I need advice on power station/ goal zero

[stace_d_33]

I am almost done with my van build. I need electricity. Specifically for a tiny dometic fridge, a phone and laptop.  I have watched so many solar installs. My brain does not compute  electrical installation. Is a goal zero style power station enough? with additional solar and charging from the van itself when on the road?  (I am looking at 400, lithium, adding a 100watt portable solar)  it seems so much easier to not have to worry about controllers, invertors and fuses. I would appreciate any advice.

 

[Trebor English]

On Amazon an electric wheelchair battery  is $71.30.  That is a 35AH 420 watt hour AGM battery.  
https://www.amazon.com/Rechargeable-Battery-Replaces-Wheelchair-Centennial/dp/B008D5YG3G/

It is not sufficient for a fridge.  A goal zero 400 watt hour battery is not sufficient.  It is much more money at $450 and that doesn't include solar either.  It is not sufficient for a fridge.  It may have a cute box and a digital display with a built in inverter but it is not sufficient.  My inverter was $26 and you don't need an inverter for a "tiny dometic fridge".

Without "controllers, invertors and fuses" and all the other paraphernalia like wires and terminals you don't really have a system capable of keeping food cold in a fridge.  

A small system suitable for a fridge is a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries, about  200 amp hours, 2400 watt hours, and 200 to 300 watts of solar panel with a solar charge controller. 

Where you are going to go matters.  If you go to western North Carolina you will find that the trees grow straight up all the way to the sky and your solar panels only work from 11:30 to 12:30.  You might need more solar panels or a good plan to deal with a backup supply.  The winter I spent in San Francisco, 1968-1969, was not remarkable.  It started drizzling in September and either rained or fogged every day until April.  Arizona is better for solar.  Far North places aren't as good.

 

[jonyjoe303]

a goal zero 400 lithium is about 40ah of li-ion (3s16p 11.1 volt). A 12 volt fridge set to 40 degrees uses about 26ah in 24 hours. As long as you top off the goal zero it will run your fridge indefinitely as long as you got good sun. I like with lithium what you see is what you get, you can drain it all the way to 0 percent and charge it halfway without damaging it. 

If I had only 40ah of battery, I would only use a netbook or a tablet when the sun went down. Some of the larger laptops can be power hungry. 

One thing with a 12 volt fridge if the power goes off from low voltage, the food will stay cold till morning. When I was running my fridge with a 75ah agm, several times I had low power situations. Never lost any food, in the morning the sun came up and my fridge was running again.

 

[stace_d_33]

On Amazon an electric wheelchair battery  is $71.30.  That is a 35AH 420 watt hour AGM battery.  
https://www.amazon.com/Rechargeable-Battery-Replaces-Wheelchair-Centennial/dp/B008D5YG3G/

It is not sufficient for a fridge.  A goal zero 400 watt hour battery is not sufficient.  It is much more money at $450 and that doesn't include solar either.  It is not sufficient for a fridge.  It may have a cute box and a digital display with a built in inverter but it is not sufficient.  My inverter was $26 and you don't need an inverter for a "tiny dometic fridge".

Without "controllers, invertors and fuses" and all the other paraphernalia like wires and terminals you don't really have a system capable of keeping food cold in a fridge.  

A small system suitable for a fridge is a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries, about  200 amp hours, 2400 watt hours, and 200 to 300 watts of solar panel with a solar charge controller. 

Where you are going to go matters.  If you go to western North Carolina you will find that the trees grow straight up all the way to the sky and your solar panels only work from 11:30 to 12:30.  You might need more solar panels or a good plan to deal with a backup supply.  The winter I spent in San Francisco, 1968-1969, was not remarkable.  It started drizzling in September and either rained or fogged every day until April.  Arizona is better for solar.  Far North places aren't as good.

Thank you for your advice. I was trying to find an easy fix... Time to find an electrician

 

[IGBT]

For all the nay-sayers about the Goal Zero stuff I have been impressed with our Yeti 1000 lithium Goal Zero device.

It has a 1075 watt-hr battery, a 1500 watt pure sine inverter with 3000 watt surge, a ton of USB charging ports, a solar charger built in, etc.

It was $800 this past week during the sale and can sometimes be found at Costco for $800.

The step up is the Yeti 3000 with a 3075 watt-hr battery, MPPT solar charger and the same 1500 watt pure sine inverter.  It has a removeable roll around cart and yet is still only the weight of one lead acid battery but it has 3x the capacity of said battery.   It would power a refrigerator for several days without recharging.   Was $2250 during the sale, which is quite expensive yes, but no need for any electrician or wiring or mess or fuss.   We have the Yeti 1000 and like it so much we just bought the 3000.   I am a electrical engineer and still went for the Yeti 3000 over building my own lol.

 

[Trebor English]

Thank you for your advice. I was trying to find an easy fix... Time to find an electrician

The jonyjoe303 approach is an easy fix.  Just get the same 400 watt hour battery and same fridge that jonyyoe303 got and it will work as well as it works for jonyjoe303 in the same places.

According to the Goal Zero web site the 400 watt hour is $450 and the 100 watt solar panel is $300 and the charge controller is built in for $750 total. 

I have a 75 amp hour trolling motor battery, $80, a cheap PWM charge controller, $12, and a 100 watt solar panel, $98 for $200  total.  I use this to run my very low energy fridge in most of the places I go most of the time.  For me the technical part is easy so the price difference is worthwhile. 

Since my battery is also the engine starting battery I can't use the jonyjoe303 approach of letting the fridge run until the battery is dead.  That would make the engine not start and lead to early battery death.

Electricians are not generic like doctors are not generic.  If you have a sick baby you want a pediatrician.  If you have congestive heart failure you need a cardiologist.  If you have a sick baby a cardiologist would be better than a pipeline welder.  But then a pipeline welder who has 3 children might have exactly the experience your sick baby needs.  A guy who installs high power car stereo systems might know about what you need where a licensed, bonded, and insured electrician might have no clue about batteries. 

The bottom line is that with the right Goal Zero products you can run a tiny 12 volt fridge.  The difference is price.