diy solar

diy solar

EB3A back down to $209 on Amazon

I've got one. I wish it was capable of turning itself back on to however it was set last after the battery charges back up or solar resumes. It smelled like it was melting plastic the first time I used it, the smell has gone away and it's been functioning as expected. I use it to recharge my lawn tool batteries with their AC charger after I use them. It makes you realize how little stored power 268wh is. :p
 
I've been waiting/hoping for the price to drop back down. So when I saw this today, I ordered one. Hoping the UPS feature functions. Planning to use it at our off-grid cabin to keep the TV/XBox/DVD Player going, when I start/stop the generator. (My transfer switch is not fast enough and it causes those 3 items to all shut off).
 
I bought one during Black Friday 2022. The TL;DR is that I'm happy with it, for the $209 I paid.

I did some UPS testing of it last month, seemed to work fine though with annoying behaviors, e.g. noise from the aggressive recharge cycle, since apparently the electronics run on DC and they don't have a way or firmware to properly manage the battery.

So this week we had an ice storm in Central TX that knocked out power for several days in my area. Most of my battery/inverter toys are at another location, but I had the EB3A and a couple of random LiFePO4 batteries. With only 600W support on the EB3A, we couldn't do much, but I did manage to make coffee for my wife with a drip coffee brewer and the EB3A on power-lifting mode showing 500W on the display. The most annoying part was the slow 30-60W recharge rate from my 60Ah 12.8v battery, and that once the external battery hit 12.0v the EB3A started to deplete it's own battery. I also had an 8Ah 25.6v battery which got up to 188W charging; that was great for the short while it lasted. The EB3A also ran a heating blanket at night for a few hours, and charged our cell phones and computers and USB battery banks over and over.

I was bummed that it couldn't run our Ikea induction plate at <= 400W; the Ikea unit put it into overload no matter what I did.

Man, if Bluetti could clean up UPS mode behavior, I'd like this box way way more. As it stands, no regrets for the money.
 
Last edited:
I've been waiting/hoping for the price to drop back down. So when I saw this today, I ordered one. Hoping the UPS feature functions. Planning to use it at our off-grid cabin to keep the TV/XBox/DVD Player going, when I start/stop the generator. (My transfer switch is not fast enough and it causes those 3 items to all shut off).
Just realized I never followed up on this...

The UPS function has been working great for my use case... TV/DVD/XBox stay all stay on without a blip when switching between generator and solar inverter. There is a firmware update waiting for it. But, I'm hesitant to install it since it has been working fine as is...

My kids also use it in the truck ride to/from our cabin (about 3 hours) for keeping their phones charged. I like how light it is to be able to transport easily too
 
How's the noise level? Any background fan noise when running as ups/eps?
In my use case, it only operates on "UPS" for a second during the transfer. However, I have run it solely off of the battery a few times and haven't noticed the fan at all. I do hear the fan running occasionally during charging after it has been depleted. I don't think it is too loud and I have it in our living area right under the TV. Certainly no where near as loud as my MPP Solar AIO unit I have at home in the garage... That thing sounds like a jet engine :oops:
 
Seems like these are usually at the $209 price. I picked up two of them last November and have found all sorts of uses for them. I like to daisy link them together to double the battery capacity or use them around the off grid property when I don’t feel like running an extension cord. Great little units for this price.
 
Seems like these are usually at the $209 price. I picked up two of them last November and have found all sorts of uses for them. I like to daisy link them together to double the battery capacity or use them around the off grid property when I don’t feel like running an extension cord. Great little units for this price.
Thanks never thought about daisychaining for additional run time. I was thinking for my river 2 maybe a bigger 12V LFP battery connected via battery clamps to xt60 cable and use the solar input, but then limited to about 100W.
 
I do not understand the pricing of the AC60 at $600 vs. the EB3A at $209. Given the display looks the same, I assume the AC60 is a repackaged EB3A with expansion battery connections? I would rather have 2 or 3 EB3A instead, and daisy-chain as mentioned.
 
I do not understand the pricing of the AC60 at $600 vs. the EB3A at $209. Given the display looks the same, I assume the AC60 is a repackaged EB3A with expansion battery connections? I would rather have 2 or 3 EB3A instead, and daisy-chain as mentioned.
The AC60 seems to have a big price premium for it's IP65 capability, in addition to the support for two external b80 batteries. Also it's got a bigger battery, 403Wh versus 268Wh. And then 800Wh available on each of the b80 additional batteries. To me the question is why not step up to the ac180 for $800 for far more capacity and power output, versus the AC60 at $600?
 
The AC60 seems to have a big price premium for it's IP65 capability, in addition to the support for two external b80 batteries. Also it's got a bigger battery, 403Wh versus 268Wh. And then 800Wh available on each of the b80 additional batteries. To me the question is why not step up to the ac180 for $800 for far more capacity and power output, versus the AC60 at $600?
The pricing and decision making at Bluetti has had me scratching my head for a while now. I do think the new 180 might be their best model yet. $800 is their sale price and still a bit steep. $600-$700 would be more appropriate. But it looks like the price will go up to $1149 in a couple weeks which is bonkers.
 
Last edited:
The pricing and decision making at Bluetti has had me scratching my head for a while now. I do think the new 180 might be their best model yet. $800 is their sale price and still a bit steep. $600-$700 would be more appropriate. But it looks like the price will go up to $1149 in a couple weeks which is bonkers.
Yeah I think everything's on sale/discounted as approach prime days. The ac200 is at around $1100 and ac200max at $1400 so everything has to drop accordingly.

Oh I did find this from Bluetti support looks they've taken the inverter from the eb3a and beefed it up for proper cooling then put it in the ac60...that could explain why the ac60 is pretty large for it's 400Wh capacity. More room for more heatsinks, personally I much prefer quiet operation.

Screenshot_20230710_143042_Chrome.jpg
 
They sure have tiny batteries, but wow they're cheap! Perhaps I need to order me one of each...
 
The ecoflow river 2 is at $239 with another $50 in coupons bringing it down to $189.

Woah, in addition to the coupon, the EcoFlow is giving away a free 60W solar panel too and you can stack both promotions. I added both to my cart and it's showing $221 shipped (including tax).
 
Woah, in addition to the coupon, the EcoFlow is giving away a free 60W solar panel too and you can stack both promotions. I added both to my cart and it's showing $221 shipped (including tax).
Yeah that seems like a crazy deal I ordered a 2nd river 2 with panel thanks for heads up. Zero reviews for the 60W on Amazon but seems pretty efficient. Will use this second one as a ups for my router/cable modem and nas.
 
Eb3a is down to $184

Ac200max is $1240

Both Amazon prime deals. Pretty good
 
Back
Top