You might be a redneck if… the blue book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas it has in it.

Jeff Foxworthy

I happened to watch a YouTube video about this product, and it seemed like a good deal. I checked the price and found out it was on sale. So I ordered one. Of course, today it is even less money. I think I know why.

I should also mention that I do not have permission to use any Of these videos and pictures except from Off Grid Basement. Thanks again Jim. If you want your video or picture removed, just say so. I will try to contact the owners soon.

 

Here are the specs from the Manufacturer’s website, Some of it is true, but some not at all.

600W AC Pure Sine Wave Inverter (1,200W surge)
430W Max. Fast Dual Charging (Solar+AC) LiFePO4 Battery with 2,500+ Life Cycles to 80%; 6 Ways to Recharge (AC/Solar/Car/Generator/AC+Solar/AC+Adapter)
9 Outputs for Charging Multiple Devices at once Smart Control &
Monitor in BLUETTI App
200W Max. Solar Input Easy to Carry/ Fast Charging/ Safe & Reliable/ Cost-effective

BATTERY INFO 
Capacity:268.8Wh (12Ah) LiFePO₄ (Lithium Iron Phosphate)
Life Cycles:2,500+ Cycles to 80% Original Capacity
Shelf-life: Recharge to 80% Every 3-6 Months
Management System: MPPT Controller, BMS, etc.

OUTPUT
AC Outlets: 2 x 120V/5A Outlets
600W In Total Inverter Type: Pure Sine Wave Surge Power: 1,200W
USB-C Port: 1 x 100W Max.
USB-A Port: 2 x 5V/3A USB-A
DC Outlets:1 x 12V/10A (Car Outlet)
2 x 12V/10A DC 5521 (5.5mm Outlets)*All Regulated.
Wireless Charging Pad:1 x 15W Max.
AC Charging Cable (Standard Mode):268W Max. AC Charging Cable (Turbo Mode):350W Max.
Solar Input: 200W Max, VOC 12-28VDC/ 8.5A
Car Input:12/24V from Cigarette Lighter
Port Maximum Input: 430W, with AC and Solar Input Simultaneously

GENERAL
Pass-through Charging: Yes
Weight:10.14lbs/4.6kg
Dimensions (LxWxD) 10.04*7.09*7.20in/255*180*183mm
Operating Temperature:-4-104℉ (-20-40℃)
Storage Temperature:32-104°F (0-40°C)
Certifications: UL2743, UKCA, TELEC, PSE, NTC, RCM, KC, FCC ID, CE Warranty:24 Month

I have learned so much about this product, it doesn’t meet the specs advertised. Not just according to me, but so many YouTube Videos.

First the overheating problem. My Bluetti is up in my loft, it can get very warm up there during heat events. Some of the heat is definitely coming from EB3A. I noticed that it seemed to have a problem right at 28 degrees Celsius, the ambient air temperature.

DC input just shuts off and would be unavailable for a half hour or more. There are many videos that show the problems and some solutions.

I plan on buying a set of two variable speed fans from Amazon and attaching one on input and one on output and leaving them running. I will sacrifice one USB A port for this. The fans come with a y cable.

I won’t be using the masking tape method for attaching them. Although I am sure this did work for this Bluetti owner

I see one of the problems. The fan should be blowing hot air out and be sucking in cold air from the bottom port. Instead, it seems to be blowing air in and not exhausting heat out but trying to blow it downwards. Heat rises

 

A Smoking Hot Review.

Another problem is using an inverter generator. No matter the load, the AC randomly shuts off.  The  Eb3A can not do pass-through on AC higher than 100 watts, sometimes less. That might be attributed to heat build-up in the machine.

I have since bought a 24-volt 100 Ah lifepo4 battery (which actually says 25.6 on the battery) and hooked it directly to the input DC power. That works great until it reaches 100 percent then it surges the AC every time PV power goes down to 99% and then the PV input starts charging again, then it reboots my Starlink over and over making it not useable. This doesn’t happen if the battery inside the EB3A is below 100%. I am convinced this is not a fault of the battery but the Bluetti.

I have to continuously monitor the power and unplug PV power at 99%. That is a pain in the ass. My solution for that is to buy a small UPS and plug my Starlink into that and have the Ups plugged into the EB3A. That seems stupid and a little redundant to me. Whatever solves the problem.

I got the idea for the battery from a new acquaintance Jim who was kind enough to reply to a question, he has a great bunch of videos on his Off-Grid basement channel. You can find his website here. YouTube channel here.

The other thing I need to buy to support my Bluetti habit is a wireless temperature sensor. So I know at what speed my fans need to run. The cheap Bluetti doesn’t seem so cheap now.

 

In the teardown videos, the first one, you will see that pass-through charging on AC doesn’t work. Although it does work on mine on DC input hooked to my Redodo 24-volt battery. At least until I am at a 100 percent charge. If I am on the Xbox no problem since the load is larger than the 199-watt input then my Starlink is fine, and I can even charge my laptop at the same time, The only problem there is I can only play for three hours before my EB runs out of power. Then I shut off my AC input and wait an hour or more for the EB to charge up, then I can play again.

DC pass-through can handle 275 watts, maybe more.

Then comes my next purchase, I need a 20 amp 24v Lifepo4 charger for the REDODO. My new solar panel mounts are not done yet. I also needed a way to monitor the big battery, that is on the way, and it is not Victron, but it will do.

The EB3A is getting more and more expensive. I wonder how long before I just rip the lifep04 cells out of my Bluetti and connect it directly to my big battery with a xt90 or is that 60 I see in the teardown videos?  I wonder if that will cause smoke or solve problems. What about a warranty? Most companies don’t honour their warranties anyway. Ask me about Harley-Davidson while I was on a road trip to Alaska with my daughter on my new Dyna.

I haven’t mentioned the Bluetti app. If you value your privacy and data, register the app, upgrade your firmware, then uninstall it. When running the upgraded app, it requires an internet connection to access your Bluetti at home.  For me, that is a problem for a couple of reasons. One, my Internet Starlink is connected to the Bluetti.  My connected app doesn’t work without the internet. The other of course is data mining.

So why is this is? Good English huh?

It seems the app has to contact the mother ship to function. That is a warning sign for me, what data is being collected?

Of course, there are no companies, countries, or governments collecting private data from your devices without your permission, no not ever, that would be wrong.

Except, Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok. Microsoft and a million others. You are aware, right?  OMG! You didn’t know, google call scraping.

The only bad thing, when you uninstall the new version, is you go back to the power-hungry white-screened app, no dark mode. Why is that not available when you first download the app? To keep you using the connected app, of course. It’s digital eye candy.

Hmm is that like donuts for Homer? I am not insinuating that Bluetti is Evil. Maybe the other data mining companies might be. I just left a comment on your FB page. Kidding.

Interestingly, Bluetti is owned by PowerOak. It looks like they are based in China. With stores and locations all over the world.

Here are the teardown videos, in the second one you will see that 10 amps at 12v doesn’t work either. Not very regulated.

This is not a happy camper who bought his Bluetti the day of his camping trip.

Do I think The Bluetti was a good purchase? I might when I can solve the problems.

I gotta go My EB3A is not accepting input DC and there is a thunderstorm happening outside, I better check the weather radar for possible tornados. That might cool down my Bluetti and make it fly.

It seems the bad part of the storm is going to pass me by, I am on the edge of the trouble. Definitely, big hail falling on my sheet metal roof.

UPDATE: Next morning I fell asleep with my Bluetti on doing this post. It completely drained my big battery. I have a ten amp 24-volt  Lifepo4 charger. Now it won’t charge from what I read on the Internet, my BMS is asleep.

I would love to blame Bluetti for this, but it is my fault. It was a rookie mistake. I could have checked the voltage with my multimeter. The permanent device to monitor the battery is on its way from Amazon. I may add an LVD as well for fun.

It appears I may be able to fix this. I have a couple of 12v AGM batteries that were too weak for the solar bank but might be able to be hooked in series to fix this. I just need a tiny bit of power to restart the BMS, according to the internet lifep04 gurus out there on utube. If you, don’t like the spelling, try it in a web browser, and see where it takes you.

Interesting update: my 24-volt battery is still not functioning.  I am wide awake. It is almost midnight July 19. My EB3A was down to 1%. No way for the internet. Too late to run the gen. Unless, ya that might work.

I will use my 12v solar bank and inverter to charge the Bluetti. I did that and found something interesting. It charged super fast. When I looked at my Eb app it showed zero AC input but it was charging. I looked at my inverter it was putting out 440w.

I guess that Bluetti doesn’t really want you to know it is charging in turbo mode, even though that feature is toggled off.

From 1%t o 86% in less than 30 minutes.

I suspected that before but till now had no proof.

So why is this an issue? They say that using turbo mode can decrease the lifespan of your batteries, but the EB uses it in secret.

Now they can talk about how fast it charges in their advertisements. Doesn’t matter that consumers’ batteries are being damaged.

Of course, my inverter could be wrong, but what about that the app shows 0 input while it’s charging. Curiouser and curiouser.

I believe I paid for a machine that is designed badly with software that is designed cleverly in order to spy and data mine like so many devices coming from mainland China.

I don’t believe All Chinese companies are bad, but there does seem to be a lot that are.

Can I prove all of this? Probably not. I am not that good. Maybe you are.

Freaky video. I have never seen this version before.