Amount of Panel Watts per kW-hr battery system
I have been testing my new power stations I received about the middle of September. The intent is to verify that they will perform as I need when the time comes.
I have one Yeti 200X and one Yeti 1500X. The Yeti 200X was ordered with a 20W Nomad Panel, and the 1500X was ordered with a 100W Boulder Briefcase Panel.
I charged both using the wall outlet to 100% capacity. The Stadium effect was evident using wall power.
I discharged the 200X on a trip charging all the family cell phones and "power blocks" we brought for the weekend as they were needed. Bringing the 200X home, I placed the 200X in clear sun on a day where the temp got into the low 90s. I turned the panels every hour to face the sun.
Using one Nomad 20, the Yeti 200X went from 27% power to 65% power in about 6 hours.
Later in September, I asked my son to run his notebook exclusively off the Yeti 1500X. It discharged over about three days to about 19%. Setting it up in the yard with good sun on a day when the high temperature was in the low 90s, the battery went up to about 60% using the Boulder 100 Briefcase Panel. I turned the panel every hour to keep the sun directly on the panel.
Now in October, I took the Yeti 200X on another trip. I brought both of my Nomad 20 panels. We discharged the Yeti 200X to 17% over a couple days. I set it up in the good sun from 9am until 3:30pm, turning the panels every hour, having chained them together.
The panels charged the Yeti 200X to 100% on a day when the high temperature was in the mid 50s. Some stadium effect was observed as the panels were at 88% at about 2:00pm.
Soon I will charge my Yeti 1500X by using the Boulder 100 Briefcase and one of the Nomad 20s. The next time, I intend to use both Nomad 20s with the Boulder 100 Briefcase. At present, I am expecting to find that I want 20% of the battery capacity in W-hr available as Watts in my panels. This would lead me to expect to want 200 more Watts in Boulder panels. On clear days, One panel might get me through an event if I started with a 100% charge and used the panel constantly with the power station on pass-thru. But i think I will be happier with my 20% panel ratio. I'll keep you posted.
There are several factors. How high is the sun (month of the year) and how clear is the sky (daily weather). Do you aim the panels at the sun regularly, or set them up and more them none or once. What is the outside temperature, as this may trigger the temperature sensors to shut down the system and wait for it to cool. Are you charging anything? Do you have long extension cords in the setup? Is the battery part in the shade? And probably some others, like is there a slight breeze, which will help cooling a little more.
Comments
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Update ...
This summer I ran my home fridge one day off the Yeti 1500X. I just unplugged it from the wall and plugged it into the Yeti 1500X and the fridge came right back to life. I ran the home fridge for 8 hours and the unit went down to 21% from 100 %. After this, I put the unit back on the wall charger and charged it back up to 100%
So far these two units I purchased have done everything I wanted. I cycle them about once a month to make sure they are "exercised" properly.
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It may work but you are likely to see less than the panel ratings when attempting to chain 100BC+N20+N20 into a single or both 8mm ports.
Here are a few more characteristics of solar charging to keep in mind:
When charging the 1500X, the HPP port will take prescience over the 8mm ports when attempting to charge from HPP and 8mm ports at the same time because they are the only ports that go through the internal MPPT to get to the battery. The USB 60W PD input and the EC8 port the Link module uses do not go through the internal MPPT and have their own limits.
At most, the 1500X will be able to take in 600W using only the HPP port.
At most the 8mm ports combined will accept up to 150W.
Chaining dissimilar panels with the built in 8mm chaining port or by using both 8mm ports on a 1500X and chaining more than 5 panels is not recommended. The MPPT may track to much lower power point. The Nomad 20 is recommended for power stations like the 500X and smaller.
If you would like a more ideal solar setup, try using a multiple boulders of the same size.
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Another update …
I purchased the Yeti1500X to provide power for my two refrigerators if the power went out so our food wouldn't go bad. As I have wanted to cycle the battery once a month, discharge and then recharge, I figured why not try running the refrigerators on the battery instead of just asking my son to run it down with his laptop.
I am pleased to be able to report the Yeti1500X performed exactly as expected running my refrigerator. Plugged in to the fridge constantly, the battery supplied the power for the refrigerator for a full eight hours. It is good to know the equipment will be able to do the job when I'll need it.
