Solar Panel for Bluetti AC180

I own a portable battery to power a fridge for when we go camping and as the fridge uses 50w per hour i thought a 120w portable panel would be enough but it isnt. I left it in the sun today and all its done is top it up by 30%.

Yesterday it topped it up to 48% which isnt bad, but its not enough. So im wondering what options I have. The panels on my roof generate x4 the power so can i buy a propa solar panel and connect it to my battery using its MC4 connectors? Or if not what can i do, because I read that the foldable panels are unreliable.

What size bluetti do you have?

If it helps the last two days weather has been rubbish with only 10kWh a day from a 6kWh array.

I can’t say which panel, but I would consider some of the self adhesive flexible solar panels designed for boats etc. if you put them on the roof of the caravan with a small Victron multi inverter and one/more of their lithium batteries it can keep everything powered. The multi inverter can also deal with plugging in, so it can grid charge and run on grid but drop to battery when you unplug. (Some might even charge from a 12v hookup) and these are used a lot on canal boats 👍

Don’t forget with Bluetti/Anker/other batteries the solar input/voltages can be quite limited meaning their own panels are the only real choice.

I have a 1152Wh battery. Im hoping to get a standard glass panel and fasten it to the garden fence on a hinge. I can lift the bottom out so its on an angle pointing towards the sun with the bluetti behind it. The normal panels operate under 60v so id only need 1 _400w panel. I think.
I dont think the flexible panels are reliable long term.

The mrs doesnt know about the fence panel being replaced with a solar panel yet . . . .

I typed a more substantial reply, but lost it.

Sadly it’s likely you’ll need to generated 250Wh for 6 hours, which on a day like today means you probably need the best part of 750Wp-1kWp of panels.

I don’t think flexi panels are too bad, but yes they do vary from brand to brand on quality.

Forgot to add, you can get an mc4 to power bank adapter, but mind out as I said for both voltage and current.

kram the bluetti ac180 is supplied with the adapter so as long as the panel is under 60v and 500w i think im good to go. Emphasis on think.

I had a power bank and I seem to remember there was a max current and voltage and an MPPT range.

So if the power bank claimed it could do a 300W solar input it was essentially only with their panels. 30v and 10A for example.

what I’m trying (and failing) to say is that you may want to check the max power input on solar, the MPPT range and check the voltage and current. That way you can select whatever panel will get you closest to the max power of the power bank.

Good luck 👍