Luckily, the next day, sunny skies returned, and the Nomad delivered between 10 and 40 watts, depending on how much of it was shaded either by nearby buildings or the occasional cloud. Goal Zero says its generators can still charge without direct sunlight, but that wasn’t the case for me. On a mostly cloudy day, I could see the Nomad’s blue indicator light on, but the Yeti’s display showed no incoming power. This optimizes the energy conversion from a solar panel to the Yeti, improving charge time by up to 30 percent, according to Goal Zero. Unlike the 400 Lithium, the 500X has a built-in Maximum Power Point Tracking, or MPPT, controller. Although it can be recharged from a wall or car outlet, I set up the new Nomad 50 solar panel on my fire escape. Chargers Are Stronger Than Apollo 11's ComputerĪfter all that, the Yeti was out of juice. ![]() It also partially powered my electric toothbrush, which has a docking charger with an AC plug. I used it to revitalize my basically dead phone twice, my portable Bluetooth speaker once, and my laptop two and a half times. The 500X can also fuel tablets, camera batteries, lanterns, headlamps, portable refrigerators, and even pellet grills. According to Goal Zero, the 505 watt-hour battery has enough juice to charge a phone 40 times, a laptop 8 times, or run a TV for 3 hours. The screen on the Yeti showed me how much power in watts, amps, or volts it was delivering to my computer and other charging devices and let me monitor how much battery the generator had left. These fast-charging ports are a big upgrade from the 400 Lithium, which only had three traditional USB ports. There’s also an 18-watt USB-C port, better suited for tablets, phones, and smaller tech. “You’re not wasting as much energy going from DC to AC back to DC,” he says. Skipping the brick converter enables more efficient charging, explains Goal Zero Marketing & Events Coordinator Kable Green. Instead, I just connected the charging cord from my laptop directly into the 60-watt USB-C Power Delivery port and hit the USB button to turn on the power. So when I needed to give the battery a boost, I had to retreat to my kitchen or my bedroom where distractions-in the form of food and a comfy mattress-tanked my productivity.īut with the 500X, I suddenly didn’t have to uproot myself when my MacBook Pro ran out of juice. I quickly resorted to working from my couch as much as possible, but there was one problem: My computer charger couldn’t reach the closest outlet from the middle of the room. The only table my one-bedroom apartment has room for is my kitchen table, and though my thrifted kitchen chairs are fine for meal times, sitting in them for an 8-hour work day is less than pleasant. The Popular Mechanics staff has been working from home since early March. So I decided to go “off the grid” in my apartment for five days to see how using the Yeti 500X and the new Nomad 50 solar panel would impact my current remote working reality. Even before the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Goal Zero was marketing its products as productivity tools for professionals working in the field and freelancers enjoying #vanlife. An Australian solar company reported a 400 percent increase in customer inquiries in the last two weeks of March. But it turns out I’m not alone in my curiosity about solar power. ![]() To be clear: Our electrical grid is safe, even as power plants are switching to emergency protocols and having some employees work remotely. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play My anxiety got the best of me when I found myself thinking Forget the campground-a portable power system that can be recharged with the sun’s rays is exactly the kind of gear I want right now. Of course, in these viral-laden days, campgrounds across the country are closed, and the only traveling most of us are doing is to the grocery store and back.īut in the course of hunkering down, many of us have been stocking up on more food than we’d normally buy, equipping our homes with new office supplies, and possibly even turning to disaster preppers for advice on how to cope. ![]() Despite packing 77 more watt-hours of battery capacity than the previous generation, the 500X is slimmer, charges faster, and weighs almost 3.5 pounds less at 12.9 pounds.ĭesigned with the weekend warrior in mind, this is exactly the kind of camping equipment I get stoked about testing to help you stock your gear closet with the stuff that’s going to make your next adventure one to remember. Last month, Goal Zero released the Yeti 500X, a mid-size rechargeable generator with a 505 watt-hour lithium-ion battery that replaces the company’s 400 Lithium model.
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