Replace The Batteries In Your Goal Zero Yeti Power Station
Batteries are batteries, they don’t last forever. Especially in something like a power station that some might use every day. Goal Zero advertises that their lead-acid AGM battery used in the Yeti 400 has a lifecycle of 4-6 years, or 500-800 cycles before it should be replaced.
But if you travel full-time in an RV or van and use it every single day, you might go through 300 cycles in a year, and then the battery would only last for about two years before you would notice that the battery won’t hold much of a charge any longer.
Related Product: Increase the battery capacity of your Yeti 1000 or larger with the Yeti Expansion Kit (click to view on Amazon)
An easy way to fix the damaged battery is to replace it with a new one. That would make the Yeti function like new, and you could use it for another couple of years.
Which Goal Zero Yeti Can You Replace The Battery In?
Unfortunately, not all the Yeti power stations support an easy battery replacement by the user.
You can replace the batteries in the Yeti 150, 400, 400 lithium and 1250.
You can not replace the batteries in any of the other Yeti Lithium power stations.
Replacement batteries available
Goal Zero sells replacement batteries, but you can also buy other brands. Here are a couple of battery replacements that are actually upgrades compared to the original battery, and they have no issues fitting the cases.
Yeti 150 – Replacement battery VMAX 15Ah 12V – 1Ah larger than original
Yeti 400 – Replacement battery VMAX 35Ah 12V – 2Ah larger than original
Yeti 400 Lithium – There is a Mighty Max replacement battery but I can’t find it in stock anywhere.
Yeti 1250 – Replacement battery VMAX 125Ah 12V – 25Ah larger than original
How do you replace a Yeti battery?
Goal Zero has videos about how to replace batteries in each of the Yeti power stations it’s possible with.
Yeti 150
Yeti 400
Yeti 1250
So am I screwed if I have a Yeti Lithium that won’t hold a charge?
If you have a 200X or 500X Lithium, there is not much you can do.
If you have a Yeti Lithium power station 1000 or larger, you can’t replace the battery right now, but you can add an expansion kit that increases the capacity of your power station.
The expansion kit batteries are lead-acid AGM batteries and not lithium, so you would have to take care of them more than with lithium and not discharge it below 50%.
There are two expansion kits available, the 2.4 kWh and the 4.8 kWh.
Here is a video from Goal Zero on how their Link expansion kit works.
How do I make the Yeti battery last longer?
While the AGM batteries above are high-quality lead-acid batteries, they will hold a charge longer if you take care of the battery.
One way to do that is to not let it discharge to under 50%. It sounds bad that it can only use half of its capacity, but you can get more cycles out of it by doing so. This is where lithium batteries have a huge advantage since they’re OK to discharge further.
Is Goal Zero going to release replacement batteries to the Yeti Lithium power stations?
That’s a question only Goal Zero can answer. Maybe their future Lithium solar generators will have more user-replaceable builds and batteries, but that’s just an optimistic guess.
Related posts I have written about the Goal Zero Yeti Power Stations
Use third-party solar panels with a Goal Zero Yeti
How to charge a Yeti power station faster
Yeti 400 Vs Jackery Explorer 500
10 things you should know before buying a Goal Zero Yeti
Can you charge a Goal Zero Yeti in an RV/car/van?
FYI GoalZero quoted me $600 USD to replace the battery in my lithium 1400 wifi that I’ve had for 3 years. That 600 covers shipping at least back to me as I didn’t ask if they cover shipping to them. They said they would have to mail me an empty box because apparently we can’t reuse the original shipping carton due to some regulation.
There’s almost no pics of the inside or hacks by others on the net. Who knows
Hello Aaron,
Interesting, thanks for sharing! That’s good to know.
Jesse
Hi Aaron, I’m in the same situation. I’ve received the box. I’m wondering if you received the replacement? Thank you, Lin
Any updates?
I have a 1250 that gets a temperature error, chirps, and then resets as soon as the AC input is powered on, (even with no load). Support at Goal Zero was no help. DC ports work fine. Fuses are good. Tried multiple batteries. Any suggestions for where to look or forums that might have guidance?
Hey Chuck,
Sounds like either a temperature sensor issue or an inverter issue. If possible I would take out the inverter, hook it up to the batteries myself, and see if it works or not. If not, just replace it with a similar one.
You should create a post on the diysolarforum in the “Solar Generator and Micro Systems” category. You might get an answer from somebody that has more experience with the Yeti 1250 and an issue like that.
Jesse
Hi,
Thanks for the helpful post. Given that it was published last year, I was wondering if it is still true that I am out of luck if my Yeti 3000 lithium battery can no longer hold a charge. Or is there a replacement battery?
Hi,
Looks like Goal Zero still isn’t offering a replacement battery for the lithium batteries, unfortunately.
What you could do is what Todd Parker on YouTube has done. He simply connects the car charger to an external battery via a 12V receptacle.
This would work if you’re heading out for the weekend and don’t have a different way to recharge the Yeti but want to use the inverter and outlets.
its total horse crap that you can’t easily replace the batteries in a $3000 yeti 1500x. They ban plastic straws but let these units just go to shit? Puke.
Agreee
I hear you on the moral hypocrisy Shay. Anyways, I’ve been wondering the same thing as I also have a yeti lithium that I know eventually will need new batteries.
Theres clearly no official way to replace the batteries so I’m thinking when I need to replace mine to DIY fix it. I’m not coughing up the cash for another yeti when the one I have is perfectly fine (sans the battery). I saw in Todd Parkers video here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bwSRPy6Jht4 — starting at 4 minutes you can see the battery and hows its connected inside the yeti 1000 and he goes on to mention the model and manufacturer information etc.
So methinks, it might be possible to do some kind of drop in replacement; if I just ordered a battery of the same specification or even the exact same one if possible. Or, if you know how, replace the individual cells within the battery to restore it? Not sure, but I will be looking into this more when I detect a drop in my yetis battery performance.
Hope it goes well for you! diysolarpowerforums are a good place to discuss this stuff to!
Sadly did not work for me. The ! logo still shows on the screen, then the input slowly drops from 35 Watts down to 0 and then stays at 0 with an occasional 2 seconds up to 5/10 Watts and then back to 0.
Dead battery?
It is unfortunate my Yeti 1400 will be junk and will have to be e-waste at the end of the battery life. It contradicts the GoalZero name, goal zero should also stand for reducing the impact to the environment by reducing e-waste.
I can’t believe the whole thing will need to be disposed off, this will be the first and last Goal Zero device I will purchase.
I love my Yeti 1400, but will definitely not purchase another due to the fact replacing the batteries is not an option.
🙁
Maybe “Goal Zero” is exactly what the name implies…zero end user serviceability