What's the Best Charger for this

Thomas_Darby

I purchased a Yeti 1500X and a pair of Boulder 100 Briefcase Panels to be a backup power in case we lose power at the house due to downed power lines or storm damage. I just plan to run my fridge and a few small things since I have enough camping gear to get by for some time.

But on the off chance I also have bad luck and have a string of cloudy days, I want to be able to charge the Yeti off a small petrol powered generator.

The generator is rated at 2000W. The wall charger that comes with the Yeti is a 120W device. This isn't a problem because when I use the wall charger I have all day to charge the Yeti. But if I am running a 2000W petrol generator, I don't wish to use only 120W of the available power.

So I figure I should buy the 600W charger sold for quickly charging Yetis. Is this the correct logic or is there something about pairing a 600W Goal Zero charger with a 2000W petrol generator a mistake?

Thanks for your help.

Ironworker2134

I have the yeti 1000x. I charge with a 65 watt charger when I have the time. I also have a 220 watt charger it charges really fast. I some times wish I purchased the 600watt charger. At 90 % it takes1-1.5 hours to charge. It charges at a slower rate than because of the stadiem effect on charging.

I have two solar panels 15 watts one gets 10 watts the other gets 6watts is this because I need the solar add on.

Thomas_Darby

Thanks Ironworker.

Your two solar panels will only produce their rated Watts under optimum conditions. I live in the mid-Atlantic region and I only get about 85% of the rated capacity under the best conditions here. This is partly due to the angle of the sun as you move above the equator and partly due to haze in the atmosphere due to the tree cover we have. My panels will also "cut off" when the system gets too hot in the worst parts of the summer. So you should expect to not achieve optimum efficiency.

For my other battery, the Yeti 200X, I have a pair of 20 Watt panels and they will charge the system in an afternoon if the temperatures don't get too high. For a Yeti 1000X you may find you want more wattage on your panels. I find that 20% of the battery capacity is a good number. Then under optimum conditions it would charge in 5 hours, but I expect it to take six, maybe a little more. The stadium effect does play a factor.

For my particular condition, if I am going to run a 2000 Watt generator, I don't want to be drawing only 100-120 Watts of power. I'm just wasting gasoline if I could get a 600 Watt charger and charge quicker. Seems like with the numbers I'm seeing, I could charge the Yeti 1500X up to 90% from near zero in about 2 hours and then cut the generator off. The generator is only for cloudy days. It seems it has enough power to charge the Yeti and run the fridges too.