Yeti 150 and Renology 50W panels

[Grad]

I am a graduate student conducting fieldwork in a remote village in the Amazon. There is no electricity at my site, so I need a solar setup in order to charge camera batteries and my laptop. Portability is extremely important to me as well as ease of setup (I have very limited experience with solar panels and setups). I have done some research and have come up with the following setup:

Goal Zero Yeti 150 Solar Generator - As far as batteries go, this seems pretty lightweight. I also like that it has a battery display built in and that seems helpful for a newbie like me.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CWBABRM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=J99GA5F6DJME&coliid=I3O7V3G3PZT0U3&psc=1

Renogy 50W 12V Monocrystalline Lightweight Solar Panel (X2) - These seem very lightweight and transportable. I would chain two of these 50W solar panels in order to charge the Yeti 150. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LXK3YQI/...I3GRS2HYUC3V58

MC4 branch connectors - To chain the two solar panels

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCWRB48/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=J99GA5F6DJME&coliid=I23SNLWDLUTBQW&psc=1

Adaptor cable for Yeti - MC4 adaptor to connect panels to Yeti

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N80YN2K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=J99GA5F6DJME&coliid=I1YOSE1EJLKSNZ

Extension cable - I need a bit of distance between the panels and the Yeti

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IFWPRCQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=J99GA5F6DJME&coliid=IO2QZAY6AW632&psc=1

Basically, my question is simply if this setup makes sense. Am I missing anything crucial? Am I making any silly mistakes?

[SunEagle]

Hello Grad and welcome to Solar Panel Talk.

Usually those canned systems cost too much and delivery very little.

I would ask you that before you purchase anything first try to determine how many watt hours you will use at your remote site charging your camera and laptop.

Once you have that we can help you design your system so that you do not end up with too little battery or panel and be in the dark after a couple of weeks.

[Grad]

Hi SunEagle, thanks for the response.

I have a Macbook air with a 45W charger and two camera battery chargers that are 5W and 6.5W each.

If we say that I need to fully charge my laptop once a day (which I think should take about an hour) and charge 2 batteries with each charger (let's say an 1.5 hours each), that would work out to about 80W hours a day, right?

Another consideration is that I want to be able to take the battery on a plane. According to the Goal Zero site, the Yeti 150 is okay to take a plane. I have to fly into a city where I will not be able to purchase a car battery.

[SunEagle]

Well that yeti 150 is supposed to provide up to 150 watt hours so if you use 80 watt hours daily chances are it will be more than you estimated which more than likely can over discharge the battery which will shorten its life. It might also be hard to charge it back to 100% with only those 50 watt panels.

I might be overly pessimistic and the yeti could work fine for you but I don't want you to spend your money until you understand that the equipment might not last as long as yeti indicated it would.

[Grad]

Is using more powerful solar panels a possible solution? I could chain two of these 60W panels and get another 20W: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...f_rd_i=desktop

Or do you have a suggestion for another battery? (One that can be transported on a plane).

[SunEagle]

Is using more powerful solar panels a possible solution? I could chain two of these 60W panels and get another 20W: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...f_rd_i=desktop

Or do you have a suggestion for another battery? (One that can be transported on a plane).

While there may be other batteries allowed on a plane I do not have not any suggestions.

While additional wattage for the solar panels could help extend your charging time you can run the risk of over charging an FLA (even a sealed AGM type) battery. You just have to be careful that your charging amps does not exceed the battery maximum rate.

[inetdog]

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While additional wattage for the solar panels could help extend your charging time you can run the risk of over charging an FLA (even a sealed AGM type) battery. You just have to be careful that your charging amps does not exceed the battery maximum rate.

Overpaneling can also help when you have moderate to large loads (compared to battery size) which you want to run while the panels are producing. The problem is that if you want to take full current from the panels and split it in parallel between loads and batteries the CC will not be able to limit current to the battery unless it can take information from a shunt which measures only battery current (such as via the Whizbang Jr. interface on Midnite Solar products.)

[PNjunction]

The Yeti 150 uses a 14ah simple agm battery. (most likely two 7ah in parallel possibly).

That means, that you should not go beyond the typical 60 watt panel. Thus, two of the 50's would be too much. Agm's can only handle about 0.25 to 0.3C continuous current charge if you want them to have any cycle life. So, ditch that extra 50 watt panel. 14 * 0.25 = 3.5A. If you were to open the '150, you'll most likely see this parameter printed on it.

A 50 watt panel can provide: 50W panel / 18v nominal ocv = 2.77A so that's ok. A 60 watt would be even better. Question is: can the Yeti 150's own internal solar charge controller handle that?

Yes, for what you get it is very expensive as compared to putting it all together yourself. However, as long as you know this up front, then ok.

What you WILL want to do before anything else, is actually measure your power output needs (current or watts per hour * hours of use.)

If you want the battery to have any cycle life, then you'll limit your daily draw to no more than 84 watthours. That is about half of the battery's rating.

That might be too small to run your laptop for any decent length of time, so think carefully. Better yet, invest in a P3 International Kill-A-Watt meter, and measure your devices, multiply that by time, and if you exceed 84 watthours, you'll be killing that battery fast and wasting money.

In reality, that Yeti should be called a Yeti 75.