Bluetti recently released their Charger 1, which is a DC-DC charging system that connects directly to your vehicle battery to enable faster charging of your portable power station.
In the video above I installed one in my Landcruiser and put it through its paces to see what it was capable of.
Why Do You Need A DC Charger?
A couple of years ago when I started testing portable power stations I quickly discovered the limitations of recharging them when you’re out camping and away from an AC powerpoint.
Solar is a great charging option but still subject to the available sunshine and not always super convenient.
Without solar you are limited to using a generator or the cigarette lighter socket in your car.
Vehicle cigarette lighter sockets will only output around 100 watts of power with the result being that it can take many hours to recharge your portable power station.
To overcome this I did some research and ended up installing a 1000W AC inverter in my Landcruiser that took DC power from the vehicle alternator, converted it to AC and charged the portable power station through the AC charging port.
This worked well and enabled me to charge my power stations with up to 600W of power while driving between camps on my road trips . . . a 600% improvement over the cigarette lighter socket.
However the AC inverter is not the only option.
A DC-DC charger which steps up the voltage from the alternator from approximately 13VDC to around 50VDC without any AC conversion is another option that is potentially cheaper, easier, and more compact & efficient.
Recognising the problem (opportunity), Bluetti has released their Charger 1 which can deliver up to 560W of charging power to your portable power station while your engine is running which is a more than 5x increase over what your cigarette lighter socket can deliver.
Watch the video above to see how I install and test the Bluetti Charger 1 and if you have any feedback or questions, leave them in the comments below the video on YouTube.
Feature Summary
Auto On/Off
To prevent the Bluetti Charger 1 and the portable power station you have it connected to from draining your vehicles starter battery, the unit has auto On/Off.
When you start your engine the Charger 1 will start up but not actually start charging your portable power station until enough voltage is available from the alternator.
This enables your vehicles alternator to prioritise recharging your starter battery first.
When you switch off the engine, the Charger 1 automatically switches off also.
560W Maximum Output
The Bluetti Charger 1 can deliver up to 560W of power which is more than 5x the capacity of your cigarette lighter socket.
In my testing (see video above) I was able to charge my AC70 power station from 52% capacity to 95% capacity in approximately 45 minutes of driving. This would translate to approximately 2 hours to charge from 0% to 100%.
How much your power station actually draws from the Bluetti Charger 1 depends on the DC charging capacity of the power station and the available current from your vehicle.
As you’ll see in the video above, you can adjust the output voltage of the Charger 1 yourself using the Bluetti app on your smartphone. You can either manually dial in the voltage based on what you know your power station can handle or if it is a Bluetti power station you can select the model from a drop down list in the app and it will set the optimal voltage for you.
Charge all Bluetti & 95% of other brand power stations
If you have a Bluetti brand power station then using the Bluetti app on your smartphone you can choose the model number from a drop down list and the app, which is connected to the Bluetti Charger 1 via Bluetooth, will set the charge rate for you.
If you have another brand of power station then you may still be able to use the Bluetti Charger 1. You will need to know the DC charging range of your power station and manually set the charging voltage for the Charger 1 in the Bluetti app. Watch the video above to see how this works.
To connect the Bluetti Charger 1 to your power station you will need to have the cable for your power station that has the DC charging port connection on one end and the solar input ports on the other end. These connect to the cable coming out of the Charger 1.
2 Year Warranty
The Charger 1 comes with a 2 year factory warranty.
Where to Buy the Bluetti Charger 1
Click here to purchase directly from Bluetti Australia and use coupon code EXA5% at Checkout to get a 5% discount.
You can purchase the Bluetti Charger 1 by itself but the better value option is to get the complete kit as shown below which includes the cables and circuit breaker to install it in your vehicle. As a guide, the cable is long enough to run from the battery under the bonnet, through the firewall and to the rear of my 80 Series Landcruiser.
