Connect Several Goal Zero Panels To A Yeti/Sherpa Power Station

Goal Zero makes popular power stations/solar generators that can be recharged with solar panels. It’s possible to connect more than one solar panel to most of their Yeti power stations, and today I am going to show you how it’s done.

Let’s start by looking at how it’s done, then I’ll list every Goal Zero battery and its limitations. Not every Goal Zero battery supports several panels.

I have written several posts about Goal Zero products that you can find here.

Combining Goal Zero Boulder 50, 100, 100 Briefcase, And Nomad 100

The Boulder 50, 100, 100 Briefcase and Nomad 28/28 Plus/100 solar panels come with 8mm outputs. To combine two or more, you need to use the Goal Zero 8mm Combiner cable.

Goal Zero 8mm Combiner Cable

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On the other end of this combiner, there is an Anderson Power Pole (APP) connector. This means that you can only plug the combiner into a power station that has an APP input, like the Yeti 1000, 1400, 3000 and 1250.

If you want to combine two or more panels with 8mm outputs with a Goal Zero power station that only has an 8mm input, like the Yeti 150, 200X, 400, 400 Lithium, Sherpa 50 and 100AC, you need to use a Goal Zero APP to 8mm cable.

Goal Zero Anderson Power Pole (APP) To 8mm Cable

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Be aware that the APP to 8mm cable only supports up to 14 amps so if you have more than 200W of solar panels, you won’t see any higher input than about 168 watts. The 8mm port on the largest Yeti 3000 can only input 120W maximum anyway.

Combining Goal Zero Boulder 200 Solar Panels

The Boulder 200 solar panels come with an Anderson Power Pole output, so if you want to combine two or more you need a Goal Zero Anderson combiner.

Goal Zero Anderson Power Pole Combiner

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On the other side of this combiner, there is an Anderson Power Pole connector. This will plug into the Yeti 1000, 1250, 1400, and 3000. I don’t recommend combining several Boulder 200 to plug into an 8mm input.

Combining 8mm And Anderson Power Pole

You can use the adapters above to combine 8mm panels with Anderson Power Pole panels.

Goal Zero Batteries Input Limitations

Each Goal Zero battery/power station has its own limitations. To make it easy to figure out what your specific one can handle, I have every model below. If I haven’t listed the one you have (new models might’ve been released) please leave a comment and I will add it.

Sherpa 50 – 8mm input, 30W max

Sherpa 100AC – 8mm input, 50W max

Yeti 150 – 8mm input, 60W max

Yeti 200X – 8mm input, 100W max

Related Post: Yeti 200X Review

Yeti 400 – 8mm input, 140W max

Yeti 400 Lithium – 8mm input, 120W max

Yeti 1000 Lithium – 8mm input, 120W max / Anderson Power Pole input, 360W max

Yeti 1250 – two 8mm inputs, 160W max / Anderson Power Pole input, 320W max

Yeti 1400 – 8mm input, 120W max / Anderson Power Pole, 360W max

Yeti 3000 – PWM charge controller: 8mm input, 120W max / Anderson Power Pole, 360W max – MPPT charge controller: two 8mm inputs, 150W max per port / Anderson Power Pole, 325W max

My Goal Zero Solar Panel Recommendations

Here are the Goal Zero solar panels I recommend for the batteries above. The links below will take you to the product page on Amazon.com.

Sherpa 50 – The Nomad 28 Plus or the Boulder 50.

Sherpa 100AC – The Boulder 100 or the Nomad 100.

Yeti 150 – The Boulder 100 or the Nomad 100.

Yeti 200X – The Boulder 100 or the Nomad 100. You could also combine two Boulder 50.

Yeti 400, 400 Lithium – The Boulder 100 briefcase or the Boulder 200 briefcase. The 200W panel requires a APP to 8mm cable

Yeti 1000, 1250, 1400, 3000 – One or more Boulder 100 briefcase, Nomad 100, or Boulder 200 briefcase.

Related Post: Use Third-Party Solar Panels With Goal Zero Yeti

Are There Anderson Power Pole/8mm Extension Cables?

Goal Zero makes both a 15ft 8mm and a 30ft 8mm extension cable.

There is also a 15ft Anderson extension cable.

How Long Will It Take To Charge The Goal Zero Battery?

If you divide the number of watt-hours in the specific product with how many watts your panels generate, you can get a pretty close answer.

A 200W panel generates about 140W, a 100W panel about 60-70W, and a 50W panel 30-40W. This is under perfect sunny circumstances.

So if we take my setup as an example, a Yeti 1000 with 1045 watt-hours and 400W of solar that I have seen produce 290W input at the most to my Yeti, it would take 3.6 hours to charge it from 0-100 (1045Wh/290W=3.6 hours).

What Can I Do To Improve The Charging Speed?

The easiest thing you can do is to angle the panel directly towards the sun. This will help a lot in the morning, the evening, or on cloudy days.

Angling the panel towards the sun is much easier if the solar panel has a built-in kickstand, so this might be something worth considering when you choose what solar panel to buy.

Another thing you should do is make sure the solar panel isn’t shaded in any way, not even a little bit. Sometimes a small shadow can do a big difference when it comes to charging efficiency.

Related Post: 5 Ways To Improve The Charging Speed Of A Yeti Power Station

How Do I Combine Two Or More Third-Party Panels?

In my post about how to connect third-party panels to the Goal Zero batteries, I have a section that talks about how you can connect several third-party panels.

What Is The Max Amount of Solar Panels I Can Connect To The Yeti 1000, 1400 and 3000?

If you have the MPPT charge controller installed, they can all handle up to 800W of solar panels. You would connect 400W to the built-in PWM charge controller (on the left) and 400W to the MPPT charge controller (on the right).

To do this, use the Anderson Power Pole input and not the 8mm.

Please leave a comment down below if you have any questions.