Goalzero Yeti 400 - Charging issue

[Christoph1985]

https://imgur.com/a/lHcLgm5

After a trip with my van, the Goalzero was used until it was empty and shut off.
Now when I want to recharge it, it just flicks shortly and then goes black.
This repeats every 10 sec.
Same behaviour with solar charging and wall plug.
Any ideas?

 

[Ely]

Try a reset. Press and hold the Units, Light and Info button simultaneously for some seconds until the battery reboot.

 

[Christoph1985]

Try a reset. Press and hold the Units, Light and Info button simultaneously for some seconds until the battery reboot.

I tried. Nothing. Without wallplug it‘s completely dead

 

[Ely]

Not good. I guess the BMS shut down some cells.

Charge the Yeti for some hours. Sometimes this brings the BMS back.

How old is this thing? There are NMC cells inside, after about 500 cycles you have a loss round 20% capacity and if you empty this cells often completely (Yeti shut down) they are quickley dead. Don‘t discharge below 20%. If you are careful with such cells you can get 1500 or more cycles.

Where are you? The AC is 230 V. In the US Goal Zero can replace the battery. Perhaps this service is available in your country too.

 

[Christoph1985]

I‘m in Germany.
I contacted Goalzero already and waiting for a reply.
I bought the device 2020, but left it unpacked for 2 years, because I needed to repair my camping van during this time.
So basically last week, I used it for the first time.

There are some news:
Since I don‘t have any warranty anymore, i opened the device.
Measured the battery, which was 0.1V. I couldn’t believe, but obviously it was dead.

There are 2 main connections to the battery. One goes to the converter board, one goes to the frontpanel.
The connections to the frontpanel are close to the input connector, so i assumed they will receive the charge.
I disconnected the battery from the converterpanel and suddenly the battery started getting some charge.
I did this quite carefully and always removed the plug after some seconds, because I believe I bypassed the charging logic.

After 5-6 times of „boosting“ the battery in that way, i connected everything and now it continues charging normally.

Probably the cells are damaged now anyway and won‘t keep the charge as expected, right?

 

[Ely]

It keeps the charge, but the capacity is (much) lower. Two years without using is very bad for the cells. If you want a long last, use it. Perceft is a charge up to 80% and a discharge not below 20%. If you charge full (100%) is ok, but avoid lower than 20%.

Ok, the Yeti comes back to life, use it and oberve if the capacity is ok for you.

 

[Christoph1985]

It keeps the charge, but the capacity is (much) lower. Two years without using is very bad for the cells. If you want a long last, use it. Perceft is a charge up to 80% and a discharge not below 20%. If you charge full (100%) is ok, but avoid lower than 20%.

Ok, the Yeti comes back to life, use it and oberve if the capacity is ok for you.

After doing some research, i probably did a very risky thing, with reviving the dead battery.
I‘ll leave it on the charger, but outdoors.
I mean, is there any risk of fire or explosion, when the „reviving“ worked and the charging logic is working as is should now?

 

[Ely]

After doing some research, i probably did a very risky thing, with reviving the dead battery.
I‘ll leave it on the charger, but outdoors.
I mean, is there any risk of fire or explosion, when the „reviving“ worked and the charging logic is working as is should now?

There is some risk. The battery was two years out of use, completely discharged and now charged up to 100%.

Outside is good, be very careful, it‘s a 400 Wh bomb ?

 

[captain69]

Same here. But TWO units failed within about three years of purchase.
One I put into service immediately, and left it out on site, powering a few things, including a water pump on a timer. I have no idea how long it lasted, but it obviously failed sometime within that three years, probably sometime in year two as I noticed the water tanks we’re not staying full. The other one I just pulled out of storage, after never having used it. GoalZero claims that these things, “maintain a full charge for up to 14 months,” so it should’ve maintained enough capacity to not destroy the batteries. Apparently it did not.

MY SOLUTION TO RESTORE CHARGEABILITY:
After multiple resest, holding down the units/light/Info buttons, while also unplugging plugging the “input“ charge plug, and listening to multiple BEEP BEEP BEEP… I finally hit upon just the right combination of power cycling and button holding. The display is now at least showing 47 W input, and staying on.

Meanwhile, my 2kWh LiOn system powered right up, and charged from 0 to 100% within four hours (IN MIDWINTER AFTERNOON LIGHT!) after sitting idle for even longer than the goal zero junk. YMMV

After this experience, I’m much more interested in finding a power storage option that doesn’t depend upon limited lifetime equipment. Maybe a few super capacitors for momentary slumps in power generation, and just use power when the sun is actually out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I do like this idea of hot sand tank storage. I’m pretty sure that sound doesn’t have a “charge cycle” in the mere hundreds!
Do we have a thread about that?