Old Crow
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On last month's trip to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, I had an odd thing happen with my Bluetti EB3A power station. I don't use it a lot as I have a house battery. But I take it along for convenience, typically to charge up a light or camera or phone.
A few days into our trip I found my flip-phone dead. I thought I had turned it off when we entered Canada (it doesn't work there) but I must not have done that. I didn't want to leave it sit on a dead battery so I got out the Bluetti.
I was very surprised to see it didn't light up the display when I pressed the DC or AC button. It wouldn't even turn on the little LED convenience light. It just appeared to be completely dead.
We were camped in a provincial park with modern bathrooms so I took both the phone and Bluetti to a bathroom and plugged them in. The phone started charging as expected. And, surprisingly, when I plugged in the EB3A, the display lit up and showed 100 per cent charge. All the buttons now worked. But when I unplugged it, it again refused to light the screen or react to any button. Plugged in to AC, it works fine and shows 100 per cent charge. Disconnected from AC, it's a brick.
When I got home I found a YouTube video where a guy fixes the problem by opening the case and unplugging and re-plugging one of the ribbon cables. It's not clear why that worked. However, in the comments, several people say it's not necessary to open the case. One claims it can be reset by turning it off and back on in the app. Another says drain down the battery. Another says to hold down one of the buttons, etc. (Here's the video: Fixing the Bluetti EB3A DC Short Issue )
In my case, I plugged in the unit to try some of the non-invasive procedures. As I played with the buttons, I did briefly see the word 'Short' display in red. I fired up the app and was looking for a Reset button when I was interrupted by a call from my brother. We spoke for an hour or so. When I returned to the EB3A I was surprised to see it was charging at 265 watts. That was more than an hour after it said it had said it was 100 per cent full. The display now said it was 99 per cent full. I let it finish (it took a while) and found it now worked. I've been testing it by charging various things for a few days and it seems to be fully back to normal.
I see one of the comments has the following info. I believe this may be what was behind my problem getting resolved:
"1. Please turn on the AC and DC buttons of the machine when plugging in the charging cable. After 30 minutes to 1 hour, the machine will drop from 100% to 99% due to self-consumption.
2. After the SOC drops to 99%, unplug the charging cable. It can make the machine work normally (that is, it can be turned on even after unplugging the charging cable)
3. And then re-plug the charging cable for charging. However, the SOC is not accurate at this time, and it may take a long time to recharge from 99% to 100%. You can continue to use it normally after it is fully charged."
I believe both the 100 per cent charged indication and the red 'Short' indication were false. It's not clear how my unit got into this. I had charged and tested the unit a day or so before departure and had not yet used it. I did have it stored on the floor of my van and remember hitting a pothole that jarred the back of the van pretty hard so perhaps that played a role.
A few days into our trip I found my flip-phone dead. I thought I had turned it off when we entered Canada (it doesn't work there) but I must not have done that. I didn't want to leave it sit on a dead battery so I got out the Bluetti.
I was very surprised to see it didn't light up the display when I pressed the DC or AC button. It wouldn't even turn on the little LED convenience light. It just appeared to be completely dead.
We were camped in a provincial park with modern bathrooms so I took both the phone and Bluetti to a bathroom and plugged them in. The phone started charging as expected. And, surprisingly, when I plugged in the EB3A, the display lit up and showed 100 per cent charge. All the buttons now worked. But when I unplugged it, it again refused to light the screen or react to any button. Plugged in to AC, it works fine and shows 100 per cent charge. Disconnected from AC, it's a brick.
When I got home I found a YouTube video where a guy fixes the problem by opening the case and unplugging and re-plugging one of the ribbon cables. It's not clear why that worked. However, in the comments, several people say it's not necessary to open the case. One claims it can be reset by turning it off and back on in the app. Another says drain down the battery. Another says to hold down one of the buttons, etc. (Here's the video: Fixing the Bluetti EB3A DC Short Issue )
In my case, I plugged in the unit to try some of the non-invasive procedures. As I played with the buttons, I did briefly see the word 'Short' display in red. I fired up the app and was looking for a Reset button when I was interrupted by a call from my brother. We spoke for an hour or so. When I returned to the EB3A I was surprised to see it was charging at 265 watts. That was more than an hour after it said it had said it was 100 per cent full. The display now said it was 99 per cent full. I let it finish (it took a while) and found it now worked. I've been testing it by charging various things for a few days and it seems to be fully back to normal.
I see one of the comments has the following info. I believe this may be what was behind my problem getting resolved:
"1. Please turn on the AC and DC buttons of the machine when plugging in the charging cable. After 30 minutes to 1 hour, the machine will drop from 100% to 99% due to self-consumption.
2. After the SOC drops to 99%, unplug the charging cable. It can make the machine work normally (that is, it can be turned on even after unplugging the charging cable)
3. And then re-plug the charging cable for charging. However, the SOC is not accurate at this time, and it may take a long time to recharge from 99% to 100%. You can continue to use it normally after it is fully charged."
I believe both the 100 per cent charged indication and the red 'Short' indication were false. It's not clear how my unit got into this. I had charged and tested the unit a day or so before departure and had not yet used it. I did have it stored on the floor of my van and remember hitting a pothole that jarred the back of the van pretty hard so perhaps that played a role.
