Why is the Yeti Pro 4000 AC Output unexpectedly shutting off?
Answers
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Updated the firmware and next day got an "Inverter hard fault" … then restarted the unit. We'll see what happens. Fingers crossed.
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Todd, thank you for the update. It's good that Goal Zero is trying to get the problem resolved, but it is disappointing that it is not yet solved. I have disconnected the Escape remote display, to see if that work around will stop the problem from occurring for the time being.
I agree completely that this product was released in a "pre-alpha" state. There has been progress over the last year in fixing bugs, but the fact that serious bugs remain is very disappointing.
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I just downloaded the 1.8 firmware and am testing it for this issue. Hooked up one device to the AC output via the Haven10, turned on the input through the Power+ cable and let it rip. Will monitor it every few hours over the next week to see if it is still going.
One quality of life improvement that would really help is to add a notification option for when an output port is either turned off or on. I hope GoalZero adds that to their enhancement list.
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Same here. Occurred after fw1.8.0 upgrade and doing “conditioning” cycles.
“Conditioning” was recommended by customer support to stabilize voltage at ~50V after the battery drained from 100% to 49% when I turned on the Yeti last week for an actual power outage! The precipitous battery drain is slightly off topic, but does affect port shutoffs. The info may be useful to others. Here’s what they said:
“It sounds like their may have been an issue with the Yeti battery voltage. I have seen this happen before where the Yeti will experience a significant drop in percentage and the ports will shut off. It is generally caused by the Yeti needing to be conditioned. I would recommend you charge it up, then discharge it by running devices on it until it drops to 20% or lower, then recharge and repeat this process 2 more times. This will condition the battery, and it will not experience these drops anymore.” -
Hi all, I'd like to jump in here to explain a bit more about the new 1.8.0 update and clarify a few points that were previously mentioned.
» he confirmed that 1.8 firmware is supposed to address the problem with the port shut off
While the 1.8.0 release should help with the shutoffs in the case reported by @BatteryFun in which the unit beeps but does not enable the port, engineering is still trying to recreate the reports here of random shutoff of the AC port but acknowledge that this is a legitimate issue which may persist in this update.
We are also now aware of the issue in which the 12V port can shut off at random with the external Escape screen connected and are also investigating the cause of this. Unfortunately, the 1.8.0 release does not have any improvements to resolve this directly.
On @Meg_2023 report of a battery jumping from 100% to 49% with a voltage ~50V, this is something of an 'artifact' of this latest release in which the the state of charge is temporarily overridden to address a bug that prevents the unit from recharging properly. We realize the jump is dramatic and intend to improve this UI in a future release.
Finally, on the comment about "conditioning" the battery, a better word for this may be balancing. As you all know, Lithium batteries have little to no memory effect and do not require a float charge stage. However, because of the series cell configuration, occasional balancing of each cell is needed. In the case of the Yeti Pro 4000 battery, this happens while charging and works best at low power levels which naturally occur near the end of charge. What our CS agents are trying to say here is that units should occasionally be charged to full to correct for any possible cell imbalance which might accrue if the unit only ever experiences brief, high wattage charging as can occur when using a charge profile. -
This is helpful and encouraging. I started this thread and have continued to post on it as I have new observations. After updating to 1.8.0 I have had a couple occasions of AC Output shutting off, an "Inverter hard fault" reported as an app notification, and an "Inverter undervoltage" condition alert reported on the unit screen but not as an app notification. I have hopes that the issue will be resolved and I'm willing to give engineering access to my cloud-connected unit if that would be useful.
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After my last post, I placed a load - the freezer - on the 4000, to attempt to draw down the charge a bit to encourage the "balancing" noted by @eng_support1, planning for a full recharge via solar the next day. I set the charging profile to "performance" - 0%-100% charging range. The unit reached about 60% charge overnight, then solar took over and got it back up to full by day's end. The AC output never shut off during that time, and the freezer ran fine. In the same period, I received several notifications on the app indicating minimum charge reached or 1 minute remaining before output ports shut off. Clearly the app is at times not reporting the actual condition of the unit. This is a problem that needs fixed.
