Is there an alternative to the GZ Yeti link?

[solararray]

Hi all,

Cool forum, I haven't joined a forum in such a long time. This one looked really interesting.

So, I'm working on an off grid backup power supply to my home to keep a few important appliances going fridge/freezer etc.

I have a Goal Zero Yeti Lithium 1400. I want to have a battery bank to increase energy storage. I can buy a 'yeti link' that I can plug into the GZ so I can connect additional batteries. However it is a very expensive at around $400.

Now, the manual for the yeti link states "The Link is a 65 Amp Lead-Acid to Lithium Charge Controller that allows you to chain lead-acid batteries to a Yeti Lithium power station."

Yeti link manual here: https://www.goalzero.com/media/files/yeti-link-expansion-module-user-guide-114-df81.pdf

So I'm thinking; is there a cheaper charge controller I can use instead of the expensive yeti link?

There are two different battery chemistries going on: Lead-acid and Lithium and from what I have read from numerous sites you cannot charge lithium batteries with a lead acid charger due to differences in voltage etc.

Does anyone know of a suitable alternative and cheaper charge controller for this application? Or could you use lithium batteries for the external storage so you do not have the problem with different battery chemistries. Perhaps if you used the same lithium battery that is in the GZ?

I am aware of the Youtube video where the fellow charges his GZ with a battery connected by a 12v auto adapter but in that video he is limited to 60w-120w of input to the GZ.

Here:

The yeti link can recharge the GZ 1400 at a rate of 454-750W from its expansion batteries which is far better and will help prevent the yeti from discharging itself faster than it is getting charged!

Would the theoretical setup be something like

Solar panel>charge controller1>external battery bank>charge controller2(in place of the yeti link)>Goal Zero yeti

There are two charge controllers in that setup and I believe I read somewhere about that not working ---but what if the solar panel, charge controller1, external battery bank were all 24v and charge controller 2 converted the 24v to 12v for the yeti?

So I suppose in summary, is there a suitable alternative to the yeti link? For example a 3rd party charge controller hooked up to external lithium batteries? I've seen some people on the forum have modified their GZ's.

Thanks!

David

 

[solararray]

If it makes it easier I have drawn a diagram of a possible setup to get around buying a $400 yeti link. The area inside the dotted lines is my proposed idea.




My apologies about posting something that seems similar to what others have done, I checked for this but realised later that there is another similar thread here:

Goal Zero Yeti 1000 and backup Lithium Batteries

Hello All, I am very new to all this but have just purchased a Goal Zero Yeti 1000 as a small emergency backup for my home. Goal Zero sells a Link module and backup lead acid batteries to extend the storage capacity of their Yeti line. My question is: Instead of using lead acid batteries as a...

diysolarforum.com

 

[ToddParker]

Hi, that video above is mine - thanks for the mention. I found the voltage sag with lead acid batteries would cause the Yeti 12v charger to shut off when the battery was at about 50% which isn't great. More recently I bought a LFP 100ah battery and that works great as a way to trickle charge my Yeti 1000. I can fully charge my Yeti from this external battery. I even bought a second charger so I can push over 200w into the Yeti if I want to charge it faster or just keep some electrons flowing in if it's under load. Working on a video on that.

I also found this video of someone using a Victron Victron Orion TR-Smart Isolated 12/24-15 DC to DC converter to charge the Yeti at a super fast rate:

As long as you can get 16-22v of power into the PWM charging port, you can charge the Yeti from any DC source.

 

[pheenix99]

Hi, that video above is mine - thanks for the mention. I found the voltage sag with lead acid batteries would cause the Yeti 12v charger to shut off when the battery was at about 50% which isn't great. More recently I bought a LFP 100ah battery and that works great as a way to trickle charge my Yeti 1000. I can fully charge my Yeti from this external battery. I even bought a second charger so I can push over 200w into the Yeti if I want to charge it faster or just keep some electrons flowing in if it's under load. Working on a video on that.

I also found this video of someone using a Victron Victron Orion TR-Smart Isolated 12/24-15 DC to DC converter to charge the Yeti at a super fast rate:

As long as you can get 16-22v of power into the PWM charging port, you can charge the Yeti from any DC source.

I can't tell you how glad I am to have found your comment. I found a Yeti 1400 on Ebay (confirmed to be Goal Zero's official Ebay presence) and I was trying to figure out a lithium alternative to the lead acid tank (I will admit, I do prefer the matching appearance).

While I expect the 1400 to be more than sufficient, it's nice to have options that don't involve a Yeti 3000.

 

[ToddParker]

I can't tell you how glad I am to have found your comment. I found a Yeti 1400 on Ebay (confirmed to be Goal Zero's official Ebay presence) and I was trying to figure out a lithium alternative to the lead acid tank (I will admit, I do prefer the matching appearance).

While I expect the 1400 to be more than sufficient, it's nice to have options that don't involve a Yeti 3000.

As an even simpler solution, you can directly charge the Yeti from a lithium battery with the car charger cable. Just made a new video in it:

 

[pheenix99]

As an even simpler solution, you can directly charge the Yeti from a lithium battery with the car charger cable. Just made a new video in it:

I'm not sure if I saw that video, or one like it. I remember the battery and what not, but not the part about the charger.

 

[oshky]

As an even simpler solution, you can directly charge the Yeti from a lithium battery with the car charger cable. Just made a new video in it:

I have learned a nice thing here! Thank you for sharing your experience.

I was reading the Yeti 3000 manual and on page 8 a small warning box says (quote) IMPORTANT NOTE: The Goal Zero Yeti Lithium is not compatible recharging from a 12V source, it can result in damage to the unit, cable, as well as your vehicle. Is this applies in this setup or not?

I'm wondering because I'm ready to buy a lithium battery, 12v charger and Noco receptacles. I appreciate your comment.

 

[ToddParker]

I have learned a nice thing here! Thank you for sharing your experience.

I was reading the Yeti 3000 manual and on page 8 a small warning box says (quote) IMPORTANT NOTE: The Goal Zero Yeti Lithium is not compatible recharging from a 12V source, it can result in damage to the unit, cable, as well as your vehicle. Is this applies in this setup or not?

I'm wondering because I'm ready to buy a lithium battery, 12v charger and Noco receptacles. I appreciate your comment.

From what I understand, if you used the older 12v car charger cable from the lead acid Yetis with a lithium Yeti, it could be bad news. Lithium batteries have much lower internal resistance so they will pull a ton of current so that was causing lithium Yetis to pull way too much power from the car's cigarette ports, melting cables, and maybe even starting fires. That's why they created the 12v car charger for lithium batteries - is regulates the amount of current it pulls and even has a 5A/10A switch to dial it back if 10A is too much for your car. I'm simply using that cable but instead of attaching it to your car battery or alternator, I'm attaching it to a standalone lithium 100A battery so it should be completely safe. It is limited in how much you can "chain" into your Yeti to 60-120w, or double that if you get a second charger and your battery can handle 20A of output but works pretty darn well. I'm intentionally using standard Goal Zero products here because in theory they have tested them to work safely.

 

[Itsuo]

As an even simpler solution, you can directly charge the Yeti from a lithium battery with the car charger cable. Just made a new video in it:

Great videos Todd! (I just checked out what you posted today about the victron.) Are you considering a set up where you use solar panels to charge the new lithium battery—which can then charge your Yeti? This would be the equivalent to the Link system for those who use primarily solar.

 

[ToddParker]

Great videos Todd! (I just checked out what you posted today about the victron.) Are you considering a set up where you use solar panels to charge the new lithium battery—which can then charge your Yeti? This would be the equivalent to the Link system for those who use primarily solar.

Yeah, you can connect a small solar charger and panel to this battery to charge it up for sure. For me, this is better than the link because I can keep my MPPT and not be stuck with lead acid. I dunno why the link wasn’t designed this way.

I’ve also been tinkering with trickle charging my Yeti from my Ego batteries via a 56v to 12v step down converter and car cable. So many options!

 

[BigCaddyshack]

Todd and David....

Todd, your videos are what convinced me to buy a GZ1000 several years ago. They are great and I'm glad to see you are back shooting more GZ solutions. Your ideas are definitely outside the box but just what we need!

Like most, I'm trying to add flexibility to my platforms and with prices dropping on LIFEPO4, I want to stretch my GZ investment. so I'm struggling with some of the same issues.

I saw the 2 car charger video to feed your 1000, that seems to be the most efficient way to minimize losses from the external battery and get the greatest charge from one battery to the other. My only concern is that the car chargers are a specialized (and expensive) component - having only the single purpose - I want something that does more.

My solution was to add a 600 watt sine wave inverter directly to my dakota lithium 100AH and feed the 2 standard GZ chargers I already own from that. The inverter wasn't too much more than a couple car chargers and give me redundancy. Yes, there are more loses in the conversion to AC on the dakota, and then back again to DC from the GZ chargers. I havent measured my suspicion is that I'm lossing 15% in the process.

I have run the single car charger I own from this dakota LIFEPO4 too just like you did in your video but not in conjunction with the inverter setup yet. Something else to test I suppose. With all 3, I should be able to get 250 Watts or so into the yeti.

I have a Ryobi 150 watt inverter for 18V batteries, might be more opportunities to be flexible. I hate putting all my eggs in one basket.

Also, I talked with GZ about the meter issue, If I recall correctly, they told be to run it almost dead (<3% SOC), hold down the units and the info button and it would do a reset - then charge it back up again and the meter should read 100%. I tried that and my meter reset properly - however, in 9 months, it was right back to charging to 97% at full anyways!

Thanks
Ron

 

[ToddParker]

Todd and David....

Todd, your videos are what convinced me to buy a GZ1000 several years ago. They are great and I'm glad to see you are back shooting more GZ solutions. Your ideas are definitely outside the box but just what we need!

Like most, I'm trying to add flexibility to my platforms and with prices dropping on LIFEPO4, I want to stretch my GZ investment. so I'm struggling with some of the same issues.

I saw the 2 car charger video to feed your 1000, that seems to be the most efficient way to minimize losses from the external battery and get the greatest charge from one battery to the other. My only concern is that the car chargers are a specialized (and expensive) component - having only the single purpose - I want something that does more.

My solution was to add a 600 watt sine wave inverter directly to my dakota lithium 100AH and feed the 2 standard GZ chargers I already own from that. The inverter wasn't too much more than a couple car chargers and give me redundancy. Yes, there are more loses in the conversion to AC on the dakota, and then back again to DC from the GZ chargers. I havent measured my suspicion is that I'm lossing 15% in the process.

I have run the single car charger I own from this dakota LIFEPO4 too just like you did in your video but not in conjunction with the inverter setup yet. Something else to test I suppose. With all 3, I should be able to get 250 Watts or so into the yeti.

I have a Ryobi 150 watt inverter for 18V batteries, might be more opportunities to be flexible. I hate putting all my eggs in one basket.

Also, I talked with GZ about the meter issue, If I recall correctly, they told be to run it almost dead (<3% SOC), hold down the units and the info button and it would do a reset - then charge it back up again and the meter should read 100%. I tried that and my meter reset properly - however, in 9 months, it was right back to charging to 97% at full anyways!

Thanks
Ron

Thanks Ron, really interesting. I chatted with GZ tech support a week or two and they told me to reset the controls below 70-80 SOC to fix the calibration but other times they have told me to run it all the way down like you said. I’ve chatted with GZ support a few times and had mixed messages.

In either case, I’ve done that a few times and it never makes a difference. This time, the GZ person said they would swap my unit for a refurbished Yeti 1000, maybe because mine never gets above 93% and sometimes only 89%. I think I have some bad cells and they know it’s a problem so they are quietly replacing units. To me, that is really great support, especially considering my 1000 is over 2 years old so not under warranty.

I’ve measured my total watt hour output and am only getting 840 watt hours so I’ve lost a fair amount of capability though they never even asked for that kind of info. One other thing: apparently if you’re within the warranty period, you may be able to upgrade to a larger unit if they are doing a warranty swap. They will offer you the refurb price for your unit (~$740) as credit for a refurb price on a 1400 or 3000. Mine was just too old which is a bummer.

Anyway, boxing mine up for a return today but did some tinkering with how to hard reset a bricked Yeti because mine got into a bad spot when trying this soft reset for the display - it’s an easy fix. Look for a video on that and a tear down video soon.

 

[Itsuo]

I’ve also got my 1400 to return for store credit. I decided instead of trying to get a 1500X and expand, it would be cheaper, and easier to go for a larger unit and eventually do the home integration. However now that I know there are refurbished Yeti 3000 units on the market I think I’ll have to go for that. Also knowing that if things don’t work out after a year I can trade back in for credit and upgrade, etc.

My use case is just as a simple solar charger connected to 250w of Boulder panels. It supports a few small home appliances for the 9mo of the year that the panels get sun on my roof. For the others, it just sits full as an emergency back up.

 

[oshky]

From what I understand, if you used the older 12v car charger cable from the lead acid Yetis with a lithium Yeti, it could be bad news. Lithium batteries have much lower internal resistance so they will pull a ton of current so that was causing lithium Yetis to pull way too much power from the car's cigarette ports, melting cables, and maybe even starting fires. That's why they created the 12v car charger for lithium batteries - is regulates the amount of current it pulls and even has a 5A/10A switch to dial it back if 10A is too much for your car. I'm simply using that cable but instead of attaching it to your car battery or alternator, I'm attaching it to a standalone lithium 100A battery so it should be completely safe. It is limited in how much you can "chain" into your Yeti to 60-120w, or double that if you get a second charger and your battery can handle 20A of output but works pretty darn well. I'm intentionally using standard Goal Zero products here because in theory they have tested them to work safely.

Thank you so much for your answer. I'm planning to add this arrangement to my Yeti.

 

[oshky]

Yeah, you can connect a small solar charger and panel to this battery to charge it up for sure. For me, this is better than the link because I can keep my MPPT and not be stuck with lead acid. I dunno why the link wasn’t designed this way.

I’ve also been tinkering with trickle charging my Yeti from my Ego batteries via a 56v to 12v step down converter and car cable. So many options!

Todd:

In my case I have the Yeti link with two tanks. The link has a 8mm input port (150 watts max.) Since I'm considering adding a Lithium 200AH battery with the 12v car charger as you show in your video, Can I plug the 12v car charger into this 8mm port or should I use the PWM port instead?

Thanks for your help.

 

[ToddParker]

I think either port would work fine.

 

[oshky]

Thank you Todd!