Portable Solar Generator kit

Some interesting discussions here about the goal zero units:

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=225070

Some thoughts from following the discussions:
a) The number one concerns seems to be the $$$, Goalzero is definitely cashing in on the "green" marketing concept.
b) A DIY system could come in at a much cheaper price.
c) Would the DIY system be as portable? Because the the one thing that really sticks out in regards to this unit is Portability.

Is this the best unit for hoping to keep powered your entire house/BOL long term...more than likely not. But it is an interesting and possible choice for short term, and/or camping. Ever been out in the middle of nowhere enjoying the peace and quiet and suddenly a guy a mile away starts up his loud noisy diesel generator....could be a time when that might not be such a good option for other reasons besides the annoyance of "neighbors".

I would like to hear from Javert who mentioned that he owns one to get his review and input if he is willing. He seems to be the only one with real experience with this unit and so lets get some information from "the horses mouth" so to speak.

You can not power your house wth a 1250w inverter. Period!

....I have two that link together that increases the watts and charge...

ICRCC see Javerts above comment. Also I do not think anyone is actually thinking this will run their entire house as it is "loaded" today. Pretty sure people are buying these for emergencies and will be minimizing their output.

You can not power your house wth a 1250w inverter. Period!

True, you cant as it sits typically, and how it is normally used.
You can "if" you have a inverter with good head room 2400- 3000 watt surge capability, and you know your loads and practice load management.
I run with a 1800 watt xantrex (3000 watt surge)no problem, every toy, and convenience of any other home, but 240 loads were replaced, no electric stove.
Lights bought, and then modified for more efficiency, water pump replaced with a smaller one, and many other things.

Down the road is another place I wired up back in 2001 with a 1500 watt (2500-3000 surge) Canadian tire mod sign inverter powered by 1200 ahrs of t105s . They have 3 kids and that inverter has proven to be bullet proof (cost 250.00 on sale), again they know there loads, changes made to somethings for greater efficiency, like defeating doorgasket heaters in the fridge, and I think defeating the auto defrost timer in the fridge as well brought there load demand down.

Its not the size of your inverter, but how you use it ! just make sure it has a good surge capability for motor loads that cycle on, and know your loads.

On the Goal Zero website under the specs for the Yeti 1250 it states that the battery capacity is 100Ah. This is a pure sine wave inverter therefore safe for electronic equipment. Let's take a typical computer with a 17" monitor, it's power requirements are about 300 watts. Assuming you had fully charged batteries the maximum time this unit could rum the computer would be 1.66 hours! Then you are looking at a 20 hour recharge time!
Another example a small 600w microwave consumes about 1100w of electrical power. The Yeti would power this for only 27 minutes! Followed by a 20 hour recharge!

The problem is the battery capacity and also the recharge time. To keep it "portable" both have been sacrificed. If you use it for its intended use emergency backup power it would be fine. Emergency lighting for instance it would run two 60 watt light bulbs for about 4hours and ten minutes. However if you replaced those two bulbs with two led 400 lumen bulbs (equivalent to 60W incandescent) at 7w each, 14 watts total, the yeti would power them for almost 36 hours. Now are talking. The unit could be recharged in between use thereby supplying your continuous lighting needs.
As I stated before You cannot power your house with a 1250w inverter. Period!

Let's take a typical computer with a 17" monitor, it's power requirements are about 300 watts. Assuming you had fully charged batteries the maximum time this unit could rum the computer would be 1.66 hours! Then you are looking at a 20 hour recharge time!
Another example a small 600w microwave consumes about 1100w of electrical power

I have no clue where you are getting your power requirment figures from but they are out to lunch. I am using a computer with a 17 inch screen, I just put the tape on it to confirm the screen size, try 35 watts with spikes up to 49 if I am running the processor hard with pdf files,or such.
my microwave is 1000 watts, At full load it does not draw over 1430 watts, and when I replace it with the newer inverter ones I will get even better efficiency.
What are you using to measure yours? I first check with a killowatt meter, model number p4400. Then confirm with a fluke 336.

Microwaves from 600w to 1000w generally consume 1100w to 2000w. Yours at 1430W is in the mid range but good for its size. Using yours as an example the Yeti 1250 would run it for 20 minutes if it didn't calve out first because it is rated at 1250w continuous. That is not very impressive.

A 60w light bulb is well......60w! Two are 120w and it would only run them for about 4 hours and 10 minutes assuming that you were starting with fully charged batteries. Then you would need 20 hours of sunlight to recharge them before you could get another 4 hours out of the system.

These were examples I was offering to illustrate how little power units like these can supply. You may not like the examples that I gave but the math is sound. It does not change the fact that they can only supply continuous power to a very small load i.e. a couple of led lights and perhaps a radio.

Do not forget 50% State Of Charge (SoC) factor.

I have no problem with your examples for showing how badly that unit will perform, I am in complete agreement how poorly it will perform hooked to a home.
My problem is the examples used, as someone running a home off grid would never be using 300 watt computers, inefiecent microwaves,or
60 watt bulbs, and they do not have to. Load selection is more important than any other thing. Drive your load demand down by selecting appliances/ bulbs and other loads based on how efficient they are. If you get your consumption down first, then the rest of the system can be so much smaller as well. Fewer panels, fewer batteries, smaller inverter all contribute to lower cost, and lower maintenance.
And all this does not mean going without anything. Using heavy loads consecutivly rather than concurently allows a much smaller interter.
If I can run a home on a 1800 watt inverter, and I know of another on a 1500 watt then I wont be saying someone else cant on 1250, they may have gone even further in reducing their energy needs

There are homes ofcourse using lots of offgrid power, giving no thought to conservation, or other practices, but they do so by spending huge amounts on panel and batteries, I dont consider that practical for most people.

Hence my suggestion of replacing two bulbs 60w incandescent bulbs with two led 400 lumen bulbs which are equivalent to 60W incandescent bulbs at 7w each, reducing consumption from 120W to 14W total. However unless you are designing a new house or doing significant remodelling you probably will not have devices that have very low power requirements. Plus these devices can be expensive in themselves. Those bulbs I quoted were from Costco where a three pack will set you back $50 before tax. Lighting is easy to circumvent, a sump pump less so.

However it is true that if you cut your electrical requirements to zero you wouldn't even need an inverter. Most would think this impractical. A balanced approach would seem sensible but even 2.5KW does not cut it.

but they do so by spending huge amounts on panel and batteries, I dont consider that practical for most people

A complete system can be purchased one component at a time... on a tight monthly budget for most people.

It just requires sacrifice and going without to attain. (ie. Vacations, new cars, eating out)

There's nothing more satisfying in life than grabbing a cold beer and my favorite lawn chair on a hot sunny day .... to just sit, stare and grin as my meter spins in reverse.

There's nothing more satisfying in life than grabbing a cold beer and my favorite lawn chair on a hot sunny day .... to just sit, stare and grin as my meter spins in reverse.

So you just spent multi thousands of dollars on panels (estimate for just your 6kw array 10,000 to 15,000 or more depending on when you bought them)for the privledge of paying the utility company a monthly charge for net mettering, and perhaps their grid complent equipment (last time i looked at it), and on top off that they insult you by paying the wholesale rate, not retail for what you have paid to produce, and have to mantain I would have to be drinking a lot of beer in that lawn chair before I would be happy with that kind of return, so much, that more than the meter would be spinning... with that level of stunningly conventional thinking, you should wrap yourself in bubble wrap and stay in bed 😛 .

Two ways to go solar,throw money at it,lots of money...
or do a load assesment. Now figuring out your loads is not sexy or as fun as running out to satisfy your practiced consumer drive to buy panels and other recomended matching accesories, but it will payoff in the long run, and I dont mean those on line load calculators.
That starts with nothing more than a simple 20.00 dollar killowatt meter-no math involved as it displays all needed info, your watts, amps, voltage and records in real time.
Down the left side of the paper numbers 1 to 24 for hours in the day, across the top in collums all the things using power.You record over time on every line each items consumption and when in use time wise.This will give you a single piece of paper that shows you where, how much and at what time of day power is being used.Time of day is critical if you wish to use load management technigues such as load schedualing, and load sheding. This is like a road map, a starting point you can use to tackle each items consumption and time of use.If you dont know where you are, you wont know where to go. I wont go on, the only(98%) people on this board are those who cant wait to run out to by the latest packaged plastic bobble thats claimed to power a hover craft, fits in a shirt pocket, and matches in colour their backback
The point is use your mind not your wallet and you will be able to get set up for way less than expected.
Should add, I have no problem with anyone spending however much money they wish, only the fact it disscourages other without such resources into thinking its the only way, its not.

ICRCC,

you think a 2500 watt inverter is not big enough? It may not be for you but can for others if they start fiquring out how much they need and how to reduce it. 2.5kw to 3kwhrs is my goal for a 24 hour period and thats not going without anything..you will be laughing at that and saying no way, but I am at 300 amphrs now ( under 4 kwhrs a day) and I am slowly implimenting automatic load sheding, and schedualling now that will bring it down further, and thats all the computer time I want, tv time(if I watched it), microwave, toaster, coffee maker,fridge , frezzer in the basement, lights, pressure pump, you name I have it, and use it as needed.

Anyway we are in agreement about that product, just not what is really needed to do the job of running a house, and wont likely be. My way works for me, yours for you. good enough.

May I suggest reading an excellent book called "The Renewable Energy Handbook: The Updated Comprehensive Guide to Renewable Energy and Independant Living" from http://www.aztext.com/

I've built my system over a number of years. Adding an independent string of 8 batteries every 3 years to a total of 32-6v deep cell batteries. That way when they need to be replaced, it's only rotating 8 at a time.

Adding two new panels at a time every few months is not that expensive. I'm currently in the process of adding 12 more 185w panels for my upgrade.

Every penny I've spent is a 100% business write off.

Now,

I see that Antsy has hit the bottom of the cooler again, so I will give the quick/REAL explanation of the Alberta Micro Connect policy.
 
You purchase electricity from a retailer in Alberta for retail rate plus transmission and distribution charges. Typically this is $0.08/kWhr plus $.02/kWhr for T&D. (everyone pays that)

If a solar system is producing more than the house is using at any given moment you sell the energy to the retailer for retail rate $0.08/kWhr in this example.
 
But I've signed up with Spark, a small co-op based retailer. I do not get $0.08/kWhr for export, I get just over $0.15/ kWhr which they bill to the power pool and resell it to my neighbors.
 
On my house, I have currently have a 8 kW system and exporting approximately three quater of my system’s production yearly. We are out side working all day when the system is at its peak of production and nobody is using electricity. 

Each house will be different depending what your energy consumption patterns are.

When my upgrade in which I've purchased the components over time is complete, i should be 100% power sufficient.

Hope this helps.

@ CryBaby,

Hey now! You aren't looking for another cheque are you??? I will give up the visa # when there is something worth buying! 😉