Charging Yeti 1000x from AC while in use -- gradually draining battery
I have set up a new 1000x and tested charging from solar panels, which works well (although with 3 Boulder 200s in full sunlight I wish I was seeing something closer to 600W than to 300W incoming). When not using solar panels to run the selected items (mostly internet routers / switches) I want to plug the 1000x into its AC charger and use it as a glorified UPS.
This has worked so far and as a nice additional feature it only draws from AC the approximate wattage going out via the inverter. That's great as I don't want it using 120W all the time to run on average around 12W of output.
The problem is that over the past 3 weeks the charge status of the battery has gradually fallen from 88% to 18% and I'm concerned that it's going to to just shut down at some point.
Is this normal behavior? Is it smart enough to get down to some level -- maybe 5% and then pull in full charging capacity to bring it close to 100%? Regardless -- can this behavior be modified? Because if I lost power while the 1000x was mostly empty anyway, it's not helping me much. I would prefer that it kept the charge fairly high or at least did not let it get so low. I understand that battery management might extend life by gently / deeply cycling like this. I would just like to know if this is by design and how to work with it for planning purposes.
Answers
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Well I have a partial answer. Sometime overnight the 1000X quit. It was claiming 11% charge but zero input and zero output. Blue charging light was lit. I turned off the inverter (button on the 1000X AC outlet) and suddenly the 1000X is reporting 0% charged. Unplugged / replugged the charger and it is not charging. 0W in, but the blue light is lit. My Yeti 500's charger is plugged into the same circuit as was the 1000X and is running fine (it BTW has kept itself at 100% charge during the same time period, and has always drawn 60W from its smaller charger. I didn't mind this because the output being drawn from its inverter is in the same neighborhood, about 55W).
Just in case the charger is the culprit, I tried plugging the 500's charger into the 1000X. Blue light is on, but 0W input reported. I'm at a loss ... do I need to send the 1000X back for service? I seem to recall there is a reset protocol of some kind. Later when I have time, I'll look that up, plug the 1000X charger back in and see if I can shake it loose.
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I looked up the "hold down the Units and Info buttons for 3 seconds" reset trick, but when I went to try it on my 1000X, it had already gotten itself sorted some 4 hours later and was now showing single-digit % charged. When I plugged the charger back in, it began to (very rapidly) charge. This last surprised me. It is estimating less than an hour to top off and has gone up to 33% charge while I watched for a few minutes -- gradually revising the charge time upwards, now appears to have settled in at 1.1 hrs. I also note that unlike my Yeti 500, the charger input does vary a great deal, it starts at close to the rated 120W and then drops to an average of around 19W. The 500 charger on the other hand is always at 60W or so and takes MUCH longer to charge. Is this normal? At this point, being new to both units and expecting the 1000X to take about as long to charge as the 500 (around twice the capacity, but with roughly 2x the input wattage on the charger) plus having had this weird issue, I am now mostly just looking for (1) reassurance that this is expected behavior and (2) wondering if this 1000X is just not useful as a more or less plug-it-in-and-forget it UPS. Whereas somehow the 500 is. Inquiring minds, and all that sort of thing ... why am I seeing these disparate behaviors?
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Hi @RobertG
It sounds like the issue is with the charge controller in the Yeti 1000X. If both power supplies work fine on the 500X I would say the Yeti 1000X needs to be swap. The input from the power supply should not be jumping around. It should stay steady at about 115-120 watts. Please email us with your proof of purchase and we will look at what warranty options are available.
Support@goalzero.com
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The 1000x charge state is slowly falling again and the input wattage is exhibiting the described behavior.
I will try the 1000x power charger on the 500 and get back to you -- thanks :-)
--Bob
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I just had a very similar problem with a Yeti 1500X. This stays plugged into the wall at all times, mostly powering light indoor continuous loads around 10 to 50 watts, occasionally used for bursts of 800 watts for a wheelchair lift. So I expect the battery to be 95+ percent full at all times unless there's a power outage. But a few minutes ago I looked at it and saw that the charge level was down to 42 percent, despite the blue charge light blinking. It said it was charging at 35 watts.
I tried unplugging all the output loads and plugging them back in, turning the inverter off and on, unplugging and replugging the charger… and on the third replugging of the charger, it started taking in 118 watts instead of 35. It began filling up again.
I then checked the output load and it was 28 watts. So even though it was undercharging it still shouldn't have run down.
Why did it let itself get this low? Is it defective and needs service?
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Wait, while I was fiddling around I think I unknowingly used the reset button. I was trying to get the app to work and the wifi never turned on as far as I could see, and I think I did a reset while messing with it. And after the reset, the wifi started working. I was able to get it online and it downloaded a big firmware update, from 1.3.something to 1.8.something, I think.
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Well, it looks like I have an explanation for my undercharging… last night the charger brick quit completely. It no longer puts out any juice at all. Checked it with a voltmeter — it appears to be dead as the proverbial doornail.
