The Solar Addict Blog
Hello there, I am Jesse the Solar Addict.
Ever since I was young I have been fascinated by renewable energy sources. I mean, how could you not be? It sounds amazing to be able to continue living our lives the way we know it without leaving the earth worse than we found it.
One way to do this is to produce electricity without polluting the earth further. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. Solar panels have issues with toxic waste and recycling problems, and so does wind and water.
So what is the best way to produce power right now? Well, nuclear plants are great at producing electricity without leaving much toxic waste, but there aren’t nuclear plants in every little corner of the world, and the material used in nuclear plants is non-renewable. This makes solar power one of the cheapest, most accessible ways for people to get into renewable energy.
Do you use solar panels?
I travel fulltime with my wife in our travel trailer, and we spend most of the time boondocking, which is when you’re off the grid completely without hookups. We still charge our laptops, watch TV, use our toaster, microwave, basically all our electronics, and this is possible due to our solar panels.
We have a 12V lithium battery that can hold 100Ah, which is enough power to last us a day or two, more if we needed. As soon as the sun rises, it starts recharging this battery and we can either use it while it’s charging, or let it fully charge and use it in the evening. I am going to make a post about our solar setup where I will go into further details.
I decided to create this blog to help share the knowledge I have gathered over the years. I am hopeful that others will find the blog and help me share their knowledge along the way. Feel free to leave a comment with either a question or your thoughts, I appreciate any improvements you can help me make, to make it a better, more accurate page.
For now, thank you for stopping by!
Dig your site, especially the Goal Zero stuff. Sadly, I have a LOT of their stuff. One of the items is their Tank Expansion. Since I have a camping van with both a starter & house deep cycle battery, I’ve been trying to find or figure out good ways to use the Tank in lieu of the house battery in the event my house battery dies. Maybe one day you’ll find that a good thing to look into. In the meantime, I continue to review some of the videos I’ve found where folks figured out how to run their van DC circuits using the Goal Zero 3000.
Thanks for your comment, Larry, I appreciate it.
Nice, I would like to experiment some with that in the future.
I bought 4 renogy panels about 6 months ago. they are 100 each which gives me 400 wats What I want to know is if there is a solar flare from the sun are the panels ok in other words is there anything on the panels that will burn out during a solar flare. they are not the newer panels. that lock together. Jess Knepper [email protected]
Hi Jesse – after a few hours on the web I still cannot find any help with my Goal Zero problem. I don’t know if you respond to questions, but I am desparate at this point, so here goes:
I own 2-3 of the older GZ Solar Panels (Nomad 27 and Elite Nomad 7). The cable coming out of these can’t charge either my Extreme 350 or Yeti 400 because the input plugs do not match. I think the newer ones are 8mm and don’t even know the size on the ones I have.
Is there an adaptor available – or do i have to just chuck them?
One other issue: My never-used Sherpa 120 is dead – my bad, because I never charged it. Is there any way to salvage this perfectly new unit even though the battery is now dead?
Thanks you so much if you can help!!!!
Thanks,
Tim
Hey Tim,
I Googled the two Goal Zero panels you have and based on what I could find they both have the 8mm Solar Port, which is the input on the Yeti 400. Do you have an older model of these panels that only have USB ports?
Even if you got it to work, it would take a really long time to recharge the Yeti 400 with them since they’re so small. If I were you I would just buy a new 50W or 100W panel so you could charge the Yeti relatively fast.
Regarding the Sherpa, I don’t understand how it would be completely dead, but if it won’t take a charge you would have to send it to Goal Zero for a repair. I assume you’ve tried to charge it in several ways to make sure it doesn’t work?
Jesse
Hi,!,,I just bought an 1500 jackery ,,,,how many solar panels do I need ,,,and what is compatible with it?
Thanks Annette,,,
Hi,
You have a lot of options, and it depends on what type of panels you want.
No matter what you connect, you’re going to have to use the 8mm adapter Jackery includes with the 1500.
If you want portable and light panels, the Jackery SolarSaga 100W is an excellent panel. You can connect up to four of these to your Explorer 1500.
For even more portability, the Itehil 100W is a good panel.
If you’re going to install panels on an RV roof or shed, I recommend these Renogy 100W panels. You’d need additional adapters to connect these to the Jackery though.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Hi,
I have a Floureon 200W Inverter and just purchased a 60W solar panel unit (eco-worthy). I am first wanting to know if this solar panel is compatible with my small inverter or too large? And I am searching for a larger Watt Invertor and I am on a pretty strict budget. What would you suggest for the 60W solar panels? How large of a inverter will these solar panels power? Thanks!
Hi Sheryl,
Is this the Eco-worthy 60W panel you bought? If so, it is compatible and a great choice for your Floureon power station, you just need to connect the right connector.
Also, connect the panel directly to the power station without the charge controller that Eco-worthy includes. The external charge controller is useful if you need to charge an RV or car battery.
The Anker 256Wh (click to view on Amazon) is a good compatible option. For something even larger, I highly recommend the Jackery Explorer 300.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the info. I was happy to find this website because it is hard to decifer all the information out there. It is not easy for a newbie to understand. Thanks again!
Is 300W Pure Sine type inverter the largest my new 60W solar panels can support or what is the largest Watt I can go up to with this 60 W Panel? And that is the Eco-worthy you mentioned that I bought by the way.
The 300W rating is how much the AC outlets in the power station can output in total. It will not depend on the solar panel.
A 60W panel can be used with pretty much any power station, even ones with a 1500W inverter and 1000Wh. It would just take a long time to generate 1000Wh with a 60W panel.
The solar panel will not power the inverter directly, but it will charge the battery, which the inverter will then use to power your devices.
What matters more when you choose a solar panel is the battery capacity of the power station. The Jackery I linked to has a 293 watt-hour capacity, which means that you could power a 50W TV for almost five hours (293Wh/50W*0.85=4.9 hours). I multiply by 0.85% since the inverter is not 100% efficient when it changes the DC battery power to AC power.
Your 60W panel should be able to generate around 40-50W to the Jackery when it’s sunny. If we divide the total Wh (watt-hour) capacity of the power station (not the inverter rating), with what the solar panel generates, we’ll get an idea of how long it’s going to take to recharge the battery from 0-100%. 293/45=6.5 hours. I’d expect it to take a little longer than that, probably around 7-8 hours.
I have written this article that explains it a little more in depth.
Hopefully I didn’t make it confusing, let me know if I can explain it further.
Thank you so much for explaining that! It is a big help to us newbies!
Well I got my panels but cannot figure out how to connect it to the generator. They sent a bunch of connectors but none match. Then I got my new Vault 300W power generator today (they said it was a 350W!) and no where in the manual does it mention solar! Boy I am on a roll! Is this a generator I cannot use with my solar panels by chance then?
None of them match with the Flureon? What if you connect it without any of the extra adapters with the cable directly from the panel?
I couldn’t find any information about the input on the Vault 300W, it is possible that it doesn’t support solar since it needs to have a solar charge controller to support it. I suggest contacting the company that made it to make sure before you try to connect your solar panel.
Yeh I did find the solar panel cord end will plug into my Floureon. That part is good. Bad news is the company told me the Vault does not use the solar panels! Well looks like I am shopping for ANOTHER solar generator! I would guess it has to say it is a pure sine type I guess. That much I remember from shopping for my Floureon in the first place. Thanks for listening to me and lending a helping hand! This is a lot of help!
Ah, sorry to hear that. Let me know if I can help you further!
I sure will! Well even if the new one I bought is not solar, I still have a extra! lol Now shopping again for one that will work with my new 60W solar panels! I am never running out of juice!
Hey, love your site. I have an Ecoflow Delta power station that I’d like to connect a 200 watt Renogy Eclipse solar suitcase to. The issue I’m running into is that the Ecoflow has a Max Amps of 10, and the solar panel has an Imp of 11.3. Will that damage my Ecoflow, and if so, is there a way to step down the Amps from the solar panel to under 10?
Hi,
No it won’t hurt the EcoFlow, it will just maximize the input. This is fine to do to a certain point, as long as you don’t exceed the voltage which you won’t with that panel.
You’re good to go!
Hello Wanted to let you know about misinformation on your site Goal Zero Yeti 400 Lithium Series batteries can I repeat CAN be replaced It even says so on the box and the REI website and Mighty Max battery supplyer Please correct your false statements concerning battery replacement in Goal Zero Lithium powered Yeti Power Stations before you give someone a heart attack SMFH!
Hi Mike, thanks for your comment.
Looks like Goal Zero has changed its mind on that one because of complaints, I’ll update the article. I can’t find the Mighty Max battery in stock anywhere though.
Noticed Zoro.com has the replacement in stock $219 Waiting now for someone on youtube to post a video of battery replacement for the Yeti 400 Lithium Plenty of videos on battery replacement for Yeti 400 regular AGM Maybe you can be the first to post this process?
Ok thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it!
Hi, what it is the maximum amps while charging a 6000x with a 3rd party solar panels (3 – 100w in PARALLEL). My yeti stop charging some times while charging it with my solar panels and I do not know if something wrong with my yeti or the solar panels.
Hi,
The Yeti 6000X can handle up to 50A, so the amperage should not be a problem. I’ve had similar issues with my Yeti where I had to unplug and plug in the panels again, I suggest contacting Goal Zero.