2021 T@B 400's Dometic heat pump with Bluetti Portable Power Station

Saxon

Does anyone have experience running the T@B 400's Dometic heat pump using a portable power station Bluetti or Jackery or other when boondocking.

Talking to the service manager at my local T@B dealership re putting a Victron multiplus system in my 2021 T@B 400 so I can use my AC while Boondocking he suggested using a powerstation with a 30A plug that the Trailer can be plugged into as the simplistic and cheeper way. the down side is that it would run the AC for only about 2 hrs max at a time between charging.

But the upside is it would also be used at home for a backup to run the fridges during a power outage . True a propane generator would go the Job but national parks restrict there use.

Grumpy_G

Basically this will work with a sufficiently large portable power station. Runtime is going to be limited either way it just depends on the capacity of the batteries. You probably already have an adapter to connect to a regular household outlet so the power station does not need to have the RV plug (although some do).

One thing to consider is that using 120V will also charge the trailer battery and power all the 12V devices unless you turn off the converter.

pthomas745

I've never been completely clear about how this is supposed to work as far as battery capacity goes. I would really appreciate is someone explaining like I'm 5 how much power is wasted between the inverter in the power station supplying power to an inverter in the trailer which then provides 110 volt power for the AC?

Or, am I totally incorrect about how this works?

Grumpy_G

There is only one inverter in the discussed setup, in the power station. It supplies 120V to the trailer so from the trailer perspective it's just like being plugged into a regular outlet. If the trailer already has an inverter that can power the heat pump then adding batteries would be a cleaner solution. The advice the OP got is sound as it is cheaper to buy a power station than to retrofit an inverter and additional batteries. Plus the power station can be used for other purposes.

Inverter efficiency is typically 85-95%. If the setup were power station battery → inverter → cable to trailer → converter → trailer battery → inverter → heat pump then it would indeed be very inefficient, about 25% energy wasted.

rydfree

I have a Bluetti AC200L that I used to run the small window unit in my previous camper. I just plugged the camper into the Bluetti RV receptacle since the camper did not have an inverter of its own. It worked fine and I could get about 2.5 hrs from it if it wasn't connected to solar at the time. I have been kicking around using it in the 320 when not on shore power by just running a dedicated power cord to the Heat pump and bypassing the Tabs converter/inverter setup.

Venat

I am looking to do the same for my 2023. Looking at the bluetti elite 300 or delta 3 both will fit in my front compartment beside the propane. Looking to run the 30amp cable through the hole inside the compartment and plug in when I arrive at a station. The bluetti is not a true 30 amp but it’s enough for the dometic and microwave