Yeti 500x and Sherpa solar panel
Hello,
I just bought a Yeti 500x. We have an older (8yo?) Sherpa 50 pack that came with a small solar panel.
When I plug it in to the Yeti 500x, the Input shows up as 0 W.
I took a voltmeter to the contacts of the panel, and it says that it is about 18 Volts.
While it is on the small side, I presumed that it could at least add some energy to the Yeti.
Should it work (even if it's slow), or is the output of the small panel just not enough to charge the Yeti at all? Or could it be a defect in the Yeti?
I did charge the Yeti to about 40% via AC wall power, just to verify that the Yeti does work, and I left enough uncharged so that the panel could actually do some charging.
Best Answer
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Hi @martinc,
We just tested this with a Nomad 13 and it looks like the Nomad does not produce enough power to show up on the display of the unit. This is not to say that it isn't providing power, there just isn't enough for the Yeti to register it on the display. You may still see an increase in percentage but it will be very slow at maybe 1% an hour.
Answers
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What means a small solar panel? Nomad 7, Nomad 10, Nomad 13 or Nomad 20?
The 500x will see at minimum 5 watts to start charging. Recommended is a 100 watt panel, minimum a 50 watt panel.
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Sorry, I really should have included that the first time! Nomad 13m, v2012.07.11.
Even in direct sunlight, the Yeti was showing input of 0 W.
Does the solar panel produce less power over time, so even though it's a nominal 13W, maybe it's not producing the 5W needed?
Thanks!
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Thanks Goal Zero Admin! I was going purely by the "Input Watt" reading on the display, and didn't think to check the percentage. I don't think I'll have time before my trip to try it out, but I won't give up just yet!
