Can You Power an Overland Fridge with YETI Goal Zero? We Ran the Test!

[@punknjl8722]

I have a Yeti 400 lithium. It does not have a regulated 12v socket. My fridge was hitting the low voltage cutoff at 69% battery left. Goal Zero sent me an external one that plugs into a 8mm jack that allows me to use the whole battery. The new Goal Zero's 200x and 500x have regulated 12 sockets. Great video!

[@roamingwithjosh]

So far the 400 is working well. We’ve been out for 3 consecutive days now without any issues!

[@beryloconnor4232]

I have the 400 with two chained batteries and it runs my IceCO JP50 for four days. I have the fridge plugged into the Yeti 12v cigarette plug and the Yeti plugged into the 12v plug in the rear cargo area of the Jeep. Happy camper with this setup.

[@jgg204]

you may be able to get it to run even longer with the goal zero 12V regulated adapter. then the fridge is getting constant voltage

[@jgg204]

I love the older Yeti's. They are actually serviceable - can buy a replacement battery for $60 and swap it out in less than 10 mins. And you can chain to multiple batteries which is what we do. We bought those $10 battery boxes on Amazon and the ring terminals, chained to (2) additional batteries. Stuff can run a really long time now.

[@roamingwithjosh]

That’s a really good idea!

[@bentstick17]

We too are new to overlanding. Looking good so far. Your Jeep should already have two batteries under the hood. The main regular size battery is reserved for starting the Jeep. Underneath is a smaller 12 volt battery which powers all the auxiliary power functions. This is required due to the auto stop function that JL’s come with. The 12 volt plug in the back of the Jeep should run off the auxiliary battery. When I travel in our Jeep, our fridge is plugged into the plug at the back of the Jeep. After about 4 hours at camp, I plug the fridge into my battery box ( not goal zero or Jackery). This setup has lasted a long weekend trip for us. Not desert conditions, but was at least 70 degrees during the day.

[@roamingwithjosh]

That's the most helpful thing anyone has ever said to me. I knew that aux battery was there, but didn't know that the 12v in the back of the jeep ran off of that battery. Update on our trip, I have been using that 12v in the back of the jeep the entire time for our fridge and haven't had a single issue. Unless you plan on running a ton of lights, I wouldn't waste the money on a dual battery system. Just my opinion obviously.

[@bentstick17]

Overlanding Now we needed to prioritize how we spent our initial dollars to get us on the trail and to be comfortable. Rack, tent, and fridge where our first big purchases. Dual battery, awning, winch and other things will come down the road.

[@ericjholden]

This guy’s reviews have grown on me. Good job!

[@roamingwithjosh]

Thank you! I really appreciate it!

[@kurtluhmann1744]

Great Information.

[@CrazyEmptyNest]

Great Video! Never tried this as we now have a dual battery. We used the Yeti 400 with a solar panel in the past but never thought to just charge it off the vehicle battery during the day. You should be fine running the fridge at night off the main battery (depending on battery type), we've run ours for almost 48 hours before without draining the battery. Good Luck! - Lance and Jenny

[@roamingwithjosh]

So far so good! I’ve left the fridge plugged into the Jeep and it hasn’t caused any issues with the battery. Heading back out for another 3 days so we will see.

[@josephdodson3323]

@@roamingwithjosh New to overlanding and really trying to understand power options and it’s way out of my wheelhouse and I’m very confused. So, I can plug something like a fridge into the Jeep while it’s not running and the battery won’t die? If that’s the case, why get a external battery at all? Also, so, the next morning, you recharge the yeti through the Jeep running on trail? What if you’re staying in one spot multiple days? How long does it take to recharge the yeti? My last trip (3 days, 2 nights) I had no extra battery/power. I’d wake up in the morning, start the Jeep, plug in my phone to get a charge since I use it for camera/music and it would take forever just to charge the phone. My end-goal is to have a fridge, want to recharge camera batteries, and recharge phone. What size is best? 400ish? I’m sorry... I have so many questions and I just don’t understand.

[@roamingwithjosh]

@@josephdodson3323 Don't be sorry, dude. Understanding power is really confusing. I'm going to answer these the best I can. 1. The battery will die eventually if you have something plugged into the jeep, it just depends on how long it takes. 2. If I'm not driving the jeep I don't have the yeti plugged in because the jeep won't produce enough power to charge the yeti. The alternator is what charges the car battery when you're driving and if you're not running over 2000 RPM the alternator isn't pushing power through the vehicle which is why your phone took so long to charge. 3. If I stay in one spot for multiple days my devices will die so we're constantly moving, but I will be getting solar panels for the yeti to keep it charged while we're stationary. 4. The yeti 400 will charge 2 phones, camera batteries, and a drone battery a couple of times and run your fridge for about 12 hours. Asking which one you should get really comes down to your budget because those things can get expensive. My questions to you, what Jeep do you have?

[@josephdodson3323]

@@roamingwithjosh first, I greatly appreciate your response! I have a 2013 JKU. How long does it take to recharge the zero on trail? I just feel like it would take forever. I want to make the commitment but I want to know what to expect. But for the cost of these things, I feel it’s important to understand prior to purchasing. If I understood your video right, you unplug the fridge from the zero and plug it into the Jeep while you sleep. I’m assuming the Jeep is not running while you sleep. So, how does the fridge pull power from the Jeep without the Jeep battery dying overnight?

[@roamingwithjosh]

@@josephdodson3323 It takes a few hours of driving to get that thing charged up. That's correct. That's why I asked what jeep you had because on the JL it has the auto start and stop and the outlet in the rear of the jeep is connected to the battery that controls the auto start and stop so it's entirely separate from the main battery.

[@carmas54]

I don't know how many times you have let your jeep battery go down enough where you had to use your booster but I wouldn't recommend that you allow that to happen unless you want to kill your truck battery and have to replace them, you're better off getting a couple of solar panels, but I'm sure you have learn this by now

[@roamingwithjosh]

We don't have solar yet, but what we learned was that your Aux battery that comes factory in the JL that controls your auto start/stop is what your rear 12v port is wired to so it doesn't actually pull power directly from your main battery. We had the fridge plugged in for an entire 3 weeks and it never died on us once. Thanks for the input!

[@carmas54]

@@roamingwithjosh good deal

[@paulstravellife9555]

The fridge has a feature to shut itself off if the battery gets too low

[@kraybrother8768]

A good deep cycle battery would run that fridge with no problem, check out overland bound video, he been running a fridge with just a deep cycle battery under the hood which is his main battery since he launched his channel, you only need a dual battery set up if you doing weeks at a time in back country

[@paulstravellife9555]

I tried that with my battery on my tacoma and it only runs my fridge for like four or five hours max.

[@VeryCoolJeep]

I have Genesis Dual Battery 🔋 works amazing 😉

[@roamingwithjosh]

I’m thinking about getting one of those, but so far everything is working really well.

[@TakeAHikeToday]

Just installed my Genesis Dual Battery on a 2020 4Runner....And a Cascadia 4x4 100 Watt Solar Panel....I could be off grid as long as needed!!

[@michaelwhite3665]

Why not plug the yeti goal zero in to the 12 socket of the Jeep then plug the fridge in to the zero the zero will charge while the vehicle is running and the fridge has a constant source of power?

[@roamingwithjosh]

What we learned is the 12v port in the rear of the jeep runs off the auxiliary battery only that comes on the JL for the auto start and stop and controls your axillary switches. That battery is charged by the alternator and doesn't pull power from your main battery, so if it were to die, it won't impact your ability to start the jeep. So I keep my fridge plugged in all the time and it has power constantly.

[@RLeeWII]

@@roamingwithjosh Whoa! That’s cool! That opens up lots of options. How’d you figure that out?

[@roamingwithjosh]

@@RLeeWII another guy on youtube sent me the info on it. I had no idea until then.

[@ahhhhhderf1]

Does this fridge hold its temp well? When the compressor does kick in, how many watts is it pulling? I’m torn between this and the dometic cfx3 45.

[@roamingwithjosh]

It held its temp really good for us on our trip and we were in a desert climate most of the time. When it kicks on it pulls 24 watts I believe and my yeti goal zero 400 handled that really well.

[@kaiserman6667]

I went with the Dometic 45. It’s power consumption appears to be less than the ARB

[@jkh168]

I have a cfx3 45. Here in SoCal at this time of the year the outside temp is around 70 during the day. The fridge draws about an average of 2.5% of my Jackery 500. A day trip to Joshua Tree for 10 hours and I still have 65% left.

[@the_bencredible]

A dual battery setup is cheaper than your goal zero 400 lol. $237 for a deep cycle Renogy battery and $115 for the isolator kit. Run the fridge of the second battery 100% of the time. The second battery charges off your alternator when the vehicle is running. It’s a cheap and reliable setup without fear of draining your main starting battery.

[@roamingwithjosh]

Do you have this setup?

[@undefeatedgaul3201]

lol wtf is this complete trash misinformation I’m out couldn’t last 2 mins on this

[@roamingwithjosh]

Thanks for the comment! It helps a lot!