Solar Powerhouse

The Goal Zero Yeti 400: Innovative Generator or Overweight Battery?

- Ryan Lee Price

If you’re reading this magazine, there’s a good chance you’ve considered fortifying your food supplies and beefing up your home security. And if you’re a serious prepper, you’ve already done those things in addition to buying a backup generator for when the power cuts out or the aliens finally invade Earth. Usually powered by gasoline, a portable generator can provide electricity where a plugin isn’t available (e.g. a tailgate party) or if there’s a grid-down situation.

However, there are drawbacks. Portable generators give off poisonous carbon monoxide fumes, not to mention noise pollution that can attract unwanted attention (i.e. marauders or the desperate). Too bad there isn’t a silent, zero-emission generator that doesn’t require fuel to work. Or is there?

Enter Goal Zero, an industry leader in sun-powered illumination solutions. The Yeti 400 is the middle of three tiers in the company’s lineup of solar-powered generators, and we recently got hands on with it to see how effective it’d be at providing juice from a prepper’s point of view.

AGM Battery

In the heart of the beast lies a 12-volt, 33-amp/hour sealed lead-acid AGM battery. Developed for military aircraft where weight and safety were important, an Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) battery contains a thin fiberglass mat, sandwiched between plates and saturated with battery acid. The mat and plates are slightly compressed, then welded in place. AGM has very low internal resistance, is capable of delivering high currents on demand, and offers a relatively long service life — even when deep cycled. AGM batteries are maintenance free, reliable, and lighter than the flooded lead-acid type.

Goal Zero suggests that it remain connected to a power source when in storage and then nearly drained every three to four months.

Power In, Power Out