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diy solar

Cheap old Goal Zero gear can be found and salvaged

Bob142

Build more, learn more.
Joined
Oct 31, 2019
Messages
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Location
Rhode Island, USA
For years I’ve been a fan of upgrading old AGM-based Goal Zero power stations to LFP batteries.

Keep your eye out for deals as people move on from these old power stations. I just scored a well-worn Yeti 400 on eBay for $21. It was being sold as For Parts/Repair. It just needed a new battery.

$100 for a Weize U1-sized 36Ah LFP battery and it’s good to go.
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Do you have to do anything to modify the charge circuitry for the AGM->LFP conversion?
I never have and everything has been fine. See my signature for links to my two Yeti 1250 mods. There is plenty of discussion about that there.

Goal Zero was also nice enough to supply external ports for chaining extra batteries. I’ve used that to jack in higher powered SCCs and grid/mains chargers as needed. This one has an Anderson Powerpole port that I’ll use for that.

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I have done the same with a 150 and a 400 and it works fine.

The 400 provides a Wh counter. If it shows 200 Wh you have 50% SOC.
 
Solar is going to be a cornucopia of these deceased products. For $21 I might change my opinion of these.
 
21 bucks is one hell of a price. I am not seeing anything near that at the moment.
Agreed. I got super lucky with that one. It ended up in a Vermont recycling facility and they threw it up on eBay for auction. I was the only bidder.

I figured if it was truly dead, I could live with harvesting some connectors or gut it and replace with other parts. But it worked, so it’s like winning the junk pile lottery.
 
I put another Weize LFP battery into the oldest Goal Zero product I own: an Extreme 350 I’ve had for around 12 years.

Chained to the Yeti 400, now I’ve got 920Wh to play with in a very portable configuration. These old GZ products still rock.

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I’ve looked but can’t locate any more of the Extreme 350s online. They’re not great standalone but make for a nice companion if you can find them. Solar scavenger hunt.
 
@Ely what size battery does the Yeti 150 take?
And who makes an LFP small enough at a good price to make it worth it?
A standard 14 or 15 Ah LFP like the original AGM with Faston connectors. I'm in Germany and I buy the LFP from Amazon. I have now seen there are no such batteries in Amazon US 😲
 
What physical size, LWH. I got a bunch of 10 and 12AH from Amazon.
To small. This is an AGM for the Yeti 150 and the right size (3rd picture shows the size in cm and inches). This size in LFP is available in Germany. I think in the US too, but not on Amazon.
 
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Looked at the Yeti 150 some more and noticed it’s a modified sine wave inverter. I think I’ll stick with the 400 and 1250 as the only Goal Zero antiques worth restoring.
 
I don't know what you intended to say. My 12AH from amazon is exactly that size.
The physical size may be is the same. But you waste some Ah and Wh. The 12 Ah battery contains more air as the 14 or 15 Ah 😉

Looked at the Yeti 150 some more and noticed it’s a modified sine wave inverter. I think I’ll stick with the 400 and 1250 as the only Goal Zero antiques worth restoring.
Yes, it‘s a modified sine wave. I don‘t use the inverter at the 150. I have a LFP upgraded Yeti 400 too.
 
I’m on a roll. Found another one on eBay that was mislabeled as a Yeti 150. $50 w/free shipping.

Outputs all work but it wouldn’t charge. Was throwing a temperature error. So I disconnected the battery temp sensor (won’t use it for LFP anyway) and it’s charging away.

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(Yes, I’m using the first one I found to charge the second one.)
 
Anyone here have any corresponding recoveries of dead EcoFlow units? I have a few and I do like them, but if they die what they expect you to do is send them back for credit towards a new purchase, but the credit given is quite meager.
 
Looked at the Yeti 150 some more and noticed it’s a modified sine wave inverter. I think I’ll stick with the 400 and 1250 as the only Goal Zero antiques worth restoring.
I have become interested since reading your restorations. Are there any other models or battery power supplies that also have user replaceable batteries? So far, only GoalZero is the only one that pops up.
 
I have become interested since reading your restorations. Are there any other models or battery power supplies that also have user replaceable batteries? So far, only GoalZero is the only one that pops up.
GZ is the one I’ve focused on because the old Yeti 1250 and 400 were so capable for their time, are solar-focused, and designed for user replacement of the batteries. I don’t recall any major competitors with the same qualities.

I’ve also converted an old AGM jump starter to LFP (see my signature) but that required a lot more work. But you can probably find some with easy battery replacement and a decent small inverter built in if that’s sufficient.

I think Anker and Duracell also made some consumer UPS-like backup power stations that take standard-sized batteries. I can’t remember model names/numbers since I probably looked at them 4-5 years ago. They also didn’t have any solar charging.

Brain dump over. Hope that helps.
 
I think Anker and Duracell also made some consumer UPS-like backup power stations that take standard-sized batteries. I can’t remember model names/numbers since I probably looked at them 4-5 years ago.
I got curious and looked again. Duracell made a PowerSource 660 that does include a solar charge controller. 12V 55Ah battery, so quite a bit more capacity than the Yeti 400. I think it's a modified sine wave inverter but am not certain.

There are a few on eBay. For example:

 
I put another Weize LFP battery into the oldest Goal Zero product I own: an Extreme 350 I’ve had for around 12 years.

Chained to the Yeti 400, now I’ve got 920Wh to play with in a very portable configuration. These old GZ products still rock.

View attachment 236231View attachment 236232

I’ve looked but can’t locate any more of the Extreme 350s online. They’re not great standalone but make for a nice companion if you can find them. Solar scavenger hunt.
cool seeing the extreme and yeti 400 side by side, look like long lost brothers.
 
I have a Goal Zero 3000X with a bad battery cell. It worked fine for 3 years then gave an overheating error, disharged and that is where it is.

GZ won't repair it and it is out of warranty, so if anyone wants it is available free in Salinas, California. You have to come pick it up. Email me at dave@rimcanyon.net if you want it.
 

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