Connect Several Goal Zero Panels To A Yeti/Sherpa Power Station
Goal Zero makes popular power stations/solar generators that can be recharged with solar panels. It’s possible to connect more than one solar panel to most of their Yeti power stations, and today I am going to show you how it’s done.
Let’s start by looking at how it’s done, then I’ll list every Goal Zero battery and its limitations. Not every Goal Zero battery supports several panels.
I have written several posts about Goal Zero products that you can find here.
Combining Goal Zero Boulder 50, 100, 100 Briefcase, And Nomad 100
When combining several panels, you need to make sure that the connectors and the wires used can handle the total amperage that the panel(s) is/are going to output.
The Boulder 50, 100, 100 Briefcase and Nomad 28/28 Plus/100 solar panels come with 8mm outputs. To combine two or more, you need to use the Goal Zero 8mm Combiner cable.
On the other end of this combiner, there is an Anderson Power Pole (APP) connector. This means that you can only plug the combiner into a power station that has an APP input, like the Yeti 1000, 1400, 3000 and 1250.
If you want to combine two or more panels with 8mm outputs with a Goal Zero power station that only has an 8mm input, like the Yeti 150, 200X, 400, 400 Lithium, Sherpa 50 and 100AC, you need to use a Goal Zero APP to 8mm cable.
Goal Zero Anderson Power Pole (APP) To 8mm Cable
Be aware that the APP to 8mm cable only supports up to 14 amps so if you have more than 200W of solar panels, you won’t see any higher input than about 168 watts. The 8mm port on the largest Yeti 3000 can only input 120W maximum anyway.
Combining Goal Zero Boulder 200 Solar Panels
The Boulder 200 solar panels come with an Anderson Power Pole output, so if you want to combine two or more you need a Goal Zero Anderson combiner.
Goal Zero Anderson Power Pole Combiner
On the other side of this combiner, there is an Anderson Power Pole connector. This will plug into the Yeti 1000, 1250, 1400, and 3000. I don’t recommend combining several Boulder 200 to plug into an 8mm input.
Combining 8mm And Anderson Power Pole
You can use the adapters above to combine 8mm panels with Anderson Power Pole panels.
Goal Zero Batteries Input Limitations
Each Goal Zero battery/power station has its own limitations. To make it easy to figure out what your specific one can handle, I have every model below. If I haven’t listed the one you have (new models might’ve been released) please leave a comment and I will add it.
Sherpa 50 – 8mm input, 30W max
Sherpa 100AC – 8mm input, 50W max
Yeti 150 – 8mm input, 60W max
Yeti 200X – 8mm input, 100W max
Related Post: Yeti 200X Review
Yeti 400 – 8mm input, 140W max
Yeti 400 Lithium – 8mm input, 120W max
Yeti 1000 Lithium – 8mm input, 120W max / Anderson Power Pole input, 360W max
Yeti 1250 – two 8mm inputs, 160W max / Anderson Power Pole input, 320W max
Yeti 1400 – 8mm input, 120W max / Anderson Power Pole, 360W max
Yeti 3000 – PWM charge controller: 8mm input, 120W max / Anderson Power Pole, 360W max – MPPT charge controller: two 8mm inputs, 150W max per port / Anderson Power Pole, 325W max
My Goal Zero Solar Panel Recommendations
Here are the Goal Zero solar panels I recommend for the batteries above. The links below will take you to the product page on Amazon.com.
Sherpa 50 – The Nomad 28 Plus or the Boulder 50.
Sherpa 100AC – The Boulder 100 or the Nomad 100.
Yeti 150 – The Boulder 100 or the Nomad 100.
Yeti 200X – The Boulder 100 or the Nomad 100. You could also combine two Boulder 50.
Yeti 400, 400 Lithium – The Boulder 100 briefcase or the Boulder 200 briefcase. The 200W panel requires a APP to 8mm cable
Yeti 1000, 1250, 1400, 3000 – One or more Boulder 100 briefcase, Nomad 100, or Boulder 200 briefcase.
Related Post: Use Third-Party Solar Panels With Goal Zero Yeti
Are There Anderson Power Pole/8mm Extension Cables?
Goal Zero makes both a 15ft 8mm and a 30ft 8mm extension cable. Since these use 16 gauge wire I don’t recommend using these if you have more than a 100W panel.
There is also a 15ft Anderson extension cable that I recommend using since it uses 12 gauge wire.
How Long Will It Take To Charge The Goal Zero Battery?
If you divide the number of watt-hours in the specific product with how many watts your panels generate, you can get a pretty close answer.
A 200W panel generates about 140W, a 100W panel about 60-70W, and a 50W panel 30-40W. This is under perfect sunny circumstances.
So if we take my setup as an example, a Yeti 1000 with 1045 watt-hours and 400W of solar that I have seen produce 290W input at the most to my Yeti, it would take 3.6 hours to charge it from 0-100 (1045Wh/290W=3.6 hours).
What Can I Do To Improve The Charging Speed?
The easiest thing you can do is to angle the panel directly towards the sun. This will help a lot in the morning, the evening, or on cloudy days.
Angling the panel towards the sun is much easier if the solar panel has a built-in kickstand, so this might be something worth considering when you choose what solar panel to buy.
Another thing you should do is make sure the solar panel isn’t shaded in any way, not even a little bit. Sometimes a small shadow can do a big difference when it comes to charging efficiency.
Related Post: 5 Ways To Improve The Charging Speed Of A Yeti Power Station
How Do I Combine Two Or More Third-Party Panels?
In my post about how to connect third-party panels to the Goal Zero batteries, I have a section that talks about how you can connect several third-party panels. Always make sure the wiring can handle the total amperage your panels output.
What Is The Max Amount of Solar Panels I Can Connect To The Yeti 1000, 1400, and 3000?
If you have the MPPT charge controller installed, they can all handle up to 800W of solar panels. You would connect 400W to the built-in PWM charge controller (on the left) and 400W to the MPPT charge controller (on the right).
To do this, use the Anderson Power Pole input and not the 8mm.
Please leave a comment down below if you have any questions.
Can I daisy chain several Nomad 7 to use as a trickle charger to maintain the charge on my Sherpa 50? Want to use the Sherpa 50 to run a 12v pump on a as needed basis.
Yes, if you have the Nomad 7 with the chain input you can daisy chain as many as you’d like.
Note the difference between Nomad 7 and Nomad 7 Plus. The 7 Plus is not chainable.
I see nothing about the Yeti 500X combined with two 100 briefcase solar panels. Nor do I see any way to daisy chain (if that’s the proper term) the two panels together.
Is it possible to connect the two to the Yeti 500X? If so, what is needed?
Hi there,
I assume those two briefcase panels use MC4 connectors? Then this post is what you’re looking for.
Basically, you need an MC4 Y branch, which will connect the two panels in parallel. Then you’ll use an MC4 to 8mm adapter to connect it all to your Yeti.
If you’d like to add some extension cables between the MC4 Y branch and the MC4 to 8mm adapter, I recommend Windynation MC4 extension cables.
I want to buy the Goal Zero 6000x and charge it with six (6) Goal Zero Boulder 20ow briefcase panels as they suggest on their Amazon page for maximum charge (1200w) but all I see is a Goal Zero cable/splitter that has 4 ends and not one that has six ends. How can I achieve this feat? Also, I think that it is cheap that Goal Zero places their Power Pole connectors on top of each other and not side by side like most gang boxes are. Otherwise I would just use a standard Power Pole gang box.
Hi,
You can connect six panels in total by connecting four via the Anderson combiner adapter you mention to the built-in input, then connecting the other two to the optional Goal Zero MPPT charge controller (click to view on Amazon).
So you’ll need two Anderson combiners and one MPPT charge controller. It’s easy to install the MPPT charge controller, I did this on my Yeti 1000.
And yes, I totally agree with you about the connectors.
Hi
I have a Yeti6000x with 4x Boulder 100 Solarpanels. Which Connector i need to pull this together?
Thank you
You need an 8mm combiner like this one by Goal Zero (click to view on Amazon).
I have the Yeti 1500X and the Nomad 200. Would it be worth adding another 100 or 200w panel to decrease charge times? Thank you!
Hi Ryan,
Definitely, the Yeti 1500X can handle a lot of solar panels and that would increase the charging speed by a lot.
We have a Yeti 1000X, and two 300 watt panels, can I connect the two 300 panels directly to my Yeti 1000X for maximum charging?
Hi, I’d need some more information on the panels. What brand and model is it?
300W BOB 60 Cell Mono Solar Panels
Thank you
Based on what I could find, it’s a 24V panel with a VOC rating of 39V and 10A. So they’re compatible if you connect them in parallel. This is done with an MC4 Y branch (click to view on Amazon).
Grab the positive Mc4 male connectors from each panel and connect them to the red branch with two MC4 female connectors, then do the same with the negatives to the black Y branch.
When that’s done, connect the Y branch (or some MC4 extension cables like these by Geosiry) to the MC4 to Anderson adapter (click to view on Amazon). Just change the orientation of the anderson connectors on the adapter to fit the Goal Zero input.
Hey there! I have a semi-old Yeti 150 that still works perfectly fine. I now bought a Boulder 50. Could I savely daisy-chain two of them together into the Yeti 150 (as you did write that they only generate about 60 to 70 watts) and if so, would anything bad happen if it were to surpass 60 watts?
I am sorry if this question is a bit easy but I was wondering and I’m not airtight with watts, volts and ampere.
Hi,
I think it’s possible with an 8mm splitter like this one by iGreely (click to view on Amazon).
The charge controller in the Yeti 150 shouldn’t have any problem with two 50W panels, it will just limit the input to 60W.
Hey there!
What would be the correct adapter for combining multiple Goal Zero Boulder 30 panels feeding into a Goal Zero Yeti 400?
Thanks very much!
Hi,
If you have two, you can use this SolarEnz parallel adapter (click to view on Amazon). According to the description it should work.
I have a 3e powers 2000w solar power station peak4000w. It came with 160w solar panel , Can I add a 100w solar panel to the 160w with the same connectors?
Your recommended pairing for the Sherpa 100AC is Boulder 100, but the max input for Sherpa 100AC is 50W. Can you explain more about this recommendation?
Hi,
Sure, even though the input maximum is 50W you can connect a solar panel that outputs more than that. To get close to the 50W you’re going to need at least a 70W panel, but I recommend the Boulder 100 because the Sherpa 100AC can actually reach 57W on a good day, and the Boulder 100 can recharge it in a little over two hours.
Here is a video on the subject, but it’s in german.
Hi I have a yeti 3000 (not 3000x) and 2 200 watt boulder briefcase panels and 2 100 watt boulder panels. What adapters and input ports would you use? Also can I add more and what would the fastest I could recharge it? Thank you!!!
Hi,
I’d connect the two briefcase panels together with the Goal Zero HPP Combiner and then to the built-in Anderson input. Then I’d buy the optional MPPT charge controller (click to view on Amazon), connect the two 100W panels in parallel with an 8mm combiner, and connect them to the Anderson input on the new MPPT module.
Then you could add either 100W or 200W panels. If you want to add two more 200W, I’d move the 100W panels to the 8mm inputs and use another HPP combiner to combine the two new 200W panels for the Anderson input on the new MPPT module.
Awesome thanks so much!! So since the 3000 already has a MPPT built in, I assume you mean purchase an additional MPPT. I didn’t realize it could take 2 MPPT’s. Great to know. Lastly your above setup has a total of 4 200’s and 2 100’s. Assume this isnt an issue with the 3000. Any rough thoughts on the time to recharge the 3000 with this number of panels?
Hi,
I just realized that you already have the extra MPPT charge controller module since you own the Yeti 3000. It has one built-in (inputs on the left), and the extra module on the right (inputs on the right).
Your Yeti can handle input via both the Anderson and 8mm ports at the same time (not possible with the newer Yeti X-models), so as long as you spread out the panels like I explained in the previous reply it should work great.
It should take around 4-6 hours with a total of 1000W solar panels.
Hi , I have a Yetti 400 , along with a boulder 200 & a 100 panel. Is it too much power to use panels together for the Yetti 400. The 200w panel usually always does the job , but it would be nice to use the 100 as well on cloudy days.
Hi,
I think the Yeti 400 maxes out at 120W input, is that what you’re seeing with the 200W panel? Either way you could definitely connect the 100W panel as well on cloudy days if it’s not near that 120W limit.
I have a yeti 6000X and two 200W 18.6V / 10.8A panels. I can connect them in parallel or series to the HPP port, but not sure which configuration will result in faster charging. Does anyone happen to know? I’ve heard that series is better because it can produce higher volts with less light such as morning / evening times of day. In the middle of the day, I’m not sure which wiring configuration is best though
Hi,
I prefer parallel because then the panels operate independently of one another, meaning that if one panel is a little bit shaded it won’t decrease the power output of the second panel as well.
You’re correct that a big benefit with series wiring is that the voltage will be higher and that can lead to better output when the conditions are weaker. I have still kept my panels wired in parallel.
Have Boulder 200 Briefcase. Is it possible to separate the 2 panels/ lengthen connecting wiring and if so what type of connector(s)?
Possible? Yes, but you would have to cut some wires and I haven’t done it myself so I can’t promise you that it would work.
What you want to do is disconnect the wire from the second panel that is attached to the junction box on the first panel. Which connector to use depends on what you want to connect it to. I would personally use MC4 connectors because that would make it easy to attach extension cables. Then you can get an MC4 to Anderson or whatever the DC input on your power station is.