Goal Zero Yeti 3000 to power Hawk

[Oryguntroutbum]

I saw a video a while back from a company in Florida that installs the Yeti 3000x to power Sprinter camper vans. I have a Hawk shell on order to replace my fully loaded Hawk I sold and have been trying to figure out what I am going to do for lithium power.

The new Yeti 3000x will accept solar, shore power and for an additional cost one can purchase a module to wire for alternator charging.

It has a built in MPPT controller, inverter, and a digital panel for monitoring all activity. I think there is a Bluetooth app as well.

I’m no electrician, but I’m wondering if I could somehow wire it directly to the camper. I would only need it for lights, 12v usb charger, and furnace.

Anyone done this or considered it?

 

[ri-f]

I saw a video a while back from a company in Florida that installs the Yeti 3000x to power Sprinter camper vans. I have a Hawk shell on order to replace my fully loaded Hawk I sold and have been trying to figure out what I am going to do for lithium power.

The new Yeti 3000x will accept solar, shore power and for an additional cost one can purchase a module to wire for alternator charging.

It has a built in MPPT controller, inverter, and a digital panel for monitoring all activity. I think there is a Bluetooth app as well.

I’m no electrician, but I’m wondering if I could somehow wire it directly to the camper. I would only need it for lights, 12v usb charger, and furnace.

Anyone done this or considered it?

You know it's always a temptation to use an 'all-in-one' device. These types of tools on the surface always appear to be a clean, easy, simplistic solution to a seemingly complicated problem.

As with almost all all-in-one solutions they typically don't excel in any one thing particularly well. And this particular tool seems like the swiss army knife of electrical energy storage, conversion and distribution. If any one of its component parts fails, you've lost a certain percentage of the tool's usefulness and it might be more of an inconvenience than you think, if you had to repair only one of the components in a unit that comprised multiple components that were all linked together.

It's just my opinion, in general, about all-in-one devices, that you'd be better off with a system of individual, integrated, proven, reliable components, which wouldn't put you completely out of commission if any one of those components happened to inconveniently fail.

The Yeti 3000x may be the exception, I don't know anything about them, they may be great - but it is an all-in-one device and I guess I have a bias against all-in-one devices in general, that claim to be the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe as a portable generator for emergency use, or for casual glamping it would be a good choice. Maybe. But for outfitting your new Hawk? it might be overkill for running your LED lights and USB charger, to say nothing of it's dimensions, it's pretty big and somewhat unwieldy. It wouldn't be one of my top priorities for bullet-proof, effective, cost-efficient energy management.

That said, Yeti does make a nice, simplistic, bullet-proof cooler, and perhaps if their electrical systems are as effective as their coolers, then maybe their all-in-one energy tool will prove the exception to the rule.

Good luck with outfitting your new Hawk,
Rich

 

[PaulT]

More importantly for use with nominal 13.8 volts appliances, it appears that the Yeti 3000 provides a nominal 10.8 volts rather than 13+ volts.

This would not be a good idea as some of the appliances may not operate properly or may shut down with voltage that low.

Not saying not to use it but check carefully before buying.

Paul

 

[steve whiteside]

I have the original Yeti 3000 which does indeed have a very low 12v output. The 3000x above though is the newer version and they fixed the 12v issue. Also this Yeti model name is made by goal zero and has nothing to do with the Yeti cooler company.

I already owned my Goal zero so it made sense for me to integrate it into my camper. I think if you aspired to use the goal zero as a power pack outside of the camper ( back up power for your house or run some tools at a constructions site) then the all in one form factor would shine. If you just want a Li battery solution built into your camper I think you would be better off with assembling piece parts. Mostly for the reasons Ri-f pointed out.

My goal zero is not hard wired into the camper. I can un plug the wires and remove it for other uses.

Steve

 

[JWL]

We received our Hawk Shell in October with just the heater and one AGM batt. I was wondering what to do about power as well. I went with the one battery because I knew I would go lithium eventually so decided to just run this one till it was gone. I also wanted to wait and see what my power need would be. I installed a 200 watt solar panel on the roof (Yakima tracks) and a Victron Mppt controller. And so far I have not been low on volts once even several with several days of 30+ degree temps. And partly cloudy days. I know when and if I get a fridge/freezer I will need lithium but so far my good ol 60qt Gott gets us by for a week. I still haven’t ruled out the Jackaroo (?) or Goal Zero etc and they are getting better all the time, so when I’m ready maybe they will be too. But I don’t like the thought of if one thing dies the whole thing dies. Worse comes to worse I’ll just slap a Lithium battery in plus those are coming down in price all the time. So my suggestion is get some solar and see what you really need.

 

[Oryguntroutbum]

We received our Hawk Shell in October with just the heater and one AGM batt. I was wondering what to do about power as well. I went with the one battery because I knew I would go lithium eventually so decided to just run this one till it was gone. I also wanted to wait and see what my power need would be. I installed a 200 watt solar panel on the roof (Yakima tracks) and a Victron Mppt controller. And so far I have not been low on volts once even several with several days of 30+ degree temps. And partly cloudy days. I know when and if I get a fridge/freezer I will need lithium but so far my good ol 60qt Gott gets us by for a week. I still haven’t ruled out the Jackaroo (?) or Goal Zero etc and they are getting better all the time, so when I’m ready maybe they will be too. But I don’t like the thought of if one thing dies the whole thing dies. Worse comes to worse I’ll just slap a Lithium battery in plus those are coming down in price all the time. So my suggestion is get some solar and see what you really need.

I got the same set up as you. Single AGM and furnace, with the intention of going lithium. I’m also planning on 200 watts of solar. What panels did you end up going with?

 

[ri-f]

I got the same set up as you. Single AGM and furnace, with the intention of going lithium. I’m also planning on 200 watts of solar. What panels did you end up going with?

...two Overland 160's on the roof, one 100AH BB LiFePO4 and a B2B charger - for us, it is balanced for year-round use, no regrets. It mostly depends on your energy loads and personal useage patterns, keeping latitude and wx patterns in mind.

 

[JWL]

I got the same set up as you. Single AGM and furnace, with the intention of going lithium. I’m also planning on 200 watts of solar. What panels did you end up going with?

I went with Newpowa, the specs were good as was the weight and price. It’s been working quite well.

 

[steve whiteside]

I saw a video a while back from a company in Florida that installs the Yeti 3000x to power Sprinter camper vans. I have a Hawk shell on order to replace my fully loaded Hawk I sold and have been trying to figure out what I am going to do for lithium power.

The new Yeti 3000x will accept solar, shore power and for an additional cost one can purchase a module to wire for alternator charging.

It has a built in MPPT controller, inverter, and a digital panel for monitoring all activity. I think there is a Bluetooth app as well.

I’m no electrician, but I’m wondering if I could somehow wire it directly to the camper. I would only need it for lights, 12v usb charger, and furnace.

Anyone done this or considered it?

You know on further refection Im not sure you need Lithium. It seems that your power needs are quite small. My Grandby with two car sized AGM batteries will run the furnace, the lights, and misc USB charging for maybe 5-7 days. Then if I run the truck it charges back up to full. If your use is as you described, it doesn't seem like you are going to be needing an elaborate electrical system.

One thing I have really enjoyed in cold weather camping was using my 120v heating blanket. It draw about 200w at first and the down to about 85watts. This would probably kick you over into needing more stored energy. . Steve

 

[Oryguntroutbum]

You know on further refection Im not sure you need Lithium. It seems that your power needs are quite small. My Grandby with two car sized AGM batteries will run the furnace, the lights, and misc USB charging for maybe 5-7 days. Then if I run the truck it charges back up to full. If your use is as you described, it doesn't seem like you are going to be needing an elaborate electrical system.

One thing I have really enjoyed in cold weather camping was using my 120v heating blanket. It draw about 200w at first and the down to about 85watts. This would probably kick you over into needing more stored energy. . Steve

Heated blanket would be nice. My power needs are a little more than the options I ordered. I will need to power a couple laptops, cameras and batteries, etc. I need to be able to work from the camper.

As I sit here in Oregon with no power right now due to an ice storm, the Yeti 3000x is sounding more and more appealing. Especially since you can buy a home integration kit that will allow it to plug into your home panel and power essential items such as a refrigerator and lights.

I know there have been some comments about all in one devices, but that is essentially what FWC has decided to do by going with the RedArc Manager 30.

The lithium batteries can be replaced in the Yeti as can most of the components from what I’m being told. I still have until July / August to decide so I’ll continue the research.

 

[steve whiteside]

Heated blanket would be nice. My power needs are a little more than the options I ordered. I will need to power a couple laptops, cameras and batteries, etc. I need to be able to work from the camper.

As I sit here in Oregon with no power right now due to an ice storm, the Yeti 3000x is sounding more and more appealing. Especially since you can buy a home integration kit that will allow it to plug into your home panel and power essential items such as a refrigerator and lights.

I know there have been some comments about all in one devices, but that is essentially what FWC has decided to do by going with the RedArc Manager 30.

The lithium batteries can be replaced in the Yeti as can most of the components from what I’m being told. I still have until July / August to decide so I’ll continue the research.

It IS pretty cool to have a portable power pack that you can use in your house of let someone borrow to have a pretty good amount of power. I built a little car port and used the Yeti to charge my battery tools and run a little pancake compressor to power my nail gun. The goal zero certainly makes things easy. Even if you got a deal I wouldn't go for the older model Yeti. The new one fixed a number of issues. BTW the new Yeti is selling on Costco on line. I think under home improvement. Seems like a killer price. Steve