I get intimidated looking into something new like this. Thanks for this video. I liked it. I want to put solar on my car. I guess I got to keep learning because I still don't know what all to look for, but it was really cool to see you testing out the yeti unit. I'd like to get a real nice one, but don't want to be concerned on it getting stolen if I leave it in my car.
You could roll your own solution and have it pretty much permanently affixed to your car like this couple did: th-cam.com/video/ZEdSlte3EtM/w-d-xo.html
Why use lead acid? I found I could use my Zoombros 330W (which doesn't have pass through to the AC) as a slave battery to my Rockpals 300W (which does) for a total of 630 watts! Just plug the 300 into the AC on the front of the Zoombros and an extension cord or power strip into the Rockpals. When the Zoombros drains first and shuts off, my big 40" Sanyo (only uses 45 watts/hr!) doesn't even twitch the changeover is so fast. Same with my single board computer and it's 21.5" Dell monitor. They draw 51 watts and never notice the battery change! So I just ordered an OKPRO 540 because it's one of the few that has regulated output for the 12 volt 8 amp plug I need for my RV fridge. Now I'll have 870 watts!
wonderful video but one question do you think i can hook the ring terminal to my boat batteries and then plug my boat battery charger to charge my boat batteries and let my boat battery hold the goal zero up on battery life
@@MTBIKEXC Ok last question. I can order the 1250 for 1099 euro where as the 1000 lithium is 1499 and the 1400 lithium is 1999 euro. I plan to use the 1250 as backup power in my house, to run my fridges (AC but in future also 12 volt) and a coffeemachine in case of a powerouttage. Over here they happen seldomly but with the current healthcrisis but also with the rise of green energy that is likely to happen more often. Do you think the 1250 is a good deal and a good machine for above purposes? Maybe with an external battery to make it bigger. Or should I go with the Litium models in 2020?
@@HansKeesom You need to look at how many amp-hours the different units can store and how many amps the things you want to run consume. I made a video of several things: th-cam.com/video/JqlKijjQn-A/w-d-xo.html I have the 1250 and found it insufficient to run my cooler for more than 4 days so doubled the battery capacity which has worked out well for that tiny refridgerator. I can only imagine full-size fridges will use way more power. Most of my friends in Maine have real whole-house backup generators which are something like 16Kw, way way way more powerful than any lithium or other goal zero product.
Yes - You don't need solar if you have another way to charge it - could be a wall outlet, could be your car battery (although I don't know how to set that up with a battery isolator so it only charges while you're driving and you don't drain your car battery).
you need deep cycle batteries, they are much more better than regular lead/acid batteries and last longer... the best part is that they can discharge up to 60% instead of 40% of the common batteries
I watched a video where a young man added an extra inverter to a Yeti 150 and it charged in nothing flat when plugging into the cig. lighter. Is this something that is okay to do or will it ruin the Yeti? Does it add wattage and amps to the Yeti by doing this? These young guys know a lot more about this than I do, so I don't pretend to know anything about it. However, I would like to see my Yeti 150 have more power to run a TV and a fridge without have to pay the price of a more expensive Yeti, but, without ruining it. This kid used just a cheap inverter for about $20 and the difference was unbelievable! I think he had it fully charged in 10 minutes. Any tho'ts on this? Also, if it is okay, would it work with a solar panel, too, to add an extra inverter?
What is the ambient temperature you are doing your at? I thought I saw your breath. Looks like you have long sleeves. If it is close to freezing not a big deal.
I believe the Jackery wouldn't power anything for very long. I found 100 Amp-Hours of battery power lasts 2 days max, need 200 Amp-Hours of battery power to go for awhile. How many Amp-Hours does the Jackery 500 have?
I asked Goal Zero this very question. They said I could hook up as many marine batteries as I want to the Yeti 1000, 1250 or 3000 (marine batteries are best b/c they provide steady long term power, whereas a car battery is made to produce a lot of power up front in a burst of energy, to turn over a car engine). The only place a Yeti is limited is how much charge it can accept at any given moment. I only asked about the Yeti 1250 as that's what I have. GZ said the 1250 can accept a maximum of 300-320 watts worth of input, before the charge controller will limit it to avoid frying the Yeti. So I can only charge the Yeti and as many reserve batteries as I hook to it as 300 watts x however many hours of daylight there is. This means I can hook up 500 watts worth of panels to my Yeti, but it will only accept 300 watts of them). Keep in mind solar panels produce only about 70% of the wattage for which they are rated, under ideal conditions (so a 100 watt panel will produce only 70 watts, give or take 5 watts, under ideal conditions). And maximum charge only exists around noon, and in the middle of summer. All other times of the day and of the year will be less than peak, depending on how much sunlight is available. So this will also limit how much charge you can deposit in your Yeti on any given day.
I bought a $100 Lead Acid Battery but it wasn't a Sealed Lead Acid Battery which costs like double the price but doesn't out-gas into your car and doesn't need maintenance. If you're using a Goal Zero Yeti 1250, you can only add a similar battery amperage battery so a 100 amp hour seal lead acid battery. Goal Zero has some new units out there that are Lithium but you can't chain another battery to them as far as I know. Hope that helps.
I am a newby to this but learning . I did not want a bunch of batteries laying around because I live in an apartment . We have a lot of bad weather here in Dallas . I need something to run the fridge and a fan's . I am also looking at the MightyKool and Zero Breeze for cooling . This generator looks like what I am looking for .Thanks you very much Brad .
It would definitely help. I can still drain this down using the stuff in my van if we don't have sun for several days or I camp in a shaded area. 200 watts of solar and 200 Ah of battery would be damn good but I've gotten by with 100 watts of solar and 200 Ah of battery power - sometimes just barely.
You would want the extra solar if you want to charge both batteries in the same time interval. If your power load is low, you could get by with a 100 watt panel, but it would take twice as long to recharge both batteries, and you might not have enough power for your needs. If your Goal Zero is full charged before hitting the road, you might get by with just one 100 watt panel. You could certainly add a second panel later on.
Confirmed, it's not a sealed AGM battery. Going to return it. Thanks so much Samuel for the help! www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/exide-stowaway-deep-cycle-marine-rv--deep-cycle-battery-27mdcst#question/3171075
*For extended cycles* when demand amperage repeatedly exceeds charge rate, you really wanna go with an Optima Yellowtop. I'm not sure how the Yeti's load-balancing works, but by the sound of the manufacturer's recommendation I would guess both batteries end up being charged at the same rate as the one with higher internal resistance-so if you can afford it I would get two of the new ones and keep the year-old battery as a spare. *And no, I don't* work for Optima or Goal Zero-but if they have some surplus product lying around, I'd be glad to take it! I'm just glad +sampep tipped you off to potential outgassing from your flooded battery.
Optima Yellowtop is the Yeti of the battery world; lots of marketing, fanboy hype, and pricetag. Optimas have even *less* capacity than normal batteries because of the gee-whiz spiral plate shape. For the price of an Optima one could buy decent batteries like Trojan, or get close to truly excellent batteries like Life Line, Surrette, etc.
280 amp/hours....$3000......25% more AH capacity, 12.5 TIMES more money Ridiculous. The ONLY way they can sell this crap is that potential buyers never bother to learn the first thing about amps, amp hour capacity, and electricity in general.
dude sell that over priced crap. get rid of the solar panels and install a 200 amp hr battery under the front seat that charges off the van while its running. its not that hard all. heres the link I shared with you before.www.promasterforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39274 my install is near the end of the thread where I show how to get a group 31 size 200 amp hour battery under the driver seat and if you had to you could put a second under the passenger seat. I spent about $300 on my complete system.
it don't take much driving to get the battery back to full charge. I have never had it down to even close to 50% cause even if you are setup camping you still drive or run the van everyday and for this reason that's why I didn't do a solar system.
I know, I agree, your setup is way cheaper and smaller but I've bought all this stuff... I do like what you did, sure saves space with the batteries under the seat(s). If I'm canoeing in the Adirondacks, I tend to stay put if I can canoe from my campsite - and it's usually shaded and I get no solar anyway, but if I'm mountain biking in Vermont, I do tend to drive more (to different places to mountain bike). At the time I bought this I didn't even know what an inverter was and didn't understand anything. I know a lot more now, but it's too late.
TopShots Brad Expensive setup yes, but you can't tell me you don't have some great peace of mind knowing that setup will be there when you NEED power and it isn't easy to attain without solar as an option. When I've got the budget to do this, I'm planning to do the same with a few 90 watt panels.
Yes - I do love it, however I added an extra battery. If someone made a 200Ah Litium Ion version of the Goal Zero, I'd pair that with 200+ Watt solar panels. that'd be the nuts!
charger7022 maybe crazy expensive but it also has its ups if your car's not working you can still use solar panel to charge your battery would be awesome in a ship scenario were cars and nothing works that's where that thing will shine yeah it's crazy expensive you're getting a renewable power source that will be charged by the Sun the panels and that unit is definitely worth it just have to save up the cash for it at least that's my opinion earthquake happens an apocalyptic event happens nothing over worth its weight in gold especially with the solar panel charging it just my humble opinion
That Dometic is really efficient in my opinion. I won’t hesitate to ever buy one now.
Brad, you are worth your weight in gold!! Thank you!
I get intimidated looking into something new like this. Thanks for this video. I liked it.
I want to put solar on my car. I guess I got to keep learning because I still don't know what all to look for, but it was really cool to see you testing out the yeti unit.
I'd like to get a real nice one, but don't want to be concerned on it getting stolen if I leave it in my car.
You could roll your own solution and have it pretty much permanently affixed to your car like this couple did: th-cam.com/video/ZEdSlte3EtM/w-d-xo.html
Why use lead acid? I found I could use my Zoombros 330W (which doesn't have pass through to the AC) as a slave battery to my Rockpals 300W (which does) for a total of 630 watts! Just plug the 300 into the AC on the front of the Zoombros and an extension cord or power strip into the Rockpals. When the Zoombros drains first and shuts off, my big 40" Sanyo (only uses 45 watts/hr!) doesn't even twitch the changeover is so fast. Same with my single board computer and it's 21.5" Dell monitor. They draw 51 watts and never notice the battery change! So I just ordered an OKPRO 540 because it's one of the few that has regulated output for the 12 volt 8 amp plug I need for my RV fridge. Now I'll have 870 watts!
works well and good to battery recondition my battery
wonderful video but one question do you think i can hook the ring terminal to my boat batteries and then plug my boat battery charger to charge my boat batteries and let my boat battery hold the goal zero up on battery life
thanks for great video in this exact setup can i connect a light to second external battery while charging with yeti?
So could you get more external batteries and daisy chain them together and have tons of power ???
I asked them that and they said no - just one extra. :-(
Can one only connect one battery? And only one of the same size. Would like to parallel a few batteries in the future
As far as I know, just one.
@@MTBIKEXC Ok cool, just found maz 175AH so that should be more then enough to keep the house running for some hours ;-)
@@MTBIKEXC Ok last question. I can order the 1250 for 1099 euro where as the 1000 lithium is 1499 and the 1400 lithium is 1999 euro. I plan to use the 1250 as backup power in my house, to run my fridges (AC but in future also 12 volt) and a coffeemachine in case of a powerouttage. Over here they happen seldomly but with the current healthcrisis but also with the rise of green energy that is likely to happen more often.
Do you think the 1250 is a good deal and a good machine for above purposes? Maybe with an external battery to make it bigger.
Or should I go with the Litium models in 2020?
@@HansKeesom You need to look at how many amp-hours the different units can store and how many amps the things you want to run consume. I made a video of several things: th-cam.com/video/JqlKijjQn-A/w-d-xo.html I have the 1250 and found it insufficient to run my cooler for more than 4 days so doubled the battery capacity which has worked out well for that tiny refridgerator. I can only imagine full-size fridges will use way more power. Most of my friends in Maine have real whole-house backup generators which are something like 16Kw, way way way more powerful than any lithium or other goal zero product.
So are you saying that you don't need solar panels if you hook up a car battery to the goal yeti?
Yes - You don't need solar if you have another way to charge it - could be a wall outlet, could be your car battery (although I don't know how to set that up with a battery isolator so it only charges while you're driving and you don't drain your car battery).
Is this Goal Zero Yeti 1250 (not lithium) limited to only 50% of battery drain similar to typical lead acid deep cycle car batteries?
Although they are of the same chemistry, lead acid, car batteries are not deep cycle, dont discharge more than 10% in a car battery
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What is the ambient temperature around the Dometic unit? What is the size of the Dometic unit (which model)? Thank you
you need deep cycle batteries, they are much more better than regular lead/acid batteries and last longer... the best part is that they can discharge up to 60% instead of 40% of the common batteries
why does the deep cycle need to be the same age? My goal zero is over 5 years old.
I have the "baby" yeti 150, could I do this with mine so i can run a fan longer with out having to re charge every 4 hours
That would depend on whether the Yeti 150 supports a second battery.
I watched a video where a young man added an extra inverter to a Yeti 150 and it charged in nothing flat when plugging into the cig. lighter. Is this something that is okay to do or will it ruin the Yeti? Does it add wattage and amps to the Yeti by doing this? These young guys know a lot more about this than I do, so I don't pretend to know anything about it. However, I would like to see my Yeti 150 have more power to run a TV and a fridge without have to pay the price of a more expensive Yeti, but, without ruining it. This kid used just a cheap inverter for about $20 and the difference was unbelievable! I think he had it fully charged in 10 minutes. Any tho'ts on this? Also, if it is okay, would it work with a solar panel, too, to add an extra inverter?
Do you have a link to the video?
you still have both batteries working?
I just finished building me one of these that has a 3000ah run time. The project came in at $1200 with solar panels included
niceguy60 could you add a link?
Does the chained battery charge while charging the Yeti?
Yes it does.
What is the ambient temperature you are doing your at? I thought I saw your breath. Looks like you have long sleeves. If it is close to freezing not a big deal.
I live in Florida and noticed the same thing.
Can you do it with the yeti 1000?
So why dont we want to buy the battery you bought?
It wasn't Sealed Lead Acid (SLA).
Still trying to understand all this.... would it make sense to add a deep cycle batt to a 500 watt batt/inverter (Jackery500?) suggestions welcome!
I believe the Jackery wouldn't power anything for very long. I found 100 Amp-Hours of battery power lasts 2 days max, need 200 Amp-Hours of battery power to go for awhile. How many Amp-Hours does the Jackery 500 have?
Brad Herder 41amp hours. Yes, at 500 watts, 41 amp hours, it is a small batt.
@@karenlewkowitz5858 better than i expected so might run a fridge for a day. You should watch this video: th-cam.com/video/JqlKijjQn-A/w-d-xo.html
Is it the same principal for adding 2 or 3 batteries as it is for 1 extra?
I asked Goal Zero this very question. They said I could hook up as many marine batteries as I want to the Yeti 1000, 1250 or 3000 (marine batteries are best b/c they provide steady long term power, whereas a car battery is made to produce a lot of power up front in a burst of energy, to turn over a car engine).
The only place a Yeti is limited is how much charge it can accept at any given moment. I only asked about the Yeti 1250 as that's what I have. GZ said the 1250 can accept a maximum of 300-320 watts worth of input, before the charge controller will limit it to avoid frying the Yeti. So I can only charge the Yeti and as many reserve batteries as I hook to it as 300 watts x however many hours of daylight there is. This means I can hook up 500 watts worth of panels to my Yeti, but it will only accept 300 watts of them).
Keep in mind solar panels produce only about 70% of the wattage for which they are rated, under ideal conditions (so a 100 watt panel will produce only 70 watts, give or take 5 watts, under ideal conditions).
And maximum charge only exists around noon, and in the middle of summer. All other times of the day and of the year will be less than peak, depending on how much sunlight is available. So this will also limit how much charge you can deposit in your Yeti on any given day.
What battery do I not buy ? .Also are you saying that the battery must be lead acid battery that you are adding .?thanks
I bought a $100 Lead Acid Battery but it wasn't a Sealed Lead Acid Battery which costs like double the price but doesn't out-gas into your car and doesn't need maintenance. If you're using a Goal Zero Yeti 1250, you can only add a similar battery amperage battery so a 100 amp hour seal lead acid battery. Goal Zero has some new units out there that are Lithium but you can't chain another battery to them as far as I know. Hope that helps.
I am a newby to this but learning . I did not want a bunch of batteries laying around because I live in an apartment . We have a lot of bad weather here in Dallas . I need something to run the fridge and a fan's . I am also looking at the MightyKool and Zero Breeze for cooling . This generator looks like what I am looking for .Thanks you very much Brad .
Get a deep cycle AGM battery
So if you double the battery power, should you also double the amount of solar? If you had 100 watt of solar do you now need 200 watts?
It would definitely help. I can still drain this down using the stuff in my van if we don't have sun for several days or I camp in a shaded area. 200 watts of solar and 200 Ah of battery would be damn good but I've gotten by with 100 watts of solar and 200 Ah of battery power - sometimes just barely.
You would want the extra solar if you want to charge both batteries in the same time interval. If your power load is low, you could get by with a 100 watt panel, but it would take twice as long to recharge both batteries, and you might not have enough power for your needs. If your Goal Zero is full charged before hitting the road, you might get by with just one 100 watt panel. You could certainly add a second panel later on.
Unless the yeti comes with an mppt
how is your yeti now?
A minha máquina avariou como recuperar não esta acender este aparelho de solar.
Good Video. Thanks for sharing!
Question
Does the Yeti charge the extra external battery
niceguy60 yup
Yes. The two batteries are in parallel, so the charging source will charge both.
Sweet test!
Is this a sealed agm battery?
If not, watch out for outgassing when charging in a closed environment.
OMG - are you kidding me? Ugh - gotta see if I can find out. I hope it's sealed AGM. Eeee gads.
TopShots Brad yeah I know it sucks, but normally at that price they are not sealed. They normally go for twice as much at least.
Confirmed, it's not a sealed AGM battery. Going to return it. Thanks so much Samuel for the help! www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/exide-stowaway-deep-cycle-marine-rv--deep-cycle-battery-27mdcst#question/3171075
*For extended cycles* when demand amperage repeatedly exceeds charge rate, you really wanna go with an Optima Yellowtop. I'm not sure how the Yeti's load-balancing works, but by the sound of the manufacturer's recommendation I would guess both batteries end up being charged at the same rate as the one with higher internal resistance-so if you can afford it I would get two of the new ones and keep the year-old battery as a spare.
*And no, I don't* work for Optima or Goal Zero-but if they have some surplus product lying around, I'd be glad to take it! I'm just glad +sampep tipped you off to potential outgassing from your flooded battery.
Optima Yellowtop is the Yeti of the battery world; lots of marketing, fanboy hype, and pricetag. Optimas have even *less* capacity than normal batteries because of the gee-whiz spiral plate shape.
For the price of an Optima one could buy decent batteries like Trojan, or get close to truly excellent batteries like Life Line, Surrette, etc.
What size is the frig?
Dometic CFX-65DZUS Portable Freezer/Refrigerator - 2.2 cu. ft. Amazon link: amzn.to/1ezNdiV
thank you, great video.
2 Trojan T-105 batteries.....225 amp/hours, 120$ each for a total of $240 + core deposit.
with the goal zero?
280 amp/hours....$3000......25% more AH capacity, 12.5 TIMES more money
Ridiculous.
The ONLY way they can sell this crap is that potential buyers never bother to learn the first thing about amps, amp hour capacity, and electricity in general.
Where do you buy these for 120 each?
Ballard Power Sorts, Hayden, Idaho. True fact
Goal Zero Yeti 1250 and extra two batteries
That's possible? Do they need 100 AH?
of course it is not sealed you can see the caps on the top where you put water in
Crazy expensive!
Mike Appino I personally don't think it's worth it. I'd rather just go all out and make a custom electrical setup for on the road.
Mike Appino if you really want to test use food in the cooler.
$1,600 with only a 100 amp battery!
1500w pure sine wave inverter. Plug n play. I don't see a problem.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼thank you !!
Great info thanks
thats not an AGM battery.
Goal zero Yeti 3000 look it up online
Actually, you CAN replace the Yeti 1250 Battery with a Lithium Unit-It's a chore, but it can be done.
I've been trying to find info on this. But I have the yeti 400
This is the Yeti's nemesis th-cam.com/video/Gw0NfvjREFY/w-d-xo.html
dude sell that over priced crap. get rid of the solar panels and install a 200 amp hr battery under the front seat that charges off the van while its running. its not that hard all. heres the link I shared with you before.www.promasterforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39274 my install is near the end of the thread where I show how to get a group 31 size 200 amp hour battery under the driver seat and if you had to you could put a second under the passenger seat. I spent about $300 on my complete system.
it don't take much driving to get the battery back to full charge. I have never had it down to even close to 50% cause even if you are setup camping you still drive or run the van everyday and for this reason that's why I didn't do a solar system.
I know, I agree, your setup is way cheaper and smaller but I've bought all this stuff... I do like what you did, sure saves space with the batteries under the seat(s). If I'm canoeing in the Adirondacks, I tend to stay put if I can canoe from my campsite - and it's usually shaded and I get no solar anyway, but if I'm mountain biking in Vermont, I do tend to drive more (to different places to mountain bike). At the time I bought this I didn't even know what an inverter was and didn't understand anything. I know a lot more now, but it's too late.
TopShots Brad Expensive setup yes, but you can't tell me you don't have some great peace of mind knowing that setup will be there when you NEED power and it isn't easy to attain without solar as an option. When I've got the budget to do this, I'm planning to do the same with a few 90 watt panels.
Yes - I do love it, however I added an extra battery. If someone made a 200Ah Litium Ion version of the Goal Zero, I'd pair that with 200+ Watt solar panels. that'd be the nuts!
charger7022 maybe crazy expensive but it also has its ups if your car's not working you can still use solar panel to charge your battery would be awesome in a ship scenario were cars and nothing works that's where that thing will shine yeah it's crazy expensive you're getting a renewable power source that will be charged by the Sun the panels and that unit is definitely worth it just have to save up the cash for it at least that's my opinion earthquake happens an apocalyptic event happens nothing over worth its weight in gold especially with the solar panel charging it just my humble opinion