BLUETTI Apex 200 review: expandable power for RVs, camping and home power
BLUETTI Apex 200 Review: Expandable Power for RVs and Camping
For RVers looking for a portable power station the options are getting ever more interesting. Consider the new BLUETTI Apex 200 Expandable Power Station, or solar generator. This is small enough to be relatively convenient to carry but big enough to actually run your RV.
While this is not a substitute for something like the system we had installed by ABC Upfitters in our Rockwood Mini Lite, it may be plenty for some RVers. In fact many RVers only use their RVs for a few weeks out of the year. For that kind of use case, this is worth looking into.
That’s especially true if you live where there may be a chance of power outages. More and more Americans seem to have their eye on their local power company with some degree of skepticism. While we used to consider the power coming into our homes to be remarkably reliable, experience has shown that that’s not as much the case as it once was.
What is the Bluetti Apex 200
The BLUETTI Apex 200 Expandable Power Station is a portable power station (some say solar generator but I don’t like this term) that uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery cells that has 2.56kWh of storage and is expandable with the company’s compatible expansion units.
This type of battery chemistry is incredibly safe which is why it’s popular with RVers and is different than what’s typically put in personal electronics and vehicles.
What can you power with the Bluetti Apex 200?
On the front of the Bluetti Apex 200 are three household 120vac power outlets, two USB C and two USB A power outlets, a power port (lots of us still think of that as a cigarette lighter adapter), a high-capacity DC output and a display plus several buttons and switches.
But the big news is that there’s also a standard TT-30R outlet (typical 30 amp 120 volt AC) RV connector. And that’s where this is very different.
There are also connectors on both sides of the Bluetti - on one side is a receptacle to plug this into a 120vac household outlet to recharge it but there is also a 50amp AC input/output port to which you can attach a DC-DC connector to charge this with your vehicle, for example. Then there’s a battery expansion port on the other side which will enable you to attach compatible BLUETTI B300K or B500K expansion batteries to increase available energy.
The Apex 200 also offers 3,200 watts of continuous AC output when operating as a standalone unit. Under supported conditions, output can increase to as much as 3,600 watts with compatible expansion batteries or specified charging configurations. That means that, yes, you could run your RV’s air conditioner for a few hours and more if you have one of the newer AC units.
The basic system starts with 2.56kWh of storage, but owners can add compatible BLUETTI B300K or B500K expansion batteries to increase available energy.
Another feature of this power station, which you’d configure through the app, is to operate as an uninterruptible power supply. Basically you plug this gadget into the wall and, if the power goes out, it can keep the outlets on the BLUETTI working with ≤15-millisecond UPS switching capability.
So if you go away and don’t bring this you can use it to back-up things like your home fridge, home security systems or other things that are critical infrastructure.
How do you recharge the Bluetti Apex 200?
Like all portable power stations you can replenish the battery in this device by solar or just plugging it into a standard wall outlet. Bluetti also sells a gadget that you can install in your vehicle and take full advantage of the alternator to recharge this device.
I lent the Bluetti to a friend who was staying in our driveway who completely discharged the device to zero. One of the advantages of lithium batteries is that they can shrug this off without any issue.
From there using 400 watts of solar it took a couple of November days to fully recharge the Bluetti which isn’t bad at all. I could have also recharged it much more quickly if I had plugged it into a wall outlet but where’s the fun of that? I wanted that sweet sweet free power from the sun.
BLUETTI says the Apex 200 can reach 80% state of charge in approximately 50 minutes and a full charge in about 1.7 hours under specified charging conditions.
While the whole point of this is to be able to use power when there isn’t grid power, this does mean that you can replenish the Bluetti with a small generator in that period of time leaving you the rest of the day to experience silent power.
And with 2.56kW of lithium battery power, I was surprised that my buddy was able to draw the device down in one night. Even with a 12vdc fridge I could easily see this lasting a couple of days for most people - longer if you’re very thrifty with your power usage.
Consider this portable power station has about the equivalent of two standard lithium RV batteries which typically have about 100 amp hours of reserves.
LiFePO4 Battery Technology
The Apex 200 uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery cells.
This battery chemistry has become increasingly popular in the RV industry because of its long service life and favorable operating characteristics.
BLUETTI also incorporates a battery management system designed to monitor operating conditions, manage heat, and protect important components during charging and operation.
The company states at least 6,000 full charge/discharge cycles for the battery which means if you fully depleted and recharged the battery every single day it would take you over 16 years to hit that number. But few people will ever completely charge and discharge a power station very often which means that number will be greater.
There’s an app for that
More of these portable power stations are able to be connected to your smart phone or tablet or even a WiFi connection. Usually accomplishing a connection, even for a geek like myself, can be frustrating and annoying. This was none of that.
I downloaded the app to my iPhone, opened it, registered for an account and it immediately located the portable power station out in the yard which I had earlier connected to solar panels. It also connected to my home’s WiFi (I did have to know the password of course) and now it’s set.
This was, by far, the easiest connection process I have ever experienced with a gadget like this.
By connecting the device I am now able to monitor charging and consumption, change how the device reacts to incoming power, measure power consumption and even know my carbon emissions settings based on location and connection to shore power.
The app is fast and very intuitive and quite useful. I like how it shows time to full and time to empty.
How would I use this?
If I were configuring a new RV today what I would do is put at least 200 amp hours of battery aboard. This would give plenty of power for the fridge and commonly-used features.
Then I’d add this Bluetti and, what I might do is wire it into the trailer so that the 30 amp plug could be switched to receive outside shore power or plug into the BLUETTI. I’d also make sure to provide connections to whatever roof-top solar was on the RV. But I could also configure the BLUETTI to charge in my tow vehicle.
This would give me plenty of power for the RV but then I also would be able to use it to back-up systems at home when I’m there.
Instead of doing complicated assembling of individual components, they’re all in the BLUETTI. This is comparable the olden days when people would build their own in-home HiFi system (remember that?) and, suddenly, the all-in-one systems were generally good enough. That’s this - one package with all the pieces designed to work together.
If I were RVing full-time I would likely still have a system professionally installed built of high-quality individual and specialized components which is the system we have now from ABC Upfitters.
But if I were like a lot of people who only use an RV occasionally having this BLUETTI as your primary power source just makes an incredible amount of sense.
The quality of the software and the build quality of this thing defy the price which, during the introduction, is $1099 for the base unit. I found the operation to be flawless and was very pleased with the gadget and was thrilled when BLUETTI asked if I wanted to test a preproduction sample. Heck yeah!
So if you’re configuring your RV or have been considering installing a power system, perhaps this might be a smart way to go about it. Another interesting consideration is that, if you have something like this and trade RVs, you still have this device. Obviously any solar panels you have would likely stay with the previous RV but new solar panels are also getting better so that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
