Avoid Confusing Electrical Set Ups by Choosing the Goal Zero Yeti All-in-One Unit to Power Your Build!
Are you currently in the process of building out your van and have to decide how you’ll power your home? If building a complete electrical system is confusing or daunting, don’t worry, there’s another solution. When it comes to building an entire system to power your van, there are many options to choose from for every individual component needed. This can be confusing, costly, and easily done incorrectly. With a portable power station, you can avoid all of this while saving space and a good amount of money. These units can be used very little, such as while camping for the weekend or for powering your house during a power outage.
When it comes to choosing which brand or size of portable power station to buy, there are many options as well. Read on to learn more about a brand we recommend above the others. We will discuss the options available for powering your van, the components included inside the units, pros and cons, and what others are saying. We’re Jess and Shawn, and we have been full-time vanlifers and builders for five years. We have used and worked with a variety of brands when it comes to electrical systems, and we’ve stuck with the ones we like. We’ve seen what is easy and what is difficult with installation, finding information online, troubleshooting and getting in touch with companies. When we’re working with products, it’s important to us to be able to get in contact with the company at short notice. Goal Zero is one of the few companies where you can reach a knowledgeable person with a quick phone call for help with product information.
Our Experience as Van Lifers and Builders with Portable Power Stations
Back in 2019, when we were building out our first van, we weren’t familiar with how to build an electrical system to power our home. It was overwhelming, and though the topic is saturated across the internet now, five years ago, there wasn’t much information available for this. There were only a couple of blogs available, and if we weren’t interested in completely copying their setup, then what were we to do? We researched what our options were as much as we could. We had the idea that we didn’t need as much power as others planned to have or what an RV would come installed with, since we didn’t plan on using large household appliances such as a microwave or blender. We did find a helpful YouTube video, “How Much Solar Do I Need?” by Explorist Life. We found this video so helpful that we now share it with all our clients looking to get into this lifestyle. This YouTube video has a downloadable spreadsheet where you can figure out the proper calculations for the amount of solar you’ll need for your specific application.
About Our Experience with the Goal Zero Portable Power Stations
Originally, the Goal Zero Portable Power Stations were created for use in homes as a backup power system. If you were to lose power, you’d still have access to charge things like your phone or lights. It also works well for those camping or living in a vehicle. You will need to have sources of charging, such as from your car alternator, solar, or shore power (plugging in at a campground, for example). We decided to stop stressing it and to make our life easy by going with this all-in-one unit. That’s when we found the older version of the Goal Zero Yeti 1400. At the time, there were only a few options, and we went with the middle-of-the-line option. Not too small but not too large for our limited space.
Over time, the downfall we found with the unit was with their DC-DC charging option from the car’s alternator, called The Link. There wasn’t a way to have that option installed as well as expand your battery capacity. You had to choose one or the other. We noticed the Link module itself overheated and stopped working properly. We found out their customer service is fantastic, and they replaced the Link for us with a new version, and we haven’t had any further issues with it.
We later experienced some charging and display issues. Unfortunately, at that point, we were outside the coverage period of their two-year warranty. We called them anyway and expressed our concern and major dilemma, as we live in our van full time. They were so kind and said not to worry about the warranty and to just send them an address. Lucky for us, we didn’t need to wait for the shipment as we happened to be in their area. We were able to swing by their warehouse, and an employee met us outside, assisted with the replacement, and took away the old one. We realized they even upgraded our unit to the Yeti 1500X, free of charge! We were stoked and didn’t have any further issues.
Is the Goal Zero Power Station Worth It for Van Life?
Should you buy? We suggest doing your own research to determine what is best for your needs. We feel this option would work great for not only a “weekend warrior” but also for a full-time nomad who doesn’t have high power needs. Personally, this has worked for us, and we live full time in our rig with no limitations that we feel due to having a smaller, more compact system. During the past five years, we have only fully drained our Goal Zero a few times. We decided that if we had a slightly larger battery capacity, then we wouldn’t need to worry about checking the levels or losing power overnight. This could have been because of the locations we decided to stay camped in with not ideal weather situations, the sun just wasn’t high enough at a certain time of year in these locations, or our refrigerator that was dying and seemed to be running nonstop. We worked out many options for what could be the cause and kept coming to the conclusion that we wanted more battery capacity than this all-in-one unit could give us. That way, we wouldn’t need to stress at any given point, no matter what the cause. Remember when we mentioned earlier that we had to choose whether we charged from the car alternator or increased battery capacity? We didn’t want to lose our DC-DC charging option to add another battery, and especially not an AGM battery. So, now what? We came up with a brilliant idea of how we could have both.
Making the Goal Zero Work for Van Life
Since Goal Zero didn’t have an option for a lithium battery add-on, we found a workaround. We decided to purchase an additional 200 Ah lithium battery, a separate DC-DC and solar controller combo unit, and Goal Zero’s 12V car charger option. Now we are charging the new additional battery from the alternator, solar, and even shore power because we also added a trickle charger to the new battery. At the same time, we are charging our Goal Zero from that battery at all times, even during the night. This means even when the sun goes down, we are getting a constant charge, and it’s powering everything in our house. Goal Zero has new units now and even a specific Drivable Kit option available. If you currently have an older unit, then our setup may work for you.
What Do You Get for the Price?
When building an electrical system, the most common components needed are batteries, an inverter, a solar controller, a DC to DC, a shore power converter, a display, as well as connectors, wiring, terminals, bus bars, and circuit protection such as fuses and circuit breakers. This can be very difficult to learn how to do yourself and know if you’re doing everything properly. Additionally, this can become costly as well as have issues or a need for troubleshooting if it’s not done correctly. Best-case scenario, you don’t have power, but worst-case scenario, a fire can start from improper wire sizing.
While the price for these portable power systems might seem expensive, you’re getting almost everything you’ll need all in this one unit, minus solar panels. If we do the math to compare our Yeti 1500X to building out an entire system, we could spend upwards of $3,200—that’s double the cost! Goal Zero has many discounts available for first-time purchases or special occasions throughout the year, such as Black Friday or the Winter Holidays. There is a new unit available called the Yeti Pro 4000 Drivable Kit, and it seems to feature the Link module built in. This means the port the Link used to plug into to allow for DC-DC charging would now be available to add an additional battery. This is a huge improvement, not to mention it’s a larger battery capacity compared to the 1500X without adding much more overall dimensional size for your space.
Pros of a Portable Power Station
• Easy to install
• Saves space
• Cost-effective
• Customer Service is easily available
Cons of a Portable Power Station
• Limited battery capacity
• Display is on the unit
Other User Reviews
What are others saying? It seems to be both a mix of great reviews as well as bad ones. We suggest reading through all of them on the website and forming your own opinion. Here’s some reviews we found, both good and bad, on the newest option available, the Goal Zero Yeti Pro 4000 drivable kit.
Excellent Plug and Play Option!
“I picked this up for my Adventure Wagon Sprinter build. It was a breeze to install to my existing fuse block. My only “complaint” is there is no way to “lock” the control panel from turning off the 12v power by accident. Minute in the grand scheme of things. Overall, I feel this will be plenty of power and was easy to install. I am excited about the freedom this will give me.”
Left Stranded Again
“My first unit was purchased at REI & it lasted 9 months as the power source of my camper before a complete failure of all systems. The RV integration was done by a professional shop that installed 600+ watts of solar and alternator charging using Goal Zero equipment. I’ve had my brand new replacement purchased directly from Goal Zero for less than a week, and the 12v is constantly shorting out, even under no load. Instead of resolving/replacing the unit they asked me to wait until next month when they update the firmware. I had high hopes for this unit and the company and I’ve been constantly left stranded.”
Our Honest Thoughts as Real Goal Zero Users
Overall, we feel that the Goal Zero Yeti Portable Power Stations can be an easy and helpful option for Vanlife. Whether you’re new to the lifestyle, don’t have high power demands in your day-to-day life, or are just looking for an easy and cost-effective option. There can be issues that arise, but Goal Zero is a reputable brand with great customer service and now has a five-year warranty on all their products. As we figured out, even with what we thought was a limitation, we were able to work around it, customize it, and now it works perfect for our needs. We highly recommend the brand and its products. You’ll not only save the headache, but you’ll save time and money with this compact, quiet unit. Happy travels!
