EB3A "Overload" When Used as Uninterruptible Power Supply

[CChrisS]

That's too bad. I was disappointed in it, so much so I bought an Ecoflow Delta2 Max for my office UPS and not another Bluetti.

I've actually been looking at the Ecoflow River on amazon but Bluetti is sending me a new unit, so that'll have to wait.

 

[CChrisS]

The new little Bluetti, the AC2A, does not exhibit these issues in UPS mode and is pretty solid. They have learned.

Yeah, I'm hoping that's what they send me to replace my wonky EB3A.

 

[CChrisS]

Bluetti sent me a new EB3A to replace the wonky reconditioned one I got from Newegg and again, issues. It only charges to 84%. I contacted Bluetti and they want me to "perform SOC learning.":

First discharge the machine to 0, then fully charge it to 100. During discharging, it can carry equipment with a power of about 50-100w. Do not carry any equipment during charging. Doing SOC learning several more times may improve this problem.

I asked them why, if this is a requirement for a new EB3A, they don't indicate this stuff up front before people buy one.

 

[Kremer]

If it’s sat for a bit it may be out of pack balance. I’d just plug it in and leave it overnight until it stops taking power. Then discharge at low load, like 50-100W running a fan until it shuts off, plug back in overnight.

 

[Vigo]

The theory behind it makes sense, but it sucks that they didnt build in some kind of functionality that would prevent people having to either A. understand the issue on their own, or B. contact customer support for a procedure that's not mentioned in any of the documentation.

To me it seems like almost all of these balance issues could be addressed by just having a balance function that wasn't in the low single milliamps as most seem to be. These batteries can take a pretty high C-rate of charge, so it seems like most pack balancing could be accomplished pretty swiftly without requiring long time periods at top or bottom of SOC, if they just built in hardware that could handle higher balance current. Maybe that's oversimplistic..

 

[CChrisS]

If it’s sat for a bit it may be out of pack balance. I’d just plug it in and leave it overnight until it stops taking power. Then discharge at low load, like 50-100W running a fan until it shuts off, plug back in overnight.

I'm camping full time so plugging it in overnight isn't an option but I'll try that the next time I have access to AC overnight, thanks.

 

[CChrisS]

The theory behind it makes sense, but it sucks that they didnt build in some kind of functionality that would prevent people having to either A. understand the issue on their own, or B. contact customer support for a procedure that's not mentioned in any of the documentation.

To me it seems like almost all of these balance issues could be addressed by just having a balance function that wasn't in the low single milliamps as most seem to be. These batteries can take a pretty high C-rate of charge, so it seems like most pack balancing could be accomplished pretty swiftly without requiring long time periods at top or bottom of SOC, if they just built in hardware that could handle higher balance current. Maybe that's oversimplistic..

This has been an issue for both of the EB3A I have had recently. Is this common with other similar units not made by Bluetti? It seems very odd to me that a consumer would have to "train" the thing.