A friend's review of portable battery packs.
Here's the deal with getting the oldest all-in-one: The Yeti from Goal Zero, repaired.
While the design seems to have been originally made on the States [Utah], and been engineered to be completely modular, in actual fact, only the battery [33ah lead-acid] is replaceable.
Transformer burn out because you thought Yeti 400 meant '400 watts', or it just finally died? No problem: part not available. "Can buy whole new entire unit." [The inner printing on transformer is '300 watts'. The battery has a 400 watt-hour capacity.]
While the Power board and Control board are modular, and can be replaced individually based on opening the unit, those boards are not actually available.
No wonder why their lithium offerings, in a much more crowded marketplace, a market GZ used to own, were a flop. Jackery, Bluetti, etc had already made a name for themselves, sent out sample units which were well-reviewed by trusted and listened-to reviewers on Youtube, and used by many people with success who wrote their own reviews and positive comments.
Meanwhile, the company which had been cutting-edge and reliable, mostly, made Lithium units with problems equivalent to second-rate designs. It does appear that after some core units were designed in lead-acid days, that they got lazy and no longer brought to market product that was above-bar.
With technical issues related to poor design that someone in a bubble might dream is 'good enough', no one uses their units - that I know of. Preferring either the Bluetti (or that style of suitcase) or a GroWatt/MPP/EG4 style wall-mounted unit [with separate batteries].
I gave ebay another scan for parts. Mind you, at one time, GZ had offered to replace a board, so they did have them, then. But only a few years later (a few years ago), the only thing they had was refurbished whole units from their sales warehouse. They can't be bothered to have a stash of parts for users that 5 years in, need one?
Refurbished Ecoflow River units are quite affordable [$200]. If it's between spending more on 'Yeti 400 parts' or a cert refurb Ecoflow, I'd do the Ecoflow.
Here's the deal with getting the oldest all-in-one: The Yeti from Goal Zero, repaired.
While the design seems to have been originally made on the States [Utah], and been engineered to be completely modular, in actual fact, only the battery [33ah lead-acid] is replaceable.
Transformer burn out because you thought Yeti 400 meant '400 watts', or it just finally died? No problem: part not available. "Can buy whole new entire unit." [The inner printing on transformer is '300 watts'. The battery has a 400 watt-hour capacity.]
While the Power board and Control board are modular, and can be replaced individually based on opening the unit, those boards are not actually available.
No wonder why their lithium offerings, in a much more crowded marketplace, a market GZ used to own, were a flop. Jackery, Bluetti, etc had already made a name for themselves, sent out sample units which were well-reviewed by trusted and listened-to reviewers on Youtube, and used by many people with success who wrote their own reviews and positive comments.
Meanwhile, the company which had been cutting-edge and reliable, mostly, made Lithium units with problems equivalent to second-rate designs. It does appear that after some core units were designed in lead-acid days, that they got lazy and no longer brought to market product that was above-bar.
With technical issues related to poor design that someone in a bubble might dream is 'good enough', no one uses their units - that I know of. Preferring either the Bluetti (or that style of suitcase) or a GroWatt/MPP/EG4 style wall-mounted unit [with separate batteries].
I gave ebay another scan for parts. Mind you, at one time, GZ had offered to replace a board, so they did have them, then. But only a few years later (a few years ago), the only thing they had was refurbished whole units from their sales warehouse. They can't be bothered to have a stash of parts for users that 5 years in, need one?
Refurbished Ecoflow River units are quite affordable [$200]. If it's between spending more on 'Yeti 400 parts' or a cert refurb Ecoflow, I'd do the Ecoflow.
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What a hell of an idea... https://youtube.com/shorts/5L8BVQffdHQ?feature=share
YouTube
Don't Hate the Router, Hate the Game #shorts
I know some feel using the router on a pole is lazy. My reply is that it is faster (eliminates most measuring) is cleaner and easier on the body. Don't kil...
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Something to think about when you see "supply chain problems". Our government (cough cough) would never make people dependent on them by destroying an existing supply system.
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My wife and I went to grocery tonight and looked at prices. We have 3 years of food but we are also rotating stock. I suggested we wait to buy more until I can move my lathe from the basement to the new shop and she said why wait, these cans will just cost more later.
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Forwarded from Et In Arcadia Ego
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Norsk Prepper | Message to Norwegians / Europeans: Why You Need to Take Action Now
Very intense message that actually applies to anyone subbed to this channel. Norsk Prepper is a friend and this video is highly recommended.
@AltSkull48
Very intense message that actually applies to anyone subbed to this channel. Norsk Prepper is a friend and this video is highly recommended.
@AltSkull48
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All you newbs here, please have a look thru the files archive in this group. Over the past two years we've posted things a few times. Please just look back in the archives to find PDF files for solar, pitless well pump adapters, rabbits, etc... even homeschooling.
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Forwarded from 💡LIFE HACKS💡
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Remember this knot! 🪢
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Hello ladies and gentlemen.
Here is a way to honestly evaluate where you are with your off the grid systems. (Power, food, water, shelter, protection, etc)
Think of it with a P.A.C.E. acronym.
- Primary. What do you do/use right now.
- Alternative. What can functionally replace your primary system.
- Contingency. What can replace the primary and alternative systems for a relatively short amount of time.
- Emergency. This will only be for getting back to alternative or contingency.
When looking at your off the grid prepping through these eyes, it can trim the fat from YouTube and glorification of survival, and show holes in your preparation.
Perhaps I will follow up with an example of how this would look with something like power, in the near future.
Here is a way to honestly evaluate where you are with your off the grid systems. (Power, food, water, shelter, protection, etc)
Think of it with a P.A.C.E. acronym.
- Primary. What do you do/use right now.
- Alternative. What can functionally replace your primary system.
- Contingency. What can replace the primary and alternative systems for a relatively short amount of time.
- Emergency. This will only be for getting back to alternative or contingency.
When looking at your off the grid prepping through these eyes, it can trim the fat from YouTube and glorification of survival, and show holes in your preparation.
Perhaps I will follow up with an example of how this would look with something like power, in the near future.
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We just put a new roof on the 30'x60' barn. One end is horse / goat stalls the other end will be the rabbitry. I presently have a 55 gallon drum about 8' off the floor for a gravity feed water system but I have to refill it every now and again. It pains me to cut a hole in the wall, so I was sitting here thinking of a way to get water inside from gutters to that water drum. So keep in mind our walls are 12' and that water drum is 8'
If I take the downspout and connect it to a PVC pipe thats about 10 or 11 feet high outside the barn and dig a hole under the wall, make a U bend in the pipe and bring the PVC up 8' on the inside. Water would fill the U shaped pipe and over flow inside into the 55 gallon drum. An overflow outside at 8' would allow the water to never get higher than my 55 gallon drum and would simply overflow onto the ground outside. If I put a valve or a 1/4" hole at the bottom of the U bend, I could drain the whole thing after a rain storm so it was dry and not getting algae growing inside. The ubend would take a couple minutes to fill up when rain storm started. Best of all, I don't have to cut the tin on the walls so if I change my mind later, no harm, no foul.
If I take the downspout and connect it to a PVC pipe thats about 10 or 11 feet high outside the barn and dig a hole under the wall, make a U bend in the pipe and bring the PVC up 8' on the inside. Water would fill the U shaped pipe and over flow inside into the 55 gallon drum. An overflow outside at 8' would allow the water to never get higher than my 55 gallon drum and would simply overflow onto the ground outside. If I put a valve or a 1/4" hole at the bottom of the U bend, I could drain the whole thing after a rain storm so it was dry and not getting algae growing inside. The ubend would take a couple minutes to fill up when rain storm started. Best of all, I don't have to cut the tin on the walls so if I change my mind later, no harm, no foul.
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As a follow-up post to my explanation of the P.A.C.E. acronym, I will show how it is used in your prepping journey.
Let us take a system of survival, like power, and apply P.A.C.E to it.
Primary = the power grid. You currently use this and it can supply all your needs if everything goes as it has been.
Alternate = solar panels. These are a full replacement of the primary form of power (the grid) and with a few changes of lifestyle, can long-term provide for your needs.
Contingency = propane stove, lamps, heaters, etc. These will function while the solar panels are down for an unknown reason. It cannot work for more than a few days or weeks because you will quickly deplete the propane and it's expensive.
Emergency = your truck (or car) electrical plugins, or kerosene lamps/stove. You get the idea. This is not ideal and cannot be used but just for getting you back to the use of another form of power.
This was a short example of how PACE can be applied to your own situation.
Let us take a system of survival, like power, and apply P.A.C.E to it.
Primary = the power grid. You currently use this and it can supply all your needs if everything goes as it has been.
Alternate = solar panels. These are a full replacement of the primary form of power (the grid) and with a few changes of lifestyle, can long-term provide for your needs.
Contingency = propane stove, lamps, heaters, etc. These will function while the solar panels are down for an unknown reason. It cannot work for more than a few days or weeks because you will quickly deplete the propane and it's expensive.
Emergency = your truck (or car) electrical plugins, or kerosene lamps/stove. You get the idea. This is not ideal and cannot be used but just for getting you back to the use of another form of power.
This was a short example of how PACE can be applied to your own situation.
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Supply chain problems? What supply chain problems? Middle of South Carolina.
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So SHTF and you head home from work. When you finally arrive, you find that your family isn't there. Good thing you and your family designated teh inside of the crawlspace door to write a message where they were going. Or the green transformer in the yard. Or the bottom side of the door mat. of course all you need in a single letter like "g" for grandma's house or "c" for cabin at the lake, etc....
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Starting fresh in the barn with rabbits. We’ve run tyvek along the wall and around posts so the bucks won’t spray on the wood constantly. We’ll hang cages from overhead wires much like ceiling tile grid. Water will be gravity feed from a 55gallon drum in the corner that’s supplied from a gutter downspout.
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Last week our LP "instant" gas hot water heater went out. Since everything in the house runs from solar electric or diesel, I was wanting rid of our last LP gas appliance anyway. So went to Lowes and got a heat pump hot water heater. Bear in mind that most water heaters use a 4400w element and that's nearly 40% of our inverter power. You can swap to 1500w heating elements which is what most people do. But this heat pump unit pulls 350watts. Yes... 1/3 of a kw. We got a hell of a deal on it because the min wage Lowes fork driver nailed it with the forks... we go it for half price. Kinda funny that "certified" min wage fork driver cost them $800.
When running your house off grid, you don't have the luxury of turning on everything at once. The grid is an infinite resource. But off grid most people can run an ordinary house from 12kw. But if you have appliances that pull lots of power you'll need something to keep all of them from coming on at the same time (load management) OR you need more efficient things. You don't have to do all of it at once, but you can make choices that lead you to a good place.
1)replace all light bulbs with LED. LED is 10x more efficient than incandescent and 2.5x more efficient than fluorescent.
2)replace your standard heat pump with a ducted mini-split. Our 5 ton heat pump went from running 6 minutes at a time pulling 3.5kw to running an hour at a time pulling 800w. And it doesn't pull 20kw to start the compressor which is hard on my inverters. In the end, the new unit is still 16 SEER like the old one but it is kinder and gentler to my inverters. Mitsubishi.
3a)replace the heating elements in your hot water heater with 1500w. Who cares if it takes 6 hours to get a tank of hot water as long as it's ready by bed time?? My wife and I are on different cycles.. she takes a shower in the morning and Im so dirty from work I take one in the evening.
3b)replace your hot water heater with a heat pump unit that draws 350w.
When running your house off grid, you don't have the luxury of turning on everything at once. The grid is an infinite resource. But off grid most people can run an ordinary house from 12kw. But if you have appliances that pull lots of power you'll need something to keep all of them from coming on at the same time (load management) OR you need more efficient things. You don't have to do all of it at once, but you can make choices that lead you to a good place.
1)replace all light bulbs with LED. LED is 10x more efficient than incandescent and 2.5x more efficient than fluorescent.
2)replace your standard heat pump with a ducted mini-split. Our 5 ton heat pump went from running 6 minutes at a time pulling 3.5kw to running an hour at a time pulling 800w. And it doesn't pull 20kw to start the compressor which is hard on my inverters. In the end, the new unit is still 16 SEER like the old one but it is kinder and gentler to my inverters. Mitsubishi.
3a)replace the heating elements in your hot water heater with 1500w. Who cares if it takes 6 hours to get a tank of hot water as long as it's ready by bed time?? My wife and I are on different cycles.. she takes a shower in the morning and Im so dirty from work I take one in the evening.
3b)replace your hot water heater with a heat pump unit that draws 350w.
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A neighbor just got "first light" with his SMA sunny islands this weekend. He made two homemade LFP (lithium) batteries for a total of 30kwh of power and 12kw of inverters. It's common to put a "precharge" resistor on the batteries to limit the inrush current when charging capacitors in the inverters. He used too high a value which limited the current too much and when turning on both inverters at the same time, the couldn't boot. We ended up powering them up one at a time and they booted fine. So he's replacing the resistors with 10ohm.
In the coming weeks he'll be building the racking up the hill from his house to mount the solar panels and be free of the grid.
Interesting note... although the sunny island inverter can be configured to sell power to the grid, he's not doing that. He will program it as "grid as a generator". If his batteries get down to 20% in the early hours of the morning, his inverter will connect to the grid and charge to 40% and disconnect. Then his solar will top off the batteries after the sun comes up.
In Georgia USA, the power company has a "super off peak" plan that charges 1.3c/kwh (normal is 12-15c/kwh). The gimmick is you can only get that rate from midnight to 6am. With a battery system like my friend and "grid as a generator" you can cut your power bill by 10 times.
In my system I have a diesel 5kw genset as a backup. I can get by with only 5kw generator because when I do draw more power than that it comes from the batteries. All I need to do is average out the power usage over a longer time. A 5kw generator can make 125kwh a day and we've never used that much power.
In the coming weeks he'll be building the racking up the hill from his house to mount the solar panels and be free of the grid.
Interesting note... although the sunny island inverter can be configured to sell power to the grid, he's not doing that. He will program it as "grid as a generator". If his batteries get down to 20% in the early hours of the morning, his inverter will connect to the grid and charge to 40% and disconnect. Then his solar will top off the batteries after the sun comes up.
In Georgia USA, the power company has a "super off peak" plan that charges 1.3c/kwh (normal is 12-15c/kwh). The gimmick is you can only get that rate from midnight to 6am. With a battery system like my friend and "grid as a generator" you can cut your power bill by 10 times.
In my system I have a diesel 5kw genset as a backup. I can get by with only 5kw generator because when I do draw more power than that it comes from the batteries. All I need to do is average out the power usage over a longer time. A 5kw generator can make 125kwh a day and we've never used that much power.
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