Goal Zero Yeti 1000 Solar Recharge Time Testing with Boulder 100 Panels
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- To test Goal Zero's specs, I decided to do some performance testing of my new pair of Goal Zero Boulder 100 suitcase solar panels charging my Yeti 100.
100w panel into MPPT input translates to 80 watts max with expected losses, you never get the full rating. We have a 1,000 watt hour battery but will be starting at 35% (350wh) at 8:32am which means we need to recharge this 65% today (~650wh). Will it happen even on a clear day?
Started at 8:45 at 35% full and was getting 60w (30w per panel). At 9:35 power up to 115w (55w) and filled the battery to 43%. So added 8% (~80wh) from 8:30-9:30.
Stable at about 140 watts input (70w per panel) til around noon. Brief peak of 160 (80w per which is their real max output) at 12:30 - only 100% clear part of day. So the panels operating as expected overall and performed fairly well in light cloudy conditions.
By 12:45, power had dropped to single digits then 0 because of heavy clouds then a rain storm. Stuck at 4-5w til 1:45, by 2:45 flatlined.
We got 4.5 hours of decent sun and went from 35% to 82% (+47%) = 470 watt hours. No too bad. Normally, we’d have another 2-3 hours of sun so we’d have filled it if it didn’t cloud up. If you have a 100% clear day, you can likely charge it from 25-30% to 100%
In theory, for 2 panels, you’d have 160w x 4-5 hours of good sun = 640wh - 800wh
But on a cloudy day, you’d be lucky to add 100 watt hours. Amazon links are affiliate and support the channel.
Yeti 1000 + Boulder 100 package:
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Boulder 100 briefcase solar panel:
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8mm 15 foot extension cable:
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I love this video! So much testing and effort went into it. :)
Making this post especially relevant is that there are two significant deals-the aforementioned Costco deal on the Yeti plus a Green Monday deal on the Boulder 100 ($239, down from $300) at both the Goal Zero and B&H’s websites. I just jumped in for both plus an MPPT. Thanks again, Todd!
I live in Florida and bought the 3000 and 2 sets of solar panels to replace my gas generator. I have tried it out on a number of items. I recently tried it out on my Instapot Duo Plus. It works great. The Instapot Duo Plus draws about 900 W max. heating and 60 W cooking, cooked sweet potatoes in 10 minutes. It drew about 7% of the power for cooking. Peak was 900 W, low 25 W. My freezer is old and medium sized drawing up to 150 W but only 7 W most of the time. My Oster toaster oven draws 1000 W when heating, big draw of course for heating elements but that’s expected. I have used it for my laptop computer, charging my iPhone, iPad, etc. It recharges pretty quickly. This is a great value for the money.
Agreed, thanks for sharing
Interesting and worthwhile video. Arethese solar panels part of the package with the Yeti?
WOW! Thank you for doing this test. I'm in Texas (PLENTY OF HOT SUN) and I was wondering how long it would take. I just purchased mine yesterday so I don't have it yet. Thanks again.
@Chris Ruiz Absolutely LOVE it! My mom's electricity went out a couple days ago. She called me to ask for my Yeti 1400. It worked very well. She was cool and could watch television. I used my solar panel to keep it going so she wouldn't have any problems. The sun was shining bright so everything went well. When she was done, I took it home and used the fast charger. WHOA! I am still amazed at how fast it charges. My mom asked where I go it from because she was so impressed, she's buying one for herself. :)
Great insights, Todd! Looks like you used the MPPT? Costco is running a great deal on the Yeti 1000 and I’m tempted to pull the trigger on this.
Vlad, I just saw the special on this at Costco and it’s a great price. Yep, I bought the MPPT module and should have mentioned that.
If I remember correctly, Goal Zero's estimates are fairly conservative. I think I read solar panel is expected to provide about 60% of the rated power over a period of time, so that might be about 60W, which would be about 16 hours to fill a 1000Wh battery, and then they double that amount of time for other cases, which is about 16 to 32 hours, give or take, to reliably fill the battery on an average sunny day. Weather is unpredictable, I think they try to take that into account.
That all sounds accurate, thanks. I agree that goal zero tends to be conservative in their ratings and that’s one of things I really like about them. But with solar, it’s important to be realistic.
Great job with the software tracking of sunlight hours. I just want to use my power for one or two nights camping and fishing. The refrigerator is always the biggest drain. (60 watts/hr) I can't wait to try mine with the solar panels.
I want to get a portable refrigerator soon and can do some solar power tests. I think you’ll really like having a solar panel. There are some nice foldable panels that might be worth looking into if weight is a concern
@@todd.parker I found myself wondering why I needed a refrigerator at all for just 1 or 2 days. With all the money I'm saving camping free I go fishing during the day, and eat in a nice seafood restaurant South of Savannah at night instead of making a kitchen mess in my Mini RV. Free campsite near Darien, dry sites, but hot showers and bathrooms, dump tanks and fresh water, boat launching ramp and fishing pier. I'm just going to grab the old Coleman cooler full of ice for beverages (and I might have to bring back some smelly fish!) I'm ordering the Mighty Max 100 watt panel from Amazon next week. Test video coming soon.
Very interesting, thanks
Very informative, thank you!
Hi Todd. You mention that you have solar panels on the roof. Tell us about them. what are they hooked up to? how many do you have ? How do you use them?
Every goal zero panel I've ever tested large or small were super inefficient compared to others. Even the cheap amazon panels produced more power. Anyways great informative well put together videos on your channel!!
Interesting. I agree that any of the small flexible panels usually output much less than their rating. The Boulder 15 and 100’s I have output around 75-80% of their rating which I think is pretty average for a rigid glass panel. Which brands have you seen the best output? I’m always looking for better options. Seems the 100w Renogy panels are usually a good price. For this, I wanted foldable ones and got a good price on the goal zeros.
Good to know!
Good job, very informative
Great series of goal zero videos. I watched the video with your quick charger.
It was helpful understanding the mass input system, you used a Anderson connection to manage the charge input in parallel system with the mppt system.
I've a question if you don't mind sharing more of your knowledge on the yeti. In this video you had 2 bolder hooked up to mppt and the 15wat hooked up to the standard input so total of 3 and no fans kicked in, no extra adapters needed. Just direct input and ran well and quiet.
My question is if each Input for the yeti is independent for Charging 8m and Anderson.
After watching this video im wondering when the Anderson connection is needed that runs in parallel, and when to just plug in directly to the mppt and the standard.
Been iffy about overloading the system.
For now been using a 60 Watt nomad.
Have a bolder 200 Watt on the way.
was debating on adding a spare 80 watt panel that i can use in a Anderson connection. Curious to know if all those would work well together
wanted to get your opinion on the ecosystem of charging
Great video and good information.
Thanks! You can charge 320 watts into the various PWM inputs that are built in and an additional 320 watts if you have the MPPT module. The Anderson inputs can handle more power than the 8mm so I like to use the 4x8mm to Anderson combiner cable if I have multiple solar panels to connect on parallel because the wires are heavier duty but the 8mm I it’s are fine too. You shouldn’t have any issues connecting all those panels since you only get 70-89% of the rated power on a panel
Did you ever consider setting up your system so that some of the electricity being generated by the solar panels on your roof could be redirected to charge the Yeti? It seems redundant to buy the stand-alone solar panels for charging the Yeti when you already have a much greater source of solar power already on your house. During a power outage, those solar panels on your roof aren't doing anything since they cannot feed to the grid, so it seems like a great idea to be able to use them during this period to charge the Yeti. I'm primarily asking as I'm about to install solar on my roof, and I'm also looking at buying the Yeti home integration kit. Thanks for the useful video.
That’s one of the most frustrating things about rooftop solar, it’s unavailable when the grid goes down. You can’t just tap into them, at least not safely and legally. There is one brand of rooftop inverters (Sunnyboy) that has a small amount of output via a 120v plug but I have Sunpower panels with microinverters on each panel so that’s not an option. It’s silly to have 9kw of solar and gave to buy portable panels.
Good information, but if you have a stay at home person. Have them keep a eye on the battery and move the panels over the course of a day.
Yeah, that will help for sure
Great Video. Think I Understood You More Than Anyone. Can You Put Your Panels Behind Your Van Or House Windows Like If You Will Be Gone All Day
great research & info. thank you.
Thanks, glad this was helpful
Todd. Why is Gold Zero not keeping up with technology like BLUETTI and Ecoflo?
I have no idea. They haven’t updated their products in years. Getting by on reputation?
In sunny CA I've never gotten more than 54W out of my Boulder 100... is that variation normal, do you think?
That seems pretty low if that's angled and pointed at the sun on a clear day. In a recent video, I re-tested my Boulder 100w panels and got 65w in the PWM input and 77w into the MPPT input via the 8mm cable. Watch here: czcams.com/video/Jjfr9WUB2rA/video.html
Why did you get a straight up propane generator instead of a dual fuel, like the Champion? Or do they have those where you are?
I really am not interested in gas since it spoils and gums up the carbs, plus I wanted something very small and light (and cheap). The Champion is a good option though.
@@todd.parker I understand completely. I am pretty much anti-gasoline, and try to avoid it like the plague. But I just thought it more pragmatic to have the option in some of the extreme situations that I bought my generator for(hurricanes on the gulf coast of Texas). Realizing that most others don't have to contend with that, and the related limitations of resources that it creates, I'd probably also just stick with the single preferred fuel... propane. Thanks.
Greetings Todd !! Can I run a Dometic cfx 35 on the goal zero 1000 while solar charging ?
Oh definitely. You can charge the Yeti via solar and also have appliances hooked to the outputs. I’d think the Yeti should run that Dometic for a long time.
Can you leave it charging? Does the battery explode if you just leave it charging?
No the solar generator just stops taking input when full
Appreciate the info. How has the ryobi gen worked out for you?
Been great so far. I haven’t lost power for extended periods though.
@@todd.parker glad to hear
What if you use an amorphous solar set?
You could use those too. You can tinker with the number of cells and their type but it seems that around 300w of any solar cell type would be about all you’d need for a Yeti 1000 since that would fill it fully from 0% on a sunny day. More than that might be overkill unless you have a larger unit.
So 200watt panels can only produce 134watt max under super clear weather.
I mean, yeah. The rated output is under 100% perfect lab conditions, you usually can get 75-80% of rated output in the best of conditions, less if the clouds, angles, and direction aren’t perfect.
YETI 5 TANK EXPANSION BATTERYW GOALZERO. Test it out
Can it be charged by the car lighter plug?
Yep, I made a video in the adapter you need: czcams.com/video/YYqoHPM5ww4/video.html
Come on Todd, you are smart enough to get off of the fossil fuels! The system that never has to be fed is the best.
I agree but it’s not always sunny (or daytime!)
@@todd.parker , but what about water turbines, wind turbines, and human-powered machines?
Ken J Boyd if you’ll pedal, sure!
@@todd.parker , absolutely, but as long as you pedal you can put quite a bit of power into that Yeti! You can buy a kit that will turn a bicycle into an 800 watt input device for about $250. You can do the same with a treadmill, step machine, or any similar type of cardiovascular workout machine. But you are correct that it only generates electricity for as long as you can keep going. That's the limit of human power. But the technology involving that gets better all the time, as in more watts for the work.
And everyone knows that input from solar only comes in when the sun is shining.
And it's the same with wind turbines. You can charge the yeti and other devices with wind turbines, but only when the wind is blowing.
If you have a good water source running through your property that you can access with water turbines, including the new micro water turbines, you can have power going into your unit 24/7 365!
The key is having enough batteries to store the energy to use when it is not coming in.
Buy the equipment to switch the above input sources appropriately, which will differ according to where you live and what kind of shape you are in. Plus, the more batteries you have the more you will be able to store.
So the truth is, Alternative Energy technology has reached the point where we no longer need propane, gasoline, diesel fuel, or even wood. The time has come. I will not use that stuff anymore, because I no longer have to. And shortly, we will have a complete divorce from the power grid controlled by the powers-that-be.
But I still haven't mentioned that I do appreciate your videos. They're very well done and I have been getting a lot out of them, thanks!
solar panel are included?
The panels are sold separately from the Yeti 1000
will it do a coffee maker?
The 1000 can output 1500w so it should run a coffee maker
at David M - you need a couple of Yetis to run a refrigerator.
Jonathan Black A single Yeti lithium will power a standard refrigerator since those don’t exceed 1500 watts even during startup surges. The length of time they will power the fridge will depend on size but my 1000 can run mine for about 16-20 hours.