it seems that the EB3A is better. Any thoughts.
Have you tried the solar cable? My cable arrived with the plugs reversed on the leads. The pos plug was on the neg lead. Will that hurt the EB3A?
No, man, they are not reverse, they are marked by the solar input plug, not the receiving side.
Once you take the 'negative' solar black cable with the '-' plug, you will only be able to plug it into the + Bluetti plug of the same black color cable.
I wonder how the 14 cells are connected when you measure 27 V with 14 x 3,2 V (LiFeP)? 7S2P?
I bought the EB3A a month ago and so far I’ve loaded it 40 times. One charge a day in standard mode from the wall plug and discharge throughout the day on different appliances (washing machine (cold program), laptop, mobile charging, home lighting,...) and I noticed that it takes longer to charge from 0% to 100% from day one and a slightly faster discharge. And I guess someday it’ll be time to change the battery.
Is it difficult to build an internal battery pack with its BMS as seen in the video? Do we need to use the same BMS?
Problem I had was on partly sunny days using solar panels when sun was covered it actually drains power until clouds moved away .
Get the phone app for it and you can change the settings so you can turn on you blow dryer at the same time but may damage the unit, surge mode if i rember.
More space for batteries inside for power
Great video. Do you think I could internally connect a lifepo4 battery in paralel to extend the battery's capacity?
I would not ever recommend any modifications to anything with a lithium battery. The manufacture designs the BMS for specific cells. Any modifications could result in explosion or fire.
There have been many fires reported on the news caused by people modifying electric bike batteries to add extra range. Making any changes to any lithium battery device can result in a very dangerous situation. If you need more power buy a bigger one or 2 of them. My river delta for example you can buy additional batteries and stack them.
No no no no no no.
Very dangerous.
Are these power stations repairable? I already had one power station stop working and no clue how to fix it. Are the parts universally replaceable or should I build my own DIY power station so I can replace parts as needed? I don't want a $2000 paperweight in 5 years
I’m enjoying your videos. I just got the EB3A and while I’m liking it it doesn’t charge my iPhone 12 max very good on the wireless top part when it’s not plugged into an AC power supply. The phone gets hot. The top of the device gets hot and I don’t know if I have a bad unit or if that’s typical. 🤷♂️ Also it regularly puts out an unusual smell while only having my CPAP and one light on while on AC power. I’m wondering if I should return this one or if this is all normal for this little guy? IDK? 🤷♂️
My eb3a runs 24/7 no issues. Have not used the wireless charging as i just use it as a ups.
Any test on how much battery the unit uses just by being turned on with no load?
Hi were is your watch today I miss seeing it I see were you wear it you never take it off ❤️👍great video battery
Yeah thats a nice watch!
I got a question about EB3A air flow direction fan.
Fan on the top left of the unit supposed to Suck the air into the Unit or blow back out.
My unit is sucking the air into unit, I think it’s kind of strange.
Same with mine. The fan blows on a hot inverter's panel through the plastic tunnel, but then spreads the overheated air across the box and batteries all the way to the bottom of the case. What a nonsense...
I literally just bought one haven't received it yet but been looking at the reviews and I'm just loving this unit I built a standby system using a 120ah lifpo from big battery, renogy battery monitor and so on but this is so portable.. But after seeing you take it apart got me wondering 🤔 can you supplement its battery cells and run it on a bigger battery??.. Can anyone comment on this!! Looking forward to your response.. Great job 👍
I doubt it. The charge/discharge metering would get thrown off since it's calibrated to the watt/hours of the stock battery. In otherwords it would only charge to the stock watt/hour then stop thinking it's 100%.
Dave - This was a great video, so thanks for sharing your insight. It looks like you may be a ham radio operator? Wondering if you saw inside any way to overcome the 10A DC limitation? For portable operation at full power, my FT-857D draws about 20 amps on TX. Supplemented with a solar panel I believe this would keep it charged (or charging) for a while. I'd appreciate your thoughts. 73 -- Paul
The 12v port is limited to 10 Amps. You can always use the ac output and a power supply
Code saved me $1.00 . Better than a sharp stick in the eye!
Is the wireless charging and bluetooth using the same component?
If not how can bluetooth be disabled?
While you can use this as a power backup does this unit have any surge protection?
Looks like a 7s2p li-ion pack. would have been nice to see a 8s3p lifep04 pack. How much did that unit cost? I like the idea of one of these verses a APC ups running lead acid. I have 500+ 18650 li-ion cells I could use for extra back up storage.
They are about $208 US at the moment.
This model is advertised as LiFePO4 chemistry, but the measured voltage doesn’t make sense. Something is not right. They claim 2500+ cycles rated life vs 1000+ on the older model.
@@bru_haha I know right... 7x3.7= 25.9v for li-ion. 7x 3.2=22.4v for lifepo4, you need 8 cells in order to get the correct voltage for life cells. So those cells are li-ion they are selling in their units. Also lifepo4 have 2/3 to 3/4 the capacity of a li-ion of similar size.
@@DavidSmith-dm8ew He said 27v fully charged. Which is 3.85v per cell. It's a bit high for LFP, but they must be using the full capacity of the cell as typical chemistry is around 3.6-3.7v for 100% SOC on LFP. If these were nickel based cells, I'd expect a 7S pack to be around 30V.
Awesome sharing, thank you.
thanks for the review, there is something i didnt understand well... when you were using the ups mode with the heat gun and charging through AC, the EB3A stopped charging... why is that??
It doesn't charge once the batteries are full.
Great video. Subscribed! I understand Mah. Like my phone is 5000mah & I have a 20,000mah power bank that takes about 8 hrs to charge. I can only charge my phone about 4.5 x. I never get the full 20k. I just bought this Bluetti on sale for $198. I am looking forward to having a good power source to charge all my 18650s, phone, AAs & AAAs, cordless drill battery that recharges quickly. What's this Bluetti comparable to? As in 4 or more of my $70 Anker 20K power banks? How does Mah translate to watts? I'm actually autistic so forgive my weird way of trying to conceptualize the capacity of this Bluetti.
what do you think is the battery life for this type of powerstation?
Mine has be running 24/7 as ups since i got it.
Is adding a external 24v battery an option with this unit, tying into the battery wires. This would give the option of much more than the tiny 268wh that it has. I would not be worried about charging the external battery, just use it for extended run time when needed.
I know charging it with a 12v battery is an option, but that cannot keep up with the total output.
Easiest would be to connect the 24V battery to the EB3A solar input. As long as it's over 12V, it will start pulling power to charge. I tried with a 4S lipo (~16V). and it was pulling about 120W. A 24V battery should do almost the 200W max.
@@briank794 Yes, it's likely the same battery layout. EB3A is 7s2p. so 28.7V fully charged, and 21V dead. The biggest issue is balancing the two batteries. I'm not sure how the BMS of the EB3A will react to the battery bypassing the inverter board.
Well, I went ahead and attached an external 24v 200ah battery to the eb3a.
I first unplugged the XT60 battery connection on the main board, made a splitter for XT60 to reattach battery and the other was a 45amp Anderson power pole panel mount that I attached to the back of the unit, and using a 40 amp fuse in this line.
My procedure is to be sure the eb3a has a decent charge, be sure to turn that on first, apply a load, then plug my battery to the back of it. When shutting down, unplug the battery before attempting to power off the unit.
The battery percentage may or may not be accurate???
There is no intention of charging the extended battery through the unit, so I am not concerned if it would be able to do that.
But yeah, I have ran this through a kil a watt meter and have went well beyond the rated 268wh several times. The highest I have pushed it is 1.8KWH so far.
Time will tell….
@@briank794 can you post a video of your set up?
Great video. I have a question. I accidentally dropped this same exact unit. Everything still works perfectly except the AC output reading shows 000 watts being used. The outlets work perfectly. I just don't know how many watts I am using. DC shows output watts. There is nothing wrong with the display either. Could something possibly unplug or disconnect from the impact?
Dropping can cause all kinds of issues.
has anyone tried splicing in a Y harness to be able to parallel more batteries to this unit?
I’m thinking the same thing. Like the unit, but want more capacity to run an soft start AC system.
Is the white glue safe in the long run?
I don't know much about electronics but I saw some videos of "yellow glue" used on PCBs becoming conductive in the long run and causing shorts.
I doubt anyone uses sonybond anymore.
Question - this uses a 24v lifepo4 battery. Could i just add an xt60 splitter and drill a hole connecting my 24v lifepo4 200ah battery? I dont see why it wouldn't work as both batteries have BMS and will be connected in parallel.
Anybody else notice a screw missing from top of small heatsink when he opened it ? At least it looks that way to me but I could be wrong.
We have used the th-cam.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
if you're powering a device and it shows a half hour ( left to run) but your also charging it, how do you know if its a half hour left to run, or to charge ? I suppose if the draw is greater then the charge, it is time left to run. if the charge is greater than the draw, it'd be time left to charge. either way, thank you for your teardown, it gives me confidence I bought the right device. intent? charge FPV Drone batteries on the fly, between sites, to keep flying all day. once you get an additional 100 watt 12V SUB C adapter, and 110V 100 Watt USBC adapter, its perfect, with pass through charging.
Mine has 'UPS bypass mode' that auto-kicks when plugged into mains. You see 'UPS' lights up on display. In this mode the charger is used to charge the battery only, not to power devices connected to AC outlet(s) through built-in inverter. Devices connected to AC outlet are connected to mains in this mode.
So, if I see '0.5h' for your scenario the answer will be '0.5h to charge'.
I clearly see UPS mode disengaging in the video when powering a heat gun but have no idea why it happens.
Can you leave the unit plugged in, charging, all the time to make full use of the UPS? Or will that damage the battery, staying at 100% capacity all the time?
I leave it plugged in and turned on 24/7 and no issues.
I have the bluetti ac50s . Not sure I made a mistake yesterday or just bad luck. We had a brownout, so I used 1 DC for the internet modem, 1 extension with 2 cctv camera's, and in same extension cord I plugged in my amp 300watts for some music while doing stuff in the garden, and as soon I turn the amp on it all shuts down on the ac part.
I had a overload before, but that time it just shut down and recovered. Unfortunately this time not the case.
All is working except the ac outlets. That's how I end up on yt vids.
I have 0 knowledge on this, so even when I open it up, looking at the parts, is the same as reading Chinese for me.
Local technicians here in the Philippines have an skill in overcharging foreigners, so not much of an option too. If ai only knew what the issue could be, and if it might be cheap to fix, or even if it's possible to fix, would be big help. Some others online had same issue, but they still in warranty period, and had replacement. I passed that a few months ago. Hope anyone can suggest something helpfull. Thanks in advance
Looks like the batteries are 32650/32700 LiFePO4s. But it has 14 pcs, need only 12 pcs to make it 4s3p 12v batt pack.
Thanks so much for the video. I'll add my experience. UPS mode cuts power at random times (maybe 3 times in 48 hours). The fan is amazingly loud, even before it ramps up. This thing off-gasses a LOT. It's still super oppressive after 5 days, especially when the fan kicks in :) I'm pretty certain I'll be returning mine. Even though I like it otherwise. I'm curious if your long term UPS usage has been similar? Or if you don't notice.
Mine has not blinked since I put it in service as a UPS. It runs my editing computer. It is left running 24/7.
Yes the fan is audiable. Big deal so are the fans in the PC. As far as off gassing haven't noticed anything from mine other than the new electronics smell that were done after s few days.
I had a power failure when i was editing last week. Or should i say rendering a project. There was 45 minutes to go and it chugged along flawlessly. My computer draws about 220 Watts when doing any type of rendering and display showed 1.3 hours when the power went out. Just before it finished rendering the display still showed I had 30 minutes of reserve when the power came back on. I didn't even need to shop my computer down but I would have as soon as the rendering had finished. Save my ass because my old trip light we give me about 10 minutes at that power consumption before it shut down which would have meant I would have had to abort the rendering save everything and then start up again. I can't say enough good things about this unit as a UPS
@@12voltvids Thanks. I'm glad you got a good one. It sure is the right size for something like that. In my lab I wouldn't mind the fan either :) I'm sad to see it go honestly. On paper it's really great. My living room load is always under 300 watts. But, It has killed power twice now since I initially messaged you :) every ~12 hours ish. It also did survive a power outage though :) I've seen a lot of reports of people saying it goes into "overload" when it randomly restarts, even at 40watts. For me it just blips. Seems hit or miss. failed firmware fixes etc. Soon I'll have my important circuits centrally backed by a larger system so it's moot.
I appreciate the tear down! I got this thing because it was inexpensive, and I didn't mind the build quality you showed us :) I've picked up more than a few things from watching you work so I really appreciate it! I'm a closet electronics person. Caught the bug doing repairs on boards in my youth, for work. Never could give it up. Still suck at it :) Take care and thanks again!
I thought I read this should not be plugged in continuously
Is it best to leave this plugged into the A/C when not using so it is always charged? (Will it harm batteries) Or only plug-in right before you plan to use?
Mine runs 24/7 as I use it as a ups for my computer.
i saw another video testing the discharge and it turned out that the remaing hours before fully discharge was not accurate at all..i was hoping you would test that too.. but nice teardown though 👍
I ran my computer and monitor for 2 hours and it still showed 50%
Do u use this device everyday? Is it still working well? Do u use it for heavy load?
It's in use 24/7 being used as a UPS for my computer. So I am not using the battery on a regular basis just when the power goes down but this I've operates as a full UPS not a standby supply. The inverter rubs full time and the AC input powers the inverter and keeps the battery charged. On average i draw about 500 watts through it.
Good-day & question;
??Is there a solar generator that provides the USB signal to turn-off a computer just like modern uninterruptible power supplies??
Don't know. Never had one not needed here. This provides smoke power to finish whatever is being done on PC and then shut it down. I don't leave my PC running 24/7. I just don't want it crashing while I am working. That means i am sitting there doing work and I can finish my work and shut down. This gives a few hours run time to render out what i am doing.
This review is great! Thanks dude...
Is this battery pack "easy" replaceble with standard market batteries or it's a custom type?
I couldn't tell you. I wouldn't be changing any batteries to anything other then the manufacture specified batteries and anyone that does is playing with fire literally.
Did you use it in UPS mode for a longer time? There are many users complaining that it is resetting devices every now an then (20min or 40min, different cases).
I leave it running 24/7 and it hasn't turned off. I have the auto power off switched off.
@@12voltvids I bought two to use as a UPS. one works fine, the other shuts off and displays "overload".message on the screen after a random time, may be 2-5 days.
This is with just a router plugged in. A search on the internet shows it to be a somewhat common complaint.
@@metrowash mine running 24/7 powering up my PC, a bunch of hard drives and monitor. Average power running through it 300 watts and not so much as a hiccup. Have you tried updating the firmware?
@@12voltvids not yet, will try but was waiting on guidance from bluetti. Wouldn't hurt to try an update
@@12voltvids firmware apparently up to date and tech support is not responding to my email. I tried calling and the tech support mailbox is full. I wanted to love this little guy, but lack of support is a deal killer. I had an ecolfow kick the bucket after about six Months of use. I guess it's back to the more traditional setup. At my previous home I had a xantrex 2.0 with a lead acid battery bank that ran for ten years without a hiccup.
Neat unit but this could have been made smaller or added more cells because there is a lot of empty space on the inside compared to some of the others like the ecoflow river mini that is using up all the space inside the casing
You do realize that they sell different capacity models that have more cells. Making a comparison to a different model that has a higher cost make absolutely no sense and is wasted space to post about it. Everyone else reading just shakes their heads at some of the comments posted comparing completely different products. Extra space is left between cell banks for cooling air. Stuff to many cells into confined space and you are asking for trouble. This is a ups, not a standby supply. The inverter is constantly running and the cells are kept on tricky charge. These ones are designed to run 24/7 which this one has since the day this video was published. It's saved my computer during many power failures. I have been rendering videos when the power goes out and the computer just keeps humming along till its done.
Very good review. Top !
I have a Goal Zero 100W solar panel with a 8mm connector. Do you think i can plug it in Bluetti ?
Thank you
It works with any solar panel 12-28V with right adapter 8mm. This model has MPPT controller build-in.
Will it be safe to use a 60W Solar Panel to charge the EB3A?
does it throw any noise on your ham radios? I would like to use it for a portable HF Station
I haven't noticed an increase but I live in noise central. Neighbours on both sides running plasma tv so hf is pretty much useless for me most of the time. I don't even bother anymore.
Thanks very much, excellent video bud. 😊
how bad is the fan or coil noise during operation? I need one to live in my living room as backup for the internet.
It's quiet. Even when the fan comes on it is very quiet.
These power stations are fairly expensive, are they value for money?
They pack a fair bit of power in them. The higher the capacity the more batteries it contains the more more it costs. If you only need a few minutes of backup go with a cheap apc or triplite with lead acid battery. If you want hours so the computer can say finish rendering a video when the power goes down then you want one capable of running it for a few hours to finish up before the power goes down.
Would the batteries be able to be replaced if needed? Or will it just be scrap if the batteries are depleted?
If you are full discharging and charging every day shoukdblast 10 years. By the time the batteries are worn out it's probably time for a new one but I'm sure you could change the batteries if needed.
@@12voltvids thank you for your feedback, here in South Africa we have power cuts everyday for 3hours. I'm sure I will buy this power station after your demo thank you
@@reginaldwillemse2929 power cuts every day for 3 hours? Wow. The world would come to an end if that happened here.
@@12voltvids what can we do we have a shitty government
Did the buzzing fan noise continue while charging with solar?
Can this be used without a smartphone? Is there a default setting for charge speed and is the fan quiet as it comes without an app? Can you turn off eco mode with no smartphone?
I don't use a phone with mine.