So for non T6 reasons I ended up buying a Bluetti EB3A so I thought I'd let folks here know my initial review thoughts. There are lots of threads about the bigger systems but less about the more modest ones.
Basic impressions
So this is the Bluetti EB3A alongside my small Beaudens I use as a secondary 12v system in my van that I've discussed on my tinker thread.
First things to note is though it is much bigger the capacity isn't hugely different (167Wh Vs 268Wh)
This is because the Bluetti has it's mains charger built in and has a 600w inverter (that needs cooling) Vs a 150w inverter (that doesn't). Essentially the bottom half is battery, the upper half electronics.
Another major difference, that I missed on initial delivery, is that the Bluetti does not come with a 12v charge cable. It does have a standard IEC kettle type lead for 240v and an MC4 solar cable. That was a surprise and a problem as I really wanted to use it as a 12v inverter with benefits. The lead is a £20 ish extra, but to be fair it seems heavily built to suit the sustained 8.5 amp charge current and fits in a 12v socket very solidly, no wiggling around.
My biggest annoyance is this:
You'll note the Beaudens has the 240v socket sideways so it can stand up with a "normal" plug and strain relief in. The Bluetti has the socket in the "normal" orientation which means in the vast majority of cases it will rest all its weight on the cable strain relief, which is daft.
Even after is the obvious solution is to rest the unit on its back so the sockets are all on top - but the back is the only curved surface. I fixed this by putting 4 furniture felt stick on feet on the back but it's still a silly design error.
I have found a strip down video that shows all the internal connections use the XT60 connectors (even the 240 which is... something to be careful of) and I think there is enough cable to flip the socket upside down. I may consider this in the future.
In operation
First confusion is there is no dedicated on/off button. Each "area" (DC/AC/Light) has it's own button but, crucially, the first press just wakes up the unit, you have to press it again to turn that area actually on.
One thing to be aware of is that the unit relies on a fan to keep cool, and it's pretty keen to use this all the time. This means you have to ensure both sides are in free air as one is intake and one is exhaust.
Charging from the mains there are 3 profiles. However 2 of them are only accessible via the Bluetooth App, which tries very hard to sign you up for an account. Something as fundamental as charging profile really should be accessible without the app.
As standard the unit charges reasonably fast and the display shows the incoming wattage. You can optionally use a much faster charge from 240v but it does warn about using this regularly will shorten cell life and when I tried it the fan is working hard. With a modest capacity the standard charging is not bad anyway.
The silent charging profile you'd think would be one that charges as fast as it can without needing to run the fan. It's not. It's just a slower charge so the fan runs a bit less, so it's not silent.
In fact the disappointing thing is that in any charge profile if you leave the unit plugged in as soon as it drops to 99% charge it cuts the charger in and the fan whirls into life. It would be quite difficult to sleep in the same room if you left it to charge overnight while stopping at a motel for instance.
A good side of the app is that it does allow remote operation. On the trip that it was bought for I needed it to run our Coolbox on 12v, a heated blanket on 240v (the car heating isn't working) and keep itself topped up from the boot 12v socket. In the app you can see the state of charge and the flow of power in for charging and out to 12v and 240v and also turn those outputs on and off. It was very handy to be able to do this from the front of the car and turn the coolbox off for a bit when the charge dropped a bit low.
Something to be aware of is that the self consumption of the unit feels high. While the display does show a useful and so far accurate estimate of run time, this drops with outputs enabled more than I would expect. I did expect it with the 240v on, but it also seemed to drop quite a bit with just the 12v on. Possibly this is because it has a wireless charger on the top that I'll never use (I don't have anything that will and, with the 240v socket, the unit is on its back anyway)
I also found the wattage ratings displayed on the unit or in the app didn't tally well with external measurements that I usually trust. They've indicative rather than accurate
Quirks
It's easy to misread one feature. At a glance you might assume the unit is rated as 600w on 240v with a surge capacity of 1200w. That's not quite true, it has a mode you can enable in the app where for purely resistive loads (think electric radiator) it can throttle the output such that a 1200w heater is only supplied with 600w but doesn't trip the unit out.
If you turn the 240v output on and then charge from 240v the unit will act as a basic UPS. I wouldn't use it like that all the time but in times when you're at home with iffy power in a storm that could be quite useful.
Alternatively if you start charging from 240v and then turn the 240v output on it will bypass the UPS function. This means any 240v load (up to 600w) will be directly supported by the 240v input allowing the battery to be charged faster, the unit will also run cooler as the inverter will be off.
Conclusions
Things I like:
Things I don't like:
Overall I like it, it's a useful unit to have around like a pocket knife as it can be used as a big USB bank, a decent sized inverter and a handy UPS in a storm. I can see me slinging it in the van for a day I want to "work from van" and want something to support the laptop etc without having to run the engine.
Basic impressions
So this is the Bluetti EB3A alongside my small Beaudens I use as a secondary 12v system in my van that I've discussed on my tinker thread.
First things to note is though it is much bigger the capacity isn't hugely different (167Wh Vs 268Wh)
This is because the Bluetti has it's mains charger built in and has a 600w inverter (that needs cooling) Vs a 150w inverter (that doesn't). Essentially the bottom half is battery, the upper half electronics.
Another major difference, that I missed on initial delivery, is that the Bluetti does not come with a 12v charge cable. It does have a standard IEC kettle type lead for 240v and an MC4 solar cable. That was a surprise and a problem as I really wanted to use it as a 12v inverter with benefits. The lead is a £20 ish extra, but to be fair it seems heavily built to suit the sustained 8.5 amp charge current and fits in a 12v socket very solidly, no wiggling around.
My biggest annoyance is this:
You'll note the Beaudens has the 240v socket sideways so it can stand up with a "normal" plug and strain relief in. The Bluetti has the socket in the "normal" orientation which means in the vast majority of cases it will rest all its weight on the cable strain relief, which is daft.
Even after is the obvious solution is to rest the unit on its back so the sockets are all on top - but the back is the only curved surface. I fixed this by putting 4 furniture felt stick on feet on the back but it's still a silly design error.
I have found a strip down video that shows all the internal connections use the XT60 connectors (even the 240 which is... something to be careful of) and I think there is enough cable to flip the socket upside down. I may consider this in the future.
In operation
First confusion is there is no dedicated on/off button. Each "area" (DC/AC/Light) has it's own button but, crucially, the first press just wakes up the unit, you have to press it again to turn that area actually on.
One thing to be aware of is that the unit relies on a fan to keep cool, and it's pretty keen to use this all the time. This means you have to ensure both sides are in free air as one is intake and one is exhaust.
Charging from the mains there are 3 profiles. However 2 of them are only accessible via the Bluetooth App, which tries very hard to sign you up for an account. Something as fundamental as charging profile really should be accessible without the app.
As standard the unit charges reasonably fast and the display shows the incoming wattage. You can optionally use a much faster charge from 240v but it does warn about using this regularly will shorten cell life and when I tried it the fan is working hard. With a modest capacity the standard charging is not bad anyway.
The silent charging profile you'd think would be one that charges as fast as it can without needing to run the fan. It's not. It's just a slower charge so the fan runs a bit less, so it's not silent.
In fact the disappointing thing is that in any charge profile if you leave the unit plugged in as soon as it drops to 99% charge it cuts the charger in and the fan whirls into life. It would be quite difficult to sleep in the same room if you left it to charge overnight while stopping at a motel for instance.
A good side of the app is that it does allow remote operation. On the trip that it was bought for I needed it to run our Coolbox on 12v, a heated blanket on 240v (the car heating isn't working) and keep itself topped up from the boot 12v socket. In the app you can see the state of charge and the flow of power in for charging and out to 12v and 240v and also turn those outputs on and off. It was very handy to be able to do this from the front of the car and turn the coolbox off for a bit when the charge dropped a bit low.
Something to be aware of is that the self consumption of the unit feels high. While the display does show a useful and so far accurate estimate of run time, this drops with outputs enabled more than I would expect. I did expect it with the 240v on, but it also seemed to drop quite a bit with just the 12v on. Possibly this is because it has a wireless charger on the top that I'll never use (I don't have anything that will and, with the 240v socket, the unit is on its back anyway)
I also found the wattage ratings displayed on the unit or in the app didn't tally well with external measurements that I usually trust. They've indicative rather than accurate
Quirks
It's easy to misread one feature. At a glance you might assume the unit is rated as 600w on 240v with a surge capacity of 1200w. That's not quite true, it has a mode you can enable in the app where for purely resistive loads (think electric radiator) it can throttle the output such that a 1200w heater is only supplied with 600w but doesn't trip the unit out.
If you turn the 240v output on and then charge from 240v the unit will act as a basic UPS. I wouldn't use it like that all the time but in times when you're at home with iffy power in a storm that could be quite useful.
Alternatively if you start charging from 240v and then turn the 240v output on it will bypass the UPS function. This means any 240v load (up to 600w) will be directly supported by the 240v input allowing the battery to be charged faster, the unit will also run cooler as the inverter will be off.
Conclusions
Things I like:
- LiFePo cells
- Seems a competent little unit for reasonable cost
- Remote operation through the app
- Useful UPS capability
- All sockets on one side not all around
Things I don't like:
- Charge profiles only through app - you can alter the timeout mode on the unit why not charge rate?
- Damn stupid 240v socket orientation
- Silent mode isn't, the fan still runs
- Aggressive 100% charging - bursting into life with full charge every 15 minutes is annoying, either trickle charge or let the charge fall back a bit more.
- App tries to get you to create an account - but you can at least use the app without one if you use the oddly name "Offline Mode"
Overall I like it, it's a useful unit to have around like a pocket knife as it can be used as a big USB bank, a decent sized inverter and a handy UPS in a storm. I can see me slinging it in the van for a day I want to "work from van" and want something to support the laptop etc without having to run the engine.
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