Anker has the 400 Wh/120Ah power supply for $500 on their website (don't see it on places like Amazon yet but could assume once it does you might even see prices down around $350).... what's interesting about this is the Goalzero Yeti 400 is 400Wh but only 33Ah for like $350 ..... seem like the Anker might be a killer deal and looks well built, I'll be keeping an eye for it to come up on Amazon

Anker Power Supply

So this "solar generator" doesn't include the solar panels?

And what's up with the "120,000 mAH" BS?

If they really wanted to make the battery sound impressive, they should have referred to it as "120,000,000 uAH"...

I said solar generator because that's what goalzero refers to the yeti 400 as, but the Ah on the Anker is like 4x the amount of the yeti

True, but it is limited to 150 watts on the AC output. The Yeti is twice that or more. There's a video on youtube of guy attempting to run a laptop off the Powerhouse and it has to shut down after 2 minutes due to the puny inverter.

Another deal breaker is lack of chaining ability. With the Yeti you're able to chain together two Yeti 400s or simply add another battery using the Anderson Power Pole connections. Effectively, you can double your storage capacity by purchasing an additional AGM battery for $60ish or triple it for $120 at which point you'd still have paid less than the Powerhouse.

Additionally, the battery in the Yeti is user serviceable/replaceable. If it fails, you replace it and go on your way. When the Powerhouse fails that's it. It is not user serviceable and the unit is effectively trash.

Finally, if you are looking to charge the Powerhouse via solar...you can't. Anker hasn't released a compatible solar panel nor have they developed converters for use with traditional panels that use standard MC4 connections. Based on its input specs it's pretty safe to say the Anker is basically a toy in terms of its future solar charging potential.

With the Yeti there are plenty of Goal Zero brand solar panel options, and if you want to run common (and cheaper, more powerful) panels there's a $15 cord that gets you there. At that point you could hook up a couple 100 watt solar panels and charge the unit in under 5 hours (faster than using a Goal zero wall charger...twice as fast as using an Anker wall charger).

TLDR: Anker blew their wad on the more expensive lithium battery (which is lighter and the wave of the future), but in an attempt to keep the price competitive they surrounded it with sub-par components and provided pretty much zero ability to step outside their tiny ecosystem.

double tap

I think it is pretty common to list stuff as mAH rather than AHs, makes it easier to compare to others that are under an AH..



 

I didn't look too much into it but it shows that you can hook up to a solar panel.

Build one, it's great training exercise. It may cost more, but you will have more and you can fix or replace stuff with confidence later if needed.

Yes, Anker says it has that future ability. But you have to wait for them to release a compatible solar panel or adapters. Currently Anker's largest solar panel is 21 watts and only designed to connect to USB devices. If you could connect it to the Powerhouse it would take you a week to charge the unit. They'll really have to up their solar game for the Powerhouse to be viable.

Look like it's not even on their site now...... either way good to see competition come to the market, battery packs are just like LED flashlights, every time I look there are bigger (or brighter) for cheaper prices

what do these do that a deep cycle with an inverter can't do better and cheaper?

A: Appeal to people who want a turn-key solution - i.e., people who for various reasons aren't interested in rolling their own.

All Anker products that I have ever used have been dependable and well built.

One time after a week long TWD blitz or some such baloney Miz Kris came home draggin one of the little Goal Zero Yeti 400's a coupla years or so ago. It pretty much just sat around in the closet till last hunting season when I started using more batteries for night hunting. Now I use it a lot and I'm curious to find out what solar gear I could use to keep it topped off after a night's use. Seems to use right around 20% or so over the course of a 24hr period if I use it for everything.
Was originally just looking for something to keep the smaller batt packs/rechargers and such running but figured since I was lookin I might as well see if there's an option to take care of all of it while I'm at it.  
Also, how important is the auto-retry feature of the Suntactics and does any other mfg have that if it is important?
The inverter mounted to a marine battery box I've seen in archived posts here are the same thing I used to make for running fluorescent flounder gigging lights down here on the coast. They worked well but the salt air is tough on electronics. But they were nice-n-quiet for a more "zen-ish" gigging experience.
Whatchyathink?  d:^)  Jake..

I bought the yeti 400 for as much as this anker.

Amazon has
100 watt panel For $139
Adapter cable
Solar panel cable
Haven't got to run it down enough to test.

Did you buy two of the 10awg cables? You'll need two to make that panel work.

And yes, that setup will work great. You'll pull about 80 watts from that panel on a sunny day...more than the Yeti pulls from the wall. If you were to buy another renogy panel and run it in parallel you'd bump that number up to 128 watts.



Also see this if you want to double capacity:


I've done both and it works very well.

I watched this video and he uses the same size battery - a 33 ah battery.  I'm assuming this just plugs up in parallel to double capacity.

What would happen if you plugged up a battery that is not the same size?  like a 120 ah battery?  Still the same voltage.  Would it charge the same?  I'm a novice electrical circuits, sorry. =)

Thanks for the links.  I'm making a list for a solar Amazon order.
In reading the reviews of the various panels it seems opinions vary pretty wildly. Some stating that the chicom panels are cheesy or over rated. Others are said to have poor designs. But I see lots of positive reviews for most as well. It's really confusing.
Is the brand you linked to well known as a solid performer?
Are there any brands that are to be completely avoided?
How about controllers?
Seems I saw a link in one of the archived ARfcom threads to a Solar101 for small systems, but I think it was a bit dated.
Thanks. d:^)  Jake..

It has to be a battery that's identical in size and specs to the yeti's battery.  Also, both batteries need to be 100% charged up when they are initially chained.

If you view his video on the YouTube website he's got links to all the parts he used in the comments. I bought this battery on Amazon. It works great.

Renogy makes a solid panel and provides good service. It's probably your best bet for an inexpensive panel on Amazon...you can actually get them a bit cheaper through eBay. Sold direct by the company and they respond quickly to the "make an offer" option.

Also wanted to mention that if you chain the yeti to another battery it becomes a lot less mobile at 60+ lbs. Having some kind of rigid platform under both the yeti and external battery keeps you from having to disconnect, move, and reconnect every time you need power in a new area.

I bought a $25 handcart from Home Depot and secured the whole setup to it for moving around the house, out to the patio for charging, etc. If I need to take the yeti in the car then I just grab the grey bin or disconnect the yeti and take it by itself.

Thanks for the information, JJ. What I have in mind is to try and top off the l'il Yeti in the morning/afternoon. I don't try to run any TV's or such. Just wanna recharge some batteries, batt packs and the little my CPAP takes off the top over the course of a night. I've been getting 3 nights out of a regular deep cycle battery with no recharge. More with one of those cheesy little $20 HF panels. I'm hoping to see if this is something that could be more sustainable. I use the rear deck on the truck to get elevated over the brush at the hunt club. I can get by fine with just one side and was thinkin mounting a panel to that would be a decent platform that's in the sun most of the time. Still curious how important that retry feature on some panels is.
If I'd have been starting from scratch I wouldn't have opted for the Yeti. I think it's way overpriced for what it is.
But since it was layin around here anyways, I wanna see how much use it can be. It's pretty convenient and a neat package if nothing else.  d:^)  Jake..

I don't disagree with any of this. I do think their products are very good and have a fantastic user interface, but you pay dearly for it. Their panels are insanely priced and best avoided. For people that want a simple, turnkey solution or just aren't very handy then Goal Zero might be worth it.

If I was paying retail I'd look elsewhere. Fortunately, I receive all of their products at a deep discount due to my job. If you're a first responder or have an outdoorsy job I can point you to some great deals on Goal Zero.

Got an opinion on the auto retry feature of some panels (Suntactics)?
Izzit a desirable option? I've read reviews where peeps state that some devices quit charging after a voltage drop and won't start recharging again till something is reset.
Not sure if that's a true need or a nit pick.
I figure to get whatever is most efficient as useful as I can while I'm buying new. Thanks.    d:^)  Jake..

I'd never heard about it until now. It sounds like something Suntactics markets on smallish portable panels that are geared toward backpackers for charging small devices like phones, tablets, etc. They don't sell anything big enough to recharge a Yeti in under a week and they are way overpriced. Their 8 watt panel costs more than Renogy's 100 watt.

The Yeti has the ability to use much bigger/better panels and has an integrated charge controller which would negate the need for "auto retry".

Thanks much for your assistance, JJ.
Ima get a few things headed this way to play with and see what happens.
We're looking into doing a whole house system at the new place in the not-too-distant future.
Talked to a local guy who had done his own including geothermal water and such.
From what I saw and heard from him once ya figure out what gear is proper for the job the install didn't look to be all that difficult.  d:^)  Jake..