GZ Yeti 1400 and Alternator

[pegasus]

Hi folks. Am beginning a ford transit connect conversion and am seeking guidance on the power setup. I apologize if any of my terminology or wording below is off.. I am just learning about this sort of thing, and have no prior experience with electricity or battery systems at all! Any help is really appreciated.

I currently have a GZ Yeti 1400, two 100W Renogy solar panels w/MC4 connectors, and Male EC8 to Ring Terminal cable. My plan is to get Kisae's DMT1250. The Kisae DMT1250 is a DC to DC charger as well as an MPPT for solar. So I could connect my panels in series with the MPPT and also charge the Yeti via starter battery. I bought the Male EC8 to Ring Terminal cable in order to be able to connect the Yeti to the external charger (DMT1250).

I have watched Will's video's of using the Victron MPPT with the Yeti, so I assumed connecting this charger in the same fashion would work.

Has anyone heard of using an external DC to DC charger with the Goal Zero Yeti? I see that it is possible to use an external MPPT, but have yet to come across anyone charging with the alternator except for with the Goal Zero Car Link.

Any help or advice is appreciated. If you think using the Kisae will damage either the Yeti or the Alternator please let me know. Thank you!

 

[pegasus]

Answering my own question, No, the Goal Zero 1400 cannot be used with the DMT1250.

The Goal Zero requires voltage setting which are not compatible with the DMT1250. The DMT1250 has a minimum Absorption voltage setting of 13.8V and a minimum Floating of 13V, exceeding by far the 12.5V and 12.35V respectively maximums of the Goal Zero 1400.

Also, the voltage threshold in the DMT1250 to start a new complete new charging cycle is 12.5V or 13.3V using the “Program” or “Lithium” setting menu respectively. These values are prefixed in the DMT1250 and not user-settable.

Based on all the above, the DMT1250 cannot be used for charging the internal battery of the Yeti GZ neither from the starter battery nor the solar panel (its output is a unique common one for both input sources).

Not sure why that Lithium NMC battery requires much less voltage than the most typical ones in the market. It seems it is not a nominal 12V battery but perhaps a 10V nominal one.

 

[ToddParker]

This video shows the Victron Orion TR-Smart Isolated 12/24-15 alternator charging a Yeti:

I bought two 12v Yeti charging cables and just plug them into different fused outlets to charge at over 200w. I wish the cables were heavier gauge, they sure are thin.

 

[ToddParker]

I made a video showing how to charge a Yeti using the car charger cables. If your alternator and ports can handle it, you could run a few car chargers to charge your Yeti at 120, 240, or even 320 watts (max).

 

[dillon]

If I get the GZ 3000x, and the Victron Orion TR-Smart Isolated 12/24-15 to the starter battery. Is is possible to have solar as well? from those videos it looks like you'd use the same anderson port? or am i missing something?

 

[ToddParker]

Yea, you can connect both at the same time it you might need. To wire both into one Anderson plug. You can also install the MPPT expansion module which has an Anderson.