Anyone using a Yeti Goal Zero or similar?

[Justa5th]

*probably should have been in electrical section-mod feel free to move if needed*

Up until 2 days ago I didn’t even know what a solar generator was. Stupid ad showed up online and I clicked on it and now I’ve got my mind wondering. I am specifically looking at the Inergy (k2) apex solar generator. It has a 90 amp lithium battery and 1500 watt (3000 surge) PSW inverter all built into a small 25 lb box. They are selling for a pre release price of $1300 (best price I could find, retail around $2000). I have been on the fence about installing an inverter wired into the trailer (leaning towards not for at least the first year as we have never had one in 20+ years of camping). Although not the most cost effective option these type of units could maybe fill a gap between no inverter and full install. I would use it for occasional tv watching and maybe a minute or two of microwave, charge laptops etc. My plan would be to place it in pass through storage. I would plug in a cord from trailer to unit and turn off converter so therefore would power the whole rv. I THINK I could charge it with a car charger plugged into the load side of my Renogy Rover charge controller ( allow house batteries to charge first then flip on load and charge inverter battery, as long as my solar was putting out enough energy). Backup option would be to charge while driving (5 hours on car charger from dead). We usually drive every several days anyway. Can also use wall charger when we have full hookups. Here are my thoughts.

1. Provides an inverter with limited battery capacity without the added weight of extra batteries and wiring etc. (25 lbs total for this unit)
2. Movable if I sold the trailer
3. Possible uses for other things around house/work sight and campground/emergencies etc
4. Could provide emergency backup power to trailer if my house batteries died
5. Could lend to fellow rv’er/friend for same uses as above (mostly emergency power of rv as we do a lot of winter camping)
6. I kind of like that it is totally separate from house batteries. I can’t accidentally drain house batteries low and lose heat etc. If the unit was dead or to low just wouldn’t watch tv etc so no big loss. I realize I already monitor my batteries so probably not real likely I would not realize they were getting low. My wife doesn’t understand the power situation so it is possible if I wasn’t there the system could get drained.

A couple of negatives:
1. Probably not the most cost effective solution
2. Not as convenient as a wired inverter. Would have to plug/unplug trailer and flip power switch from basement everytime I would want to use it.
3. Longevity comes into play. They advertise 2000 charge cycles (but who really knows how accurate that is). If it didn’t last but a couple years the cost factor really goes up.

So long story short I’m on the fence. Common sense says probably not the best solution but lack of common sense has me digging for my credit card. Thoughts?

[FastEddie]

I have one on order. Many video's by the off grid folks on youtube. Only found a couple of RV ones. I ordered it for many of the same reasons you listed.
We do not boondock very much, but this may open up a new chapter. Our other purpose is for power failures at home. Internet loss is the main concern as my wife works from home. Portability,weight and simplicity was also a concern. Also got a 20% discount on the pre release price from a off grid video.


Ed

[Justa5th]

I have one on order. Many video's by the off grid folks on youtube. Only found a couple of RV ones. I ordered it for many of the same reasons you listed.
We do not boondock very much, but this may open up a new chapter. Our other purpose is for power failures at home. Internet loss is the main concern as my wife works from home. Portability,weight and simplicity was also a concern. Also got a 20% discount on the pre release price from a off grid video.


Ed

I think I am leaning towards ordering one. Just a few more things I want to investigate before I pull the trigger.

[howson]

...It has a 90 amp lithium battery...

May be a minor distinction, but the right terminology is 90 amp hour (aH) battery. To put that in perspective, the standard Battle Born is a 100 aH battery.

Out of curiousity I compared the Inergy's capability with one of the earlier system's I was considering. (The following is mostly a direct quote from Garret Towne, an electrical engineer with AMSolar, from an email he sent to me.)

"A fully charged 200Ah LifeBlue battery (or two 100aH Battle Born batteries) will give you about 2.1kWh of energy. If your Dometic (refrigerator) ran at full power you would have 2100Wh / 420W = 5 hours of run time. Typically, the duty cycle is about 25%, so you would actually have about 20 hours of runtime, assuming no other charging sources or loads."

IF the Inergy's 90 aH battery is capable of delivering the full capacity, that equates to just over 1 hour of refrigerator run time (at full power) or over 4 at a 25% duty cycle.

I really don't have an opinion on the device one way or the other. My purpose for this post is to hopefully help you put the Inergy device's capability in context.

[Justa5th]

May be a minor distinction, but the right terminology is 90 amp hour (aH) battery. To put that in perspective, the standard Battle Born is a 100 aH battery.

Out of curiousity I compared the Inergy's capability with one of the earlier system's I was considering. (The following is mostly a direct quote from Garret Towne, an electrical engineer with AMSolar, from an email he sent to me.)

"A fully charged 200Ah LifeBlue battery (or two 100aH Battle Born batteries) will give you about 2.1kWh of energy. If your Dometic (refrigerator) ran at full power you would have 2100Wh / 420W = 5 hours of run time. Typically, the duty cycle is about 25%, so you would actually have about 20 hours of runtime, assuming no other charging sources or loads."

IF the Inergy's 90 aH battery is capable of delivering the full capacity, that equates to just over 1 hour of refrigerator run time (at full power) or over 4 at a 25% duty cycle.

I really don't have an opinion on the device one way or the other. My purpose for this post is to hopefully help you put the Inergy device's capability in context.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer so thoroughly. I am really on the fence about this purchase as it is expensive and don’t want to be disappointed. I believe for heavy loads the unit is rated at 80% discharge or about 72 amp hours and all the way to 100% discharge for smaller loads (although I wouldn’t run it to 0%). I am currently running 2 Costco 6 volt batteries at 210 amp hours. Following the don’t discharge more than 50% rule that gives me about 105 amp hours of usable battery. The inergy pack would give me a little less the 70% of my current rated capicity. Capacity wise it would make more sense to go to 4 total 6 volt batteries. The main drawback is weight/space for me. I think price would be close to a wash wiring in an inverter or buying the portable. The portable will definitely require more “work” to use such as turning on/off from basement and recharging etc whereas the wired in unit could be used with the flip of a switch inside. I realize the portable unit will not be a 100% match for a nice wired unit with extra batteries, but just wondering if the portability/no install etc with make it a good product.

[howson]

I appreciate you taking the time to answer so thoroughly. I am really on the fence about this purchase as it is expensive and don’t want to be disappointed. I believe for heavy loads the unit is rated at 80% discharge or about 72 amp hours and all the way to 100% discharge for smaller loads (although I wouldn’t run it to 0%). I am currently running 2 Costco 6 volt batteries at 210 amp hours. Following the don’t discharge more than 50% rule that gives me about 105 amp hours of usable battery. The inergy pack would give me a little less the 70% of my current rated capicity. Capacity wise it would make more sense to go to 4 total 6 volt batteries. The main drawback is weight/space for me. I think price would be close to a wash wiring in an inverter or buying the portable. The portable will definitely require more “work” to use such as turning on/off from basement and recharging etc whereas the wired in unit could be used with the flip of a switch inside. I realize the portable unit will not be a 100% match for a nice wired unit with extra batteries, but just wondering if the portability/no install etc with make it a good product.

If you look at the system @TucsonJim has installed (amongst others) the main benefit to their setup is expandability. If you want more capacity--add another battery. The lithium's are very pricey, but their cost over the long term makes them viable (IMO) and the weight savings (over their flooded counterpart) is a bonus.

You're buying a lithium battery with the Inergy, that's why it has that price tag.

Again--not pushing any solution--just playing "devil's advocate" so you have options to think through before making a decision.

[phonemannn]

This is all good Info, thanks for posting..

[FastEddie]

The Inergy battery is expandable to flooded or lithium batteries. ...(Content previously here moved to it's own post.) They claim a six hour recharge with three panels.

[JColeman]

Unless your primary goal is portability, I'm having trouble seeing the cost effectiveness of this product. For ~$2700 you get 90 aH and 300 watts of solar.

A 100 aH lithium battery is ~$950, a couple of 200 watt solar panels run ~$175 each. An MPPT controller is $110 and a 2000 watt inverter is ~$300. So, you can build a larger RV system for less that is also very expandable using a more proven approach. Another lithium battery doubles the aH.

[Justa5th]

Unless your primary goal is portability, I'm having trouble seeing the cost effectiveness of this product. For ~$2700 you get 90 aH and 300 watts of solar.

A 100 aH lithium battery is ~$950, a couple of 200 watt solar panels run from $150-$300 each. An MPPT controller is $110. So, you can build a larger RV system for less that is also very expandable using a more proven approach. Another lithium battery doubles the aH.

I agree it is pricey. I won’t be buying solar panels or MPPT controller so that brings my cost to $1300. So for $1300 for Inergy you are getting a 1500 watt PSW inverter and a lithium battery. I believe I can charge it from the load side of my Renogy charge controller. It is rated at 20 amps. Inergy sells a car charger that draws just under 20 amps. My thought is use my solar I already have and when my house batteries are full for the day I can turn the load on and divert solar power to the Inergy battery. The other backup plan is use the car charger in the car or wall plug when at full hookups. The Inergy inverter would only be used for extras like tv so if it didn’t get charged and work no big deal. Not defending the Inergy at all as I am not sold either way. I appreciate everyone’s input as that’s exactly what I was looking for. The only thing I know for sure (as of now) is I won’t be purchasing lithium batteries anytime in the near future for the house batteries. Keep the opinions coming as it really helps to work my way through this possible purchase.