I’ve been using the AC200P for a couple of weeks now, trying to find a portable solution to a couple different scenarios. I understand each of these could probably use it’s own solution, but if I can us one item to work with all of them might be worth it. I’m trying to power to my workstation during summer outages, and have a portable power option when I want to use my laptop in the far end of the backyard where there is no power. Also now need a power source for a newly diagnosed need for a CPAP through out the night, no reasonable power without running a long extension.
So far the AC 200P has been working great, the touch screen has been easy to use and understand. I’ve used gas generators of similar size for many years in outdoor settings and have been happy with the 2000W size. So far, this model has been able to power everything I’ve needed. I run it out in the mountains with my work laptop and mobile hotspot while charging my kid’s RC batteries all day and didn’t have any issues with the battery running low.
Earlier today I finally ran my home workstation to see what the AC load would be, in case of the summer power outages we usually see in So Cal. It was fluctuating between 90W and 145W.
I don’t have the panel kit yet, waiting for it to arrive, but I’m waiting to see how quickly it can charge while in use in the back yard. But so far, the ease of use and battery life have been great.
I just received the three panel kit a couple of weeks ago and have been using it around the house in the mountains, and so for me are pretty easy to use. At a weight of about 16 pounds and feel like they are sturdy enough to last a while. I do like that they’re wrapped in a cloth material or on the backside which keeps them from feeling like cheap plastic. I do have some reservation about the small clips are used to keep it together when it is folded, but I’ll see how long those last. In the mine has a similar but smaller kit from jackery and its panels had a small pouch on the back similar to these worthy wires could be stored, but I like that is have small USB plugs built-in to the backside of the panel. But when it comes to sheer size of the panels, this particular model has bigger panels which I definitely notice charged faster than my friends. I took them out to be mounted with the kids and noticed that even with a water heater/steamer, a Milwaukee tool battery charger, a portable speaker, a couple of phones on the wireless and wired charger ports the panels still managed to keep the battery percentage increasing.
Connecting the panels was pretty easy with the color-coded wires and the male to female connectors. Connecting multiple panels at the same time was also fairly simple using the same pattern on the notes of female connectors and just connecting from one panel to the next and then back to the electric generator. One important note about using more than one panel at the same time, you have to make sure to go into the settings menu and change the PV input setting from car to panel. This took a couple of days to figure out and I kept getting an overvoltage fault whenever connecting more than one panel at the same time, so make sure you make that change before putting them in. My initial impression of these panels is good, and I look forward to using them this summer when we have the inevitable blackouts in Southern California. Being able to use it to keep my kids portable AC, all my workstation up is definitely going to be a benefit.
My previous impression of Bluetti is that it charges quickly, but I recently found a product - of Growatt that can achieve a full charge in 2 hours, which is what I am most excited about, and can be used outdoors with a solar panel to solve the charging problem.
As for generators, my best purchase is ecoflow river mobile power station, the second one https://houseandbeyond.org/best-solar-generator/. It’s the largest of the River line and also the most expandable with the optional extra battery pack. This is the best performing small portable generator in its class - anywhere. With a 600W (1200W surge) pure sine wave inverter, a 720WH Liion battery (no, not LiFePO4) and a maximum 660W input charge rate, this is a small beast.