Bluetti charger 1 not working

[MWT6]

Can anyone offer any advice Re my Bluetti charger 1 not working properly. Bluetti themselves are about as much use as that chocolate teapot.

So, as per previous forum posts, I've used the headlight bolt as the chassis ground, cleaned it up and it reads ok on a multimeter.

However, after starting the engine and switching on the breaker, more often than not, nothing happens. No LEDs lit up on the unit and no dc power input. 10 minutes into a drive and the charger 1 will suddenly fire up, climb up to about 218W of input (have never got the full 500W) and go back down to zero and switch off again. This cycle repeats for the journey.

Could it be a dodgy ground point and I should look for another, but would the charger even work at all if the ground was duff?

Bluetti have given some setting changes but at the moment it won't even switch on for me to get into the settings on the app.

Any and all help appreciated in advance

 

[Dellmassive]

Try turning the fan blower to #2.

Also turn on the headlights.

The T6 have smart alternator and keep the starter battery at 80%.

That means the van keeps the starter battery voltage low..... So the bluetti charger won't start up.

Normally regen braking will give higher volts for short duration.

...


So give the above a go and get back to us.

 

[Dellmassive]

Also,

Try removing it from the van and connect to the starter battery with short cables or jumper cables to test.... Just incase it's a cable issue.

Also checkout the midi fuse holder as that's known to be pants... Maybe replace it.

It sounds like a current flow problem to me...


Post some pics of the setup. For more info..

 

[MWT6]

Also,

Try removing it from the van and connect to the starter battery with short cables or jumper cables to test.... Just incase it's a cable issue.

Also checkout the midi fuse holder as that's known to be pants... Maybe replace it.

It sounds like a current flow problem to me...


Post some pics of the setup. For more info..

Thanks @Dellmassive, this could prove very useful. I'll try the things you mention and try and take the van for a drive this week to see if I can get a pattern of when it kicks in i.e. does it kick in when braking etc. Idling from a cold start on the drive definitely doesn't switch it on.

I'd be interested to hear if others switch on when idling.

Is it worth changing the ground point or, as it does switch on randomly, would that indicate the ground point is in fact ok and it's therefore to do with the + rather than the - cable.

 

[Dellmassive]

You need to use a multimeter to test the + side from battery to charger at each connection. For volts ref to chassis.

Also check each ground for resistance to chassis.

The charger will need to see at least 12.6v or whatever it's set to in the App to start up.... Assuming I bhas an app.

The other ones have an App, that you can use to see what it's doing, you can also adjust the start voltage up or down, like a trigger point.

But all dcdc have the same problem with voltage on the T6 vans with. Smart alternator.... Turning on fan to 2 or lights, or AC will make the van increase the voltage, which will make the charger kick in.

 

[Dellmassive]

More info

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[MWT6]

@Dellmassive thanks very much, your advice was spot on. Turning on the headlights fires up the charger 1 every time. As you said, it just gives it that boost it needs to fire up. Once it was working I managed to rebind the charger and power station and update the firmware on both.

Seems the ground to the cleaned up headlight bolt is indeed ok.

The max 218W I was getting was because the charger was set to the default 27V of input. Changing this to 54V does get the charger going up to about 500W - however it sounds like its putting lots of stress on the alternator and still cuts in and out when the smart alternator fluctuates between 11.9 and 13.1V. Switching on silent mode makes it a little more stable, but this mode turns off the cooling fans I believe - I do want the fans running for fear of over heating.

So, my answer is to just go back to the default 27V and charge the power station more slowly with 218W, knowing that I can give it a boost now and then if I need to.

Thanks again for your help bud!

 

[MWT6]

For extra clarity, rebinding the two units to the app and updating the firmware, together with leaving the headlights on whilst driving has made the charge much more stable now. Im not getting the constant cycle of on/off/on/off as I was before.

I may be barking up a completely different tree, but do you happen to know if fitting DRLs would omit the need for me to remember to switch the lights on? Only that it's an upgrade I've been holding off for some time but if it helps this is any way I could be persuaded. I'm presuming they're low power so I'd still need to switch the main headlights on.

Or I see that the charger 2 with its D cable is designed to solve this problem with smart alternators.

 

[Dellmassive]

For extra clarity, rebinding the two units to the app and updating the firmware, together with leaving the headlights on whilst driving has made the charge much more stable now. Im not getting the constant cycle of on/off/on/off as I was before.

I may be barking up a completely different tree, but do you happen to know if fitting DRLs would omit the need for me to remember to switch the lights on? Only that it's an upgrade I've been holding off for some time but if it helps this is any way I could be persuaded. I'm presuming they're low power so I'd still need to switch the main headlights on.

Or I see that the charger 2 with its D cable is designed to solve this problem with smart alternators.

That great, glad your sorted out.

No, DRL are too low power to to raise the alternator voltage.

Yes a D+ (ignition feed) will help, to a degree,.... But it wont raise the starter voltage.

Unfortunately it's a feature of all modern smart alternator engines.

Switching off stop/ start helps.

Switching on fan speed #2 help raise voltage a bit.

Switching on any heavy load bumps alt voltage right up, IE headlight, heated seat, heated screen.

I've also heard the if you unplugged the shunt sensor on the starter battery, the alternator will revert to dumb 13.8v mode.... Like the old days. - but I've not tested that yet.