How do I properly chain/link (unsure of right word) solar panels?
Good afternoon,
I had a weird experience and I want some advance on how to not repeat it.
This was the experience:
I was charging a yeti 400 with chaining a 100 watt boulder panel through a 50 watt boulder panel. I had put out the panels in the morning and was checking it about every couple hours. At 11:05 am, 115 watts input into the battery and the battery was at about 70%. Then at 2:02 pm, the battery input was jumping between 115 to 128 watts. Then an hour later, a thundercloud was going over so i had to bring the solar in but there was a little resistance unplugging the 50 watt from the battery. I found a little slightly melted plastic. I took it off. The panel works with no problems but the battery it was plugged into started to stop charging a random moments. If I rotated the plug, the charging would resume. After noticing that I stopped using the battery and I'm only going to keep it as a backup if the battery inside on of my other yeti 400s fails.
My main questions:
1) Would a splitter like this one: https://www.amazon.com/iGreely-Splitter-Automotive-Portable-Compatible/dp/B095VRNFFR/ref=sr_1_20?keywords=goal+zero+adapter&qid=1654808888&sr=8-20 prevent another battery from being ruined?
2) Or is there something I'm missing? Is there another reason for it happening?
I'm wanting to be able to charge up a 1000 watt battery (not a goal zero battery) in a day. I'm wanting to be able to use a 100 watt and an 50 watt panel. That combination does work well but I'm not sure how to do that safely without the battery becoming an expensive paper weight.
Answers
-
Goal Zero does not test any 3rd party connectors to be reliable or safe. If you want to use something like that you assume all risks.
If you have a Yeti 400 the only input is 8mm so our 4X 8mm Combiner to High Power Port Connector would not work unless you converted the HPP end back to 8mm with a High Power Port To 8mm Connector.
Chaining a Boulder 100 through a Boulder 50 should be fine. The 8mm barrel connectors have been tested to handle 10A continuous. A loose or dirty or otherwise poor connection will heat up as the power passes though it. Make sure all connections are clean and securely made. The 8mm connections typically snap to connect and it takes a bit of force to completely seat them. Poor connections can also damage charge circuits when they are driven outside of their designed input ranges.
The Yeti 400 contains a replaceable battery. Over time the battery will no longer be able to hold or take a charge and must be replaced.
If you want to charge a standalone battery, check out our charge controllers for batteries ( 20A, 10A ). They are designed for use with any of our 50W and 100W boulder panels and can be mounted on the back using the Boulder Charge Controller Mounting Brackets.
