Integrate Bluetti/Powerbank

[DDean]

Hi All - wondering if anyone has done this already

I’d like to have an out-of-the-way solution to connect my boat to my Bluetti via shore power. I’d like the Bluetti to be secured in the cave and have it connect to the boat via shore power without having cables all over the cockpit etc. 2025 R29 NW.

There’s a wooden back to the cave that I can probably bring a shore power cable into the storage under the aft steering, and then I can install a port on the storage door to bring the cable out and over to the shore power plug. Any other ideas?

Has anyone installed a second shore power plug in the cave? Where would the best place to input that to?

There are two goals: 1) charge house batteries from the Bluetti as needed, but 2) also run AC items as if on shore power.

I’m going to install a big solar panel to keep house topped up but would be good to know what others have done.

Thanks - these new power banks have the potential to be very helpful.

 

[NorthernFocus]

How many watts does the power bank put out?

 

[DDean]

2600W and it’s ~2100 WH. So it’ll recharge an R29 NW from about 50% (the lower limit of usable power capacity) about once (2100WH/12V=~175AH) and it’ll have enough juice to run coffeemakers etc while being used as shore power.

The trick is to hook it up without anything being in the way!

 

[NorthernFocus]

I don't know anything about the circuitry on the 29. But 2600W is just over 20A. Really no need to feed it into the shore power connection. Depending on how often you plan to use it you could simply make a double ended chord and back feed your AC circuits through a receptacle. Or wire it directly to the input side of your battery charger, let it continuously keep the batteries charged, and rely on your inverter(assuming you have one) when you want to use AC appliances. Not the most efficient way to go but is simple.

I considered going that route(i.e. power bank) but once I took a good look it didn't cost much more to convert my house bank to LFP. We don't use AC power while afloat.

 

[DDean]

thank you Dan. I had wondered about backfeeding. I think that’s potentially risky because I’d want to put a guard in place to prevent backfeeding while connected to shore power or the with the inverter on. Seems complicated

I’m going to explore connecting direct to charger. I can see connecting upstream of the solar controller too - basically a switch that feeds solar or the Bluetti into the solar controller and let everything downstream work its way as if the power is coming from solar. Voltage and amperage should align with what the victron 100/30 sees normally. But that won’t help with AC.

 

[NorthernFocus]

thank you Dan. I had wondered about backfeeding. I think that’s potentially risky because I’d want to put a guard in place to prevent backfeeding while connected to shore power or the with the inverter on. Seems complicated

I’m going to explore connecting direct to charger. I can see connecting upstream of the solar controller too - basically a switch that feeds solar or the Bluetti into the solar controller and let everything downstream work its way as if the power is coming from solar. Voltage and amperage should align with what the victron 100/30 sees normally. But that won’t help with AC.

No matter where you connect it into your AC circuit it's going to energize the entire circuit unless you open breakers to isolate things. Also I'm pretty sure you'll have problems with phase conflicts if you have your onboard inverter and the power bank energized at the same time. Unless one or the other has electronics built in to synchronize it with another AC power source. For that reason if you do decide to use it to power the battery charger while using the on board AC inverter you'll likely have to open the circuit breaker to isolate the AC side of the battery charger. Though I suspect the inverter shuts itself off if it senses AC power downstream but you'll have to check your documentation.

Why isn't anything easy on boats ?