Bluetti AC300+B300 Powering My House Backfeed With Generator Augmentation

My first experiences with the Bluetti AC300+B300. In this video I try powering my house via my generator inlet. I try the AC300 by itself, then with a generator feeding it in PV Priority mode. I'm not sure where in my home this will ultimately exist so I am going to try a few things.
Learn more here: tinyurl.com/yngxt9kw
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0:00 - Intro
3:50 - Switching my house to the AC300
5:00 - Load and function testing whole-house-backup
5:41 - Extended overload of the AC300
7:30 - Load and function testing whole-house-backup
11:40 - Adding inverter generator as battery extender
18:00 - Conclusion

[@defjamsgreen]

Seems to be working great and that’s excellent on this video that a practical backup generator and solar plan could really sustain you with plenty of power . 😉🤙

[@DougKremer]

Absolutely!

[@heart4Pahoa]

Well done real world use case setup. I setup something similar where we have all the 120 on one leg and that leg is fed by L5-30 connection. Our home is 100% electric so will need to redo the port for 240 @ 50A down the road. Thanks for the video.

[@DougKremer]

So you have an L5-30 inlet where I have my L14-30?

[@heart4Pahoa]

@@DougKremer correct

[@brucesimpson8579]

That's the same type of setup that I am striving for once I get the adapter cable for my Bluetti to be able to connect to my generator cable. And, since those small inverter generators (I have a Yamaha EF200iSv2) are relatively quiet, they are a great option for recharging the Bluetti B300 batteries if you don't have sufficient solar throughout the day.

[@markwhite6782]

Amazon had the TT-30 to L-14-30 adapter cable for less then $20. My TT-30 had a hot, neutral and ground slot so I could not figure out how this could be converted into (2) hot 120's, a ground and a neutral but I verified it with my volt meter. I'm very new at this stuff but learning. I just finished mounting my transfer station and strangely enough we lost power on day 1 for an hour and a half. I wheeled my AC300 +(2) BC300 batteries that are mounted and strapped on a dolly right to the transfer station, plugged it in, switched all the switches from grid to generator and it worked perfectly supplying electricity to selected breakers. I didn't monitor how much my refrigerator or freezer cycled but we had both of those, WiFi, TV and lights for that brief period of time using only 2% of my batteries. I'm really glad I bought this thing now. I'm sure other generators are good also but my selection came down to Bluetti or EcoFlow.

[@DougKremer]

It really worked better than I was expecting. I did not try this in practice before filming, what you see here is try #1. Which explains me turning on the eco throttle, then having to go right back and disable it, lol. I'm getting another battery or two right now!

[@jonnyg4917]

I use this bluettie to run a commercial food truck with 1800 watts of solar on the roof. I have it as a hybrid system. Helps me save so much money on gasoline. I wosh to get another batter but they so pricey.

[@DougKremer]

Agree, i need more batteries. You have just the one battery also? Bluetti sells directly on Ebay. I've seen as low as $1150 with coupon for a certified reburb B300.

[@RadioRich100]

@@DougKremer Your blowing so much money on those things you will never recover it. Also those batteries dont last forever and the electronics are glitchy and fail alot. A food cart usually has a propane tank, your better off running a propane generator.

[@DougKremer]

@@RadioRich100 The warranty on these batteries is longer than the warranty on my Honda generators. I’m not dissing either, I have both. The Bluetti hooked to solar is at least able to start to pay for itself, a generator cannot.

[@andreblanchard8315]

You did not include the water heater in the 240 volt stuff so i am guessing it is a heat pump type? I have a 200MAX and to get it to charge off my non inverter generator i sometimes have to connect some other load to the generator. I think it stabilizes the voltage / frequency enough to make the charging brick happy.

[@DougKremer]

My water heater and furnace are both 120V natural gas units. Most heat pump water heaters are still 240V I think, the one I installed in my previous home was, I loved that thing. I agree on your extra load to stabilize the output thought.

[@mrchrisknight315]

How do you find the stand by consumption of the ac300 is? I have read that it's 60 watt for AC and 30 watts for DC. I own the ac200 max with 2 b230 batteries, but thinking I want a machine to be able to produce 240 volt. The price is amazing right now for the ac300 split phase combo. Wich is what i wanted to buy originally, but prices were way too expensive for me a year ago. Now though Ecoflow is about to come out with the delta pro ultra which seems even better, but would have to wait another year or two for the price to come down.

[@DougKremer]

I think the standby is closer to half that based on what i've seen running it for the last month now. I suggest if you plan to put out solar and run it 24x7 that you have 1000W of panels minimum. it will power on and off with sun if you leave it connected to panels with the outputs off, just charging up for occasional use. You could make do with far less that way, just to slowly charge it.

[@mrchrisknight315]

@@DougKremer thanks for the reply. Right now I've got 1.3 kw of panels, but was thinking of doubling it, and eventually I would add the 200 watts per b300 battery.

[@krisk1547]

This long as long you don't run the heavy stuff at same time should be fine

[@DougKremer]

Agree. It will run any single thing, or combination of a couple things carefully.

[@-djg-3955]

Trying to put a “Hitching post inside my house in the room above my fuse box. I live in NY and don’t know if there are legalities involved with doing so. My electrician wants to run it straight to the fuse box without a switch. Any advice?

[@DougKremer]

I’m considering cutting the line from this near my panel and putting another inlet and a receptacle, so I can connect the AC300 indoors. You don’t necessarily need a switch, but you definitely need an interlock on your main breaker for one of these.

[@trygvetveit4747]

Nice! Could you try using eco mode one more time And let the ecoflow do the limiting? i guess it will "soft start" ? And if you limit the input Amp on the batteryinverter inside the Hondas limits, it may work As on my Victron i had to do somthing similar to not "Buck the Diesel gen set ;) Regards from Norway

[@DougKremer]

I had it set at 12amp limit I think. Yes if set lower it may have been fine with the step load response of the Honda on eco.

[@cic-jakevanddalgeemyers.2739]

Wow..

[@DougKremer]

It is an impressive machine.

[@daveyd0071]

i wish we could have listened to the generator charge the battery for a few minutes - the ac300 has a habit of pulsing most generators to pull power from them, this in turn will cause premature wear on the generator itself because the pulsing at 15A for example is too abrupt on and off. Did you notice any pulsing, or constant ramping up or down when charging?

[@DougKremer]

I let the whole thing run for about two hours after cutting off the recording, while downloading and editing the video. The honda seemed to run at constant load, I could hear it humming away with no audible change in tone. I think I had the AC300 set at 12A grid limit, and it was trying to charge the battery the whole time, so it should have had constant draw. Once at 100% or PV-priority minimum it probably would have started taking variably from the generator.

[@daveyd0071]

@@DougKremer interesting because the Honda EU3000IS will pulse like crazy between 10-15A grid charging. It was so bad that I'm afraid it isn't a good match for the AC300. What preselect setting is your setup on? pv priority/ grid priority or mixed?

[@DougKremer]

I think I had it on PVpriority, and then turned the minimum percent up so it would draw from generator. I think it is all in the video. I did have to turn off the eco throttle on the engine to get it to start drawing, and I left it that way.

[@alzamboti8639]

Instead of a gas generator can I use my electric car feeding 1500 watts into AC300 to charge while simultaneously discharge 110v to home??

[@DougKremer]

@@alzamboti8639 Possible if the 120V inverter output of your car is pure sign and clean enough that the Bluetti will pull from it. They are very picky about clean input power.

[@NomadUnchained]

Hi Kremer , when i plug in my bluetti to my Generac 7127 iQ3500 3,500-Watt it only seems to charge it at around 700W what am i doing wrong? i contacted bluetti and they said the inverter generater was acceptable and its not throwing any flags but isn't charging anywhere near what i expected it to with the generator being 3500 startup watts 3000 running watts? any insight would be super appreciated Thank you - Nomad

[@DougKremer]

An AC300? If so what is the input amp limit set to? If another model, check what charge mode it is in via the app, silent, standard, turbo.

[@NomadUnchained]

Yes Ac300 , amp set at 15, so i asked for the code i just received that last night in hoped that maybe bumping that up a little more might help. its on silent mode and it was on PV priortiy when i turned that off it didn't charge at all with the Gas generator , thanks a lot for taking the time to answer this its unfortunate bluetti has such vague info. but watching your video has helped me at least get something to charge. @@DougKremer

[@DougKremer]

If you notice me monkeying with the settings I was also in PV priority, and it does some odd things depending on current charge level and where you set the slider %. Depending on where it is set in relation it will charge at max, or just take power to match output, or take nothing. To force charge from the power plug either set it to standard UPS or set the slider to 100% in PV priority. Hopefully those work.

[@DougKremer]

Watch this video from my fried Jeff on how EXACTLY all the UPS modes and settings work: kzbin.info/www/bejne/onaxeKqcppKAf6M

[@williammeszaros3382]

What setting do you use on the AC 300 charge from the Honda?

[@DougKremer]

I had it set at the default 12A grid input limit and had to turn off eco throttle on the Honda. Once charging I could have turned the eco throttle back on. I believe my EU2000 supports up to 13.3A to get its 1600W continuous rating.

[@uhjyuff2095]

The setting was "PV priority UPS" mode.

[@DougKremer]

@@uhjyuff2095 Yes, it was in PV priority, and I turned up the minimum charge percentage to cause it to try to charge. I could have also changed to standard ups mode.

[@uhjyuff2095]

@@DougKremer in "standard UPS" mode I think the inverter turns off and the unit goes in grid bypass mode. The entire house load is powered by your generator and the inverter changes to a converter to charge the battery to your max charge set point.

[@uhjyuff2095]

@@DougKremer You could be right. I think Bluetti was having complaints about the bidirectional inverter not working as advertised so the new models have probably gone away with that. Thanks for the replies.

[@walterhughes5765]

Never moved from 86%. Concerning with that much charging watts you should see it gaining on meter

[@DougKremer]

3kWh is a lot of battery, and it was supplying power at the same time.

[@joeyshaw4657]

where did you get your cord to plug bluetti 30amp to house ?

[@DougKremer]

I made it, but there are commercial versions and adapters available.

[@joeyshaw4657]

Thank you. If i understand this, to get 6,000 watts to power well pump, refrigerators, etc, I would need another inverter and B300 battery. Is this correct. In other words if i have 2 B300's but not another AC300, i just double the amount of power storage?@@DougKremer

[@DougKremer]

@@joeyshaw4657 More B300’s is more storage. If you need 6000W then maybe look at an AC500. They can do 5000W continuously and surge to well over that. If you need 240V you can get two AC300’s or AC500’s and bond them together with a special cable kit.

[@joeyshaw4657]

Yes I have a 2hp well pump so I believe I would need the 240V option. I just bought the AC300 and B300 as they are running a good sale. Thanks@@DougKremer

[@joeyshaw4657]

Hello again. Getting ready to purchase a power inlet box for Bluetti AC 300. I am looking at the Reliance PB30 model. What brand are you using?

[@markwhite6782]

I have the AC300 + (2) BC300 + (2) 420 PV panels. I am doing something similar and have realized I may have made a mistake. I don't have enough electrical knowledge to know what is best for me, 1) an interlock or 2) a transfer station. I bought a Reliance 306 CKR 6 position transfer station so I have (2) 20 amp breakers and (4) 15 amp breakers to switch over in the event of power loss. Obviously an AC300 cannot power an entire house off 30 amps and with 6Kw battery even if it did you would drain the battery down in less then 1 day. I cannot run any of my high amp circuits throwing only 30 amps, actually 25 according to the math. My system will stay inside, will plug directly into the transfer box via TT-30 to L-14-30A chord and I will dedicate the 6 breakers from the Reliance 306CRK transfer station to be wired to my 6 circuits of choice. Had I gone with an interlock it "seems" to me I could just turn off all the high amperage breakers and have 15 or 20 breakers on the bus bar to deliver power to when needed. The question I have is A) Does placing that double pole 30 amp breaker on your interlock system put any power on the opposite bus bar? I seems like only the breakers on the right side of the panel will have power. Also since you are only throwing 120V you can place 2 separate 120's to get 240V but still not have the amperage to power the 240V circuits if I understand correctly. I have come too far with the transfer station to go back now so I will live with this but just wondered why people chose interlock while others chose transfer station. Seems to me the interlock is best. Thank You!

[@andreblanchard8315]

I think it puts the same 120 volts on both bars. So any 240 volt loads would be seeing 0 volts. There may be some 120 volt control circuits in the appliance which could be powered so the breaker should be turned off. I would consider putting all 240 loads in a separate sub panel with a transfer switch to a larger generator, if they are needed.

[@markwhite6782]

Just yesterday I learned the design of the bus bar. I "assumed" there was a straight metal rod and any breakers on the right side fed only the right bus bar. I now know a double pole breaker feeds both sides of the bus bars. As I said in my first post, I don't have a lot of knowledge so excuse my ignorance. Thank you for your response.@@andreblanchard8315

[@DougKremer]

This is correct. My cord and adapter puts the same 120V on both phases/lines in the panel, which is why I turned off all 2 pole breakers. You should really turn everything off and then turn on only the single pole breakers needed, but I was home alone and knew most of the house was off, and also wanted to see worst case if I just threw all the circuits at it. I did not practice this, what you see is my first attempt.

[@DougKremer]

The bussbars in panels do go down the left and right, but they have connections at every other space, of BOTH sides. so if you go top to bottom down the left side you would have A-B-A-B etc... and down the right side it would be B-A-B-A... The net effect is the two pole 30A breaker I have in the top right is connected to both bussbars.

[@markwhite6782]

Thank You for your advice. I finished my project and on that same day we actually had our first power outage in months. It was only for an hour and a half but the system worked great running the freezer, refrigerator and other circuits.@@DougKremer

[@jordanbey870]

Yeah ok for how long???

[@DougKremer]

At that 800W base load, and just the one B300 battery... about 3-3.5 hours just on battery without solar or generator helping.

[@Example7530]

Got triggered by the eating of dry toast .. only done that when I was ill and my grandparents told me dry toast would make me feel better... (It didn't)

[@DougKremer]

Haha! I would have buttered if that did not require both hands. Handheld camera problems, lol.

[@turnprosignalsystems5614]

Power draining fast though

[@DougKremer]

It would last a couple hours on battery without me abusing it. Can always have more batteries, or hook up generator as I did.

[@benoitbenoisbenoistchaine]

Problem live in area of 30 degrees F

[@DougKremer]

I'm working to let it be indoors if needed for this purpose in the winter.

[@vegasromaniac]

Cool toy, but way too complicated . I have the bluetti ac180, I just run a cord thru the house when the power goes out ....

[@DougKremer]

I have an AC180 also. Awesome unit. Perfect balance of weight and power for toting around.

[@jayb.8460]

Really...? That's to complicated for you😂 you sound like a Karen!

[@RadioRich100]

@@jayb.8460 It is too complicated when you can run a generator and not have errors and lockups and glitches and blinking power and other technical glitches when u can simply run a good generator and be done with it. No haveing to shut it down and restart it, cause it locks up. Shuts itself off, have to reset it. You need emergency power, not a computer.

[@user-hg8ft5tr7u]

so it only supplies 120 volts in phase to each leg....nothing 240 will work. keep this in mind if your well pump or hvac requires 240 volts to run. these things in my opinion are gimmicks. buy a real generator and have an actual transfer switch or lockout installed. not to mention the very limited amount of time these things will actually supply power.

[@DougKremer]

Two can be connected together for split phase. It works as well as my real generator, which is 120V only and small. These battery things are available as 120/240 units also similar to larger gas generators.

[@johnnyhotrod]

There is a place for these and it’s not to replace a generator.Just one of these units can supply power for my freezer chest and my mini fridge for 30 hours,that’s impressive.240 split phase can be done with two units. Think of extended outages or to use at night so the generator doesn’t have to run 24/7.The possibility of fuel not being available during an extended outage is very real also.There is a place for these and I feel they supplement my generators well.

[@DougKremer]

@@johnnyhotrod I couldn’t agree more.

[@australianmade2659]

You can buy 240 in Australia

[@John34.]

Haha, gimmicks? Buddy, I supplied power to my full-sized samsung smart fridge and my 7cubic foot deep freezer for around 27hrs on a single charge before I was down to 3 percent battery. This was with a 200max and B230 battery. Solar is very good and also quiet. You don't have a loud generator running around the clock. Also, you are telling everyone in the neighborhood you have a generator. May sound crazy but times are getting worse, and people are getting screwed by inflation. Wars could erupt, martial law, you know, a SHTF situation. So yeah, they serve a purpose. Also I could also run that generator for weeks or months if needed. I have solar panels. I just haven't hooked them up yet.

[@MarioMartinez-is1cg]

EcoFlow>bluetti

[@DougKremer]

They make good products also.

[@MarioMartinez-is1cg]

@@DougKremer they do 👍

[@RadioRich100]

Just use a generator

[@DougKremer]

I did!

[@RadioRich100]

This is like comparing a gas car to an electric car. Theres no comparison. And using a generator to charge it??? Lol

[@DougKremer]

I was simulating a power outage situation.

[@RadioRich100]

@@DougKremer Well what you didnt simulate is one that lasts past your batteries expiring which isnt long. A gas generator can go indefinitely.

[@DougKremer]

@@RadioRich100 Sure, as long as I have infinite gas.