The rise of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, will put greater pressure on our energy network in the coming years. This effect is further enhanced by the switch to electric cars. If it were up to the European Union, you would only be allowed to purchase EVs from 2035 onwards. This will require a lot of changes in the way we transport and store energy. The question now is whether this will be possible in time to prevent serious disruptions to the electricity grid. With a home battery you are assured of power supply for small appliances if the electricity fails for a while.
This is ideal for charging laptops and smartphones, but you can even hang a (small) refrigerator on it. The batteries from brands such as Bluetti, EcoFlow and Fossibot are also ideal for camper travel and camping in general. These portable batteries can increasingly be charged with solar energy. This also applies to the Bluetti AC200L that we tested for this review: an immense portable battery with a capacity of 2,048 Wh.
Specifications
- Capacity: 2.048 Wh
- AC connections: 4x 230 V / 2400 W
- USB connections: 2x usb-c 100 W, 2x usb-a 15 W
- Output: 2.400 W
- Input: AC (2.400 W) of PV (1.200 W)
- Dimensions: 42 x 28 x 36,65 cm
- Weight: 28,3 kg
Weightlifting
Our colleagues at TechRadar previously tested the EcoFlow River 2 Max: a 512Wh battery with a peak power of 500 watts. With a weight of only 6 kilograms, the battery could still be called quite ‘portable’. However, that word does not apply to Bluetti’s AC200L, which weighs 28.3 kilograms. Of course you can discuss whether you can label that as a ‘problem’. Once in place and connected, the battery does not need to be moved often. Even if you take it with you on a trip, you probably won’t be constantly moving the battery back and forth. In any case, the handles make it relatively easy to move the battery.
Housing and connections
In any case, the heavy weight is not caused by the housing, which is made entirely of plastic, but still feels quite sturdy. After several weeks of use in the office, the battery only has a few minor scratches. If you take the battery with you on a trip, you will probably see scratches appear more quickly. We are a little less pleased with the covers over the 230V connections on the AC200L. They hang a bit ‘over the connections’ and we therefore wonder how long they will last. The other rubber flaps usually fit a little better. In our opinion, Bluetti can also renew the rotating closures of the charging ports. They are now attached with a piece of plastic. If they ever come loose, chances are you’ll never find them again and the input ports won’t be protected from dirt.
In terms of connections, the AC200L has four regular EU sockets, with a maximum power of 2,400 watts at a voltage of 230 volts. In addition, the portable battery has four USB connections, including two USB-C and two USB-A ports. The USB-C connections each provide an output of 100 watts, while the USB-A ports can charge your devices with up to 15 watts. How much power the USB ports actually supply depends on the mix of connected devices.
Capacity and performance
The 2,048Wh battery in the AC200L is huge. For comparison: the battery capacity of most e-bikes is only 500 to 700 Wh. So you can charge up to four e-bikes with it. Please note: part of the battery capacity is unusable. When charging devices, some energy is always lost, both on the side of the charger (Bluetti) and in the device itself. In practice, you have just under 2,000 Wh at your disposal. This effect is especially noticeable if you connect many devices with a low voltage, such as a smartphone. After all, smartphone batteries (4V) have a lower voltage than the portable battery (51.2V), and lowering this also costs electricity.
Smartphones and refrigerators
Charging smartphones and laptops goes very smoothly: on the Bluetti you will find two 100-watt USB-C connections. Please note: if you use both at the same time, the maximum charging capacity is limited to 150 watts. However, this is still fast enough to quickly charge a smartphone or laptop. In our tests, our laptops charged just as quickly via the USB-C connection as with the original HP chargers. Not surprising: both the charger and the Bluetti battery use the USB-PD charging protocol. Telephones often support this PD protocol, but up to only 18 or 20 Watts. This may cause your phone to charge slightly slower than with your phone’s original charger. On the other hand, the Bluetti can charge your smartphone up to 111 times. We assume a battery capacity of 5,000 mAh, or 18.5 Wh.
Connecting an 800 Watt refrigerator is a different story. After one hour, 800 Wh has already been used, meaning the battery is empty after just over two hours. The battery is therefore not a replacement for a connection to the power grid. You can use it to charge smaller household appliances, or to supply power to your devices in the camper when you are stationary for a while. The equipment for those applications is often more economical or you do not use it for hours at a time, so the capacity is sufficient in those cases. You can also recharge the battery with solar panels. Unfortunately, we did not receive it with our review sample of the AC200L, so we cannot say anything about its performance. Of course, that also depends on how sunny it is outside. It is certainly not unique: portable batteries from other brands, such as EcoFlow, can also be charged with solar panels.
Energy consumption on the screen
How much energy you are using at any time is shown on the display on the front of the battery. A distinction is made between AC (regular EU sockets) and DC (including USB connections) consumption. In principle you should be able to see exactly how many watts are used per class. In practice, the display of DC consumption in particular is not always correct. When connecting earphones or headphones, there was sometimes no consumption at all, even though they were indeed being charged. We suspect that this has to do with the limited power consumption of such accessories. For example, if we charged an external power bank that required a little more power, information often appeared on the screen. The information was also sufficiently accurate when charging a laptop via the USB connection.
The screen also shows a ‘time remaining’. This indicates how long the battery will last if you keep the same device connected. If you connect another device that uses more or less power, or an additional power consumer, you can throw the number in the trash. So that information is usually not very useful.
Smartphonebediening
Like almost all other portable batteries, you can operate the Bluetti AC200L via your smartphone. Communication with the Bluetti battery is via Bluetooth. To operate the battery you have to be somewhat nearby. The usefulness of this therefore partly escapes us. It may be useful if you place the battery somewhere in your camper where you cannot see the screen. The screen also automatically turns black if you do not operate the battery.
You can then still view the power consumption via your smartphone. You can also choose how you charge the battery via the apps on Android and iOS, with a choice of Standard, Silent and Turbo. If you put it in turbo mode, the battery charges the fastest, according to Bluetti. On the other hand, charging is less efficient and the battery emits a lot of heat, resulting in the built-in fan being switched on.
You can also activate an ‘Eco’ mode via the app. This reduces the maximum power output of the AC and DC connections. You can also choose a ‘DC input source’. By default this is set to solar panels, but you can also select other sources. The great thing about the app is that it works locally if you prefer. You do not have to create a Bluetti account. A disadvantage of this is that the device is not linked to your phone. This means you have to select the battery again and again. Hopefully that’s something Bluetti can fix via a future software update.
Final verdict
Nowadays, portable batteries come in all shapes and sizes. With the AC200L, Bluetti clearly focuses on campers or those who are often on the road. Unfortunately, the battery is not very portable due to its weight. It’s more of a case of: put it down and use it. For home use, where you would have to move the battery often, it is actually a bit too big. Moreover, there are hardly any power grid blackouts in Belgium. If that does happen, the battery capacity of the AC200L will probably not be sufficient. For example, a refrigerator with a power consumption of 800 watts can only be connected to it for a little more than two hours. If you simply want to charge your smartphone, then it’s a different story. This can be done more than 100 times on one battery charge.
Like competitors, Bluetti promises the battery will last 3,000 charge cycles before 80% of capacity remains. In short: you could use it for years without the capacity decreasing too much. However, given the relatively short battery test time, we were unable to verify this. Finally, we are quite pleased with the app that Bluetti provides for Android and iOS. The app is easy to use, and an account is not required. You won’t find many special functions on it, but everything you need is there.
The price is possibly the biggest advantage of the Bluetti. With a suggested retail price of 1,999 euros, the AC200L is slightly cheaper than a comparable EcoFlow, or a battery from other brands. Moreover, you almost never pay the full price for the battery. At the time of publication, the AC200L costs ‘only’ 1,799 euros via Bluetti.
