Small wind turbine

alexyeti

Hi - I'd like to get a small wind turbine to work with my Yeti (1500X). I saw an earlier thread that didn't really have an answer, beyond 24V as the input goal. Any other advice? Team YETI/Goal Zero, this seems like one that the corporate office should be interested in, no? I would happily buy something that was guaranteed to work with your system.

jg164

@alexyeti

All our current Yeti X power stations have a build in MPPT charge controller that is coded to be efficient at using solar panels. The newer Yeti Pro 4000 and 300, 500 and 700 also have logic to watch for vehicle alternator in their 8mm (and HV DC inputs, 4000 only).

Solar panels typically have 2 predictable max output voltages:
Voc or Open Circuit voltage
Vmp or the voltage that the panel drops to when powering an MPPT charge controller.

When connecting a Solar panel to a Yeti, you must only use solar panels that have Voc and Vmp that fit inside the input voltage range of the DC input port for the Yeti.

For a 1500X, both DC inputs can take about 14-50V.

Wind input can be more complicated because as the wind turbine gets spinning faster the voltage can go all over the place. If you are not using a wind turbine charge controller between the wind turbine and the Yeti, not only is the voltage typically 3 phase AC and not DC, but the voltage may go to way too high and permanently damage the Yeti. If you do find a Wind turbine and Wind charge controller that will restrict to a safe DC voltage output within the Yeti's input range, it might work.

Since we have not done any testing with 3rd party wind turbines or wind turbine charge controllers as input sources, we cannot guarantee any experimenting you do with your own Yeti and you might end up with a damaged or dead Yeti and void the warranty.

alexyeti

Thanks! Appreciate the technical answer as to why as well. I will look for what you suggest, but here's hoping that you all find a product that works and make it part of the Goal Zero package. I will be first in line.