Goal Zero Guy - Two questions that never got answered from the previous thread that last time this was offered.

1st - Last time you wrote - goalzero wrote: Check out Woot soon for a killer deal on the Boulder 15! - Any clue when this is going to happen?

2nd - You indicated that the Nomad 7 could charge this and to contact GoalZero support to order the cable. They said no. Here was my follow-up post you never replied to.

goalzero wrote:
I am around, and I am a guy! You had a 50-50 shot at that gender assignment! The Nomad 7 is not designed to recharge this battery because we regulated the voltage down to 12V and this is a 12V battery. You need a power source that is a higher voltage to get a faster charge, like a Boulder 15 or any of our other Nomad Panels. It would charge it from 50% to 80% in about a day from a Nomad 7, and you would need an adapter cable. If you choose to do that, please contact us and we'll get you the correct cable (GOAL ZERO SKU # 90807A). I know Woot.com is offering the Boulder 15 at a killer price as an add on to this purchase! Thanks for being a GOAL ZERO champion!

Hope the goalzero guy is still here. Based on your response I contacted support to get the correct cable. I went to the page for the product sku you mentioned and made sure I was getting the correct thing. The support person there contradicted the info you provided here. Here is the question I posed and the answer they provided, which are now listed on the support page for the sku'd product you recommended. -

Q:"I want to confirm that this cable will connect a Nomad 7 to an Escape 150 and allow me to charge the Escape (albiet slower than with a larger panel). This application was suggested by your rep in the Woot forums where I just purchased the Escape, but it is not listed under the product info here, so I want to confirm prior to ordering."
A:GoalZero said:
"The Nomad 7 solar panel isn't designed to charge the Escape 150, there isn't a direct cable hook up and the panel is very small. We recommend using one of the larger panels."

WaitDoWhatNow wrote:Hi I recently purchased two of these units last time it was on woot and was about to email goal zero. I had a couple questions about the unit as well please. It took 15+ hours to fully charge from a wall outlet and it says it should take six hours, is this normal for the first few charges? And my other concern being I tested it with charging my smart phone battery over night while I slept, it was an extended cell battery but was less than half dead when I put it on the charger and the Escape only charged it half way twice before it died on both units. Is this normal? Is it because I have the unit on overnight that it dies so quick or do I just have duds? Thank you

You know what, that doesn't sound right and I don't have an answer for you unless we could talk about it in more detail. Could you give us a call on Monday so we can help figure it out with you? 8887946250

chrisgohlke wrote:Goal Zero Guy - Two questions that never got answered from the previous thread that last time this was offered.

1st - Last time you wrote - goalzero wrote: Check out Woot soon for a killer deal on the Boulder 15! - Any clue when this is going to happen?

2nd - You indicated that the Nomad 7 could charge this and to contact GoalZero support to order the cable. They said no. Here was my follow-up post you never replied to.

goalzero wrote:
I am around, and I am a guy! You had a 50-50 shot at that gender assignment! The Nomad 7 is not designed to recharge this battery because we regulated the voltage down to 12V and this is a 12V battery. You need a power source that is a higher voltage to get a faster charge, like a Boulder 15 or any of our other Nomad Panels. It would charge it from 50% to 80% in about a day from a Nomad 7, and you would need an adapter cable. If you choose to do that, please contact us and we'll get you the correct cable (GOAL ZERO SKU # 90807A). I know Woot.com is offering the Boulder 15 at a killer price as an add on to this purchase! Thanks for being a GOAL ZERO champion!

Hope the goalzero guy is still here. Based on your response I contacted support to get the correct cable. I went to the page for the product sku you mentioned and made sure I was getting the correct thing. The support person there contradicted the info you provided here. Here is the question I posed and the answer they provided, which are now listed on the support page for the sku'd product you recommended. -

Q:"I want to confirm that this cable will connect a Nomad 7 to an Escape 150 and allow me to charge the Escape (albiet slower than with a larger panel). This application was suggested by your rep in the Woot forums where I just purchased the Escape, but it is not listed under the product info here, so I want to confirm prior to ordering."
A:GoalZero said:
"The Nomad 7 solar panel isn't designed to charge the Escape 150, there isn't a direct cable hook up and the panel is very small. We recommend using one of the larger panels."

I am sorry that we have confused you. I can ensure you that the SKU 90807a will connect the Nomad 7 to the Escape 150, but I think you did get the same response from me and the GOAL ZERO support, which is basically that the Nomad 7 was not designed to recharge the Escape 150 and I would also not recommend it. It would do it, but it would take way too long, and never get to 100%. A staff member from Woot would have to confirm when they will be selling the Boulder 15, but I would recommend checking everyday.

I brought one last time, it had a defective battery. Goal Zero support was wonderful. Sent me a replacement in a week. Thank you to Dave at Goal Zero for all his help/support. Just got a Escape 30 Solar Panel to charge it, It works great, full charge in 5 hours or so. Looking forward to the next woot goal zero sale....

From all the feedback on here it seems that pretty much everyone has had good experiences with these items. And since it seems to me that this is a super handy thing to have around the house I am in for one!

Bought it last time and ended up returning it - could have been a faulty unit, but it did not store anywhere close to 150W, more like 30W. Avoid.

On the fence at the moment, does Woot ever woot the solar panels? They are the $$ part.

goalzero wrote:Yeah, this is a "sealed" lead acid battery and your right, the AGM materials are not spillable, but it would be up to the TSA to make that call. I'll reach out to them and get back to you. There are no Haz-mat restrictions on this product, fyi. By the way, to those wondering what an AGM (absorbed glass-matte) battery is, it's the highest quality lead acid battery out on the consumer market, and is best for storing & using power.

To sum it up in easier words to comprehend, it's "state of the art" technology that we're looking at here! ;o)

I own two of these from the last time woot! offered these. It's a pretty good product. It can power a 45 watt cooler for about 2 hours and a 25 watt light for about 5 hours. So if there were to be a power failure, I would have light for a good 10 hours. Hopefully, after the 10 hours, the electricity would be back on again.

In the meantime, I just charge my two Escape 150 off the grid. But eventually, I would like to charge it using solar energy. The panel prices are way out of my budget right now, though.

I wonder if there are alternative options available, such as creating your own budget solar panel, instead of purchasing G0's highly priced ones.

This should come in very handy. The main thing I like about it is its portability. I already have a Xantrex 1500 Powerpak hooked up to a 230W solar module, and it can charge up this portable battery pack in no time.

I'm going to use one of these for backup power for my mom's electric lift chair.

Also plan to use it this Power Pack in case of an extended power outage so that we can at least charge our cell phones. After Hurricane Ike, most of the land telephone lines were down and we had no way to recharge our cell phones. We couldn't just hop in the car and drive around (using the car charger) because there was no gasoline readily available and most areas had no electric power to run the gas pumps.

Hey Goal Zero guy, are they any charts anywhere showing how long certain devices will run on each of your different types of Power Packs?

Also, what are the lengths of the cables needed to run from a Solar Panel to the Power Pack? I'd like to be able to set up a Power Pack inside but run a long cable outside for some Solar Panels. Thanks!

Anybody know whether this would have enough oomph to start a small electric motor (pumps)? I'm not expert enough to know how many amps the pumps take, but I'm talking about a fairly standard well pump and then the pump that pressures the reservoir tank for my home -- which gets its water supply from a well. If this thing could run those pumps intermittently when they come on, it would be just what I'm looking for for backup for power outages of an hour or two.

linklaw wrote:Anybody know whether this would have enough oomph to start a small electric motor (pumps)? I'm not expert enough to know how many amps the pumps take, but I'm talking about a fairly standard well pump and then the pump that pressures the reservoir tank for my home -- which gets its water supply from a well. If this thing could run those pumps intermittently when they come on, it would be just what I'm looking for for backup for power outages of an hour or two.

I think the answer was no for ac pumps. The result sent that person looking for a dc powered pump.

Hope that helps ya

Hi Goal Zero Guy,

I see that this is rated at 14Ah.

Is this enough to charge the latest IPad 3 (new iPad)???

Doesn't the iPad 3 require a higher Ah rating, or will this do ok?

Thanks!

N-

Goal Zero Guy,

Ok, to clarify my question above, the USB output of this unit shows as 0.5 Amps.

Given that the iPad 2 and iPad 3 use a 2.1 amp charger, this wouldn't charge either iPad, would it?

Appreciate any info on this!

N-

In for two.... one as a perfect gift. With all the power outages we have here on the California coast - this thing should be really useful.

nordie wrote:Goal Zero Guy,

Ok, to clarify my question above, the USB output of this unit shows as 0.5 Amps.

Given that the iPad 2 and iPad 3 use a 2.1 amp charger, this wouldn't charge either iPad, would it?

Appreciate any info on this!

N-

No, not via USB port. But the iPad charger should be able to plug into the receptacle and charge your tablet up with no problems.

nordie wrote:Hi Goal Zero Guy,

I see that this is rated at 14Ah.

Is this enough to charge the latest IPad 3 (new iPad)???

Doesn't the iPad 3 require a higher Ah rating, or will this do ok?

Thanks!

N-

Usually batteries are rated in amp-hours, so the Apple iPad is 42.5 watt-hours.....translated to amp hours, that is 11.66 amp-hours.

That is a big-ass battery on the iPad. The Goal Zero can charge it from near zero to a full-charge, but it'll do it once before it itself needs to be recharged.

renisans wrote:Usually batteries are rated in amp-hours, so the Apple iPad is 42.5 watt-hours.....translated to amp hours, that is 11.66 amp-hours.

That is a big-ass battery on the iPad. The Goal Zero can charge it from near zero to a full-charge, but it'll do it once before it itself needs to be recharged.

This has got to be inaccurate. To get watt hours from amp hours, you multiply the amp hours by battery voltage.
Thus... if the above were true, the battery in the iPad would run at 3.64 volts. I am QUITE confident that is not true. Though I'm not positive, since I don't have an iPad.
Let's just assume the iPad's actual battery runs at 12v. If that's the case, then the battery is about 3.5 amp hours (capacity).

I don't know the actual iPad voltage, so I can't be sure, but I am VERY confident it's more than four volts.

nordie wrote:Goal Zero Guy,

Ok, to clarify my question above, the USB output of this unit shows as 0.5 Amps.

Given that the iPad 2 and iPad 3 use a 2.1 amp charger, this wouldn't charge either iPad, would it?

Appreciate any info on this!

N-

So, in this case, you would not charge the iPad from USB, you would charge it from the Escape 150's AC outlet and it would be like charging from the wall at your home.

funchucky wrote:This has got to be inaccurate. To get watt hours from amp hours, you multiply the amp hours by battery voltage.
Thus... if the above were true, the battery in the iPad would run at 3.64 volts. I am QUITE confident that is not true. Though I'm not positive, since I don't have an iPad.
Let's just assume the iPad's actual battery runs at 12v. If that's the case, then the battery is about 3.5 amp hours (capacity).

I don't know the actual iPad voltage, so I can't be sure, but I am VERY confident it's more than four volts.

You can charge an iPad 3 or 4 times from this power pack off of one charge. 150/42 watt hours.

Thanks for the great answers, everyone.

Just out of curiousity, is the Escape 150 going to be around for awhile, or is goalzero blowing these out in anticipation of a new power pack launching in the next few weeks?

narahari wrote:Bought it last time and ended up returning it - could have been a faulty unit, but it did not store anywhere close to 150W, more like 30W. Avoid.

Mine wasn't holding close to the rated amount either. Did you try talking to support first? They are super helpful, had me try a few diagnostics and reset the battery and when that didn't work they were happy to swap me out, just waiting on the replacement now. Based on their awesome support, I'd have no worries about the risk of getting a dud. They'll take care of you.

Friendly Goal Zero guy, I have a question for you.

In this picture, it looks like the all the plugs are slightly recessed from the body. Is that the case?

I can see this being a problem for chargers that have the "brick" as part of the male end of the plug, like most phone chargers.

Goal zero guy-
Are you guys connected to gobe solar? If so how? I bought a unit identical to this with a briefcase solar exactly like the ones you guys make. I'm guessing you bought them or it's rebadged??
FYI my experience on this unit was poor. When it worked it was really cool but I forgot to charge it for a few months so the battery wouldn't recharge. CS was awesome and sent me a new batt. Same thing happened. My fault completely but too high maintance for me!!

robio wrote:Friendly Goal Zero guy, I have a question for you.

In this picture, it looks like the all the plugs are slightly recessed from the body. Is that the case?

I can see this being a problem for chargers that have the "brick" as part of the male end of the plug, like most phone chargers.

I can see that it appears that way, but the AC outlet protrudes back out a bit to become flush with the power pack's exterior. You could plug a power strip in or an extension cord if you wanted to have a little distance from the power source.

rambo91145 wrote:Goal zero guy-
Are you guys connected to gobe solar? If so how? I bought a unit identical to this with a briefcase solar exactly like the ones you guys make. I'm guessing you bought them or it's rebadged??
FYI my experience on this unit was poor. When it worked it was really cool but I forgot to charge it for a few months so the battery wouldn't recharge. CS was awesome and sent me a new batt. Same thing happened. My fault completely but too high maintance for me!!

Yes, we are connected to GoBe. We renamed the company to GOAL ZERO after we developed our whole line of products and separated from the company we originated from. This would be about version 19 of the GoBe battery and the briefcase panel may have a similar look but the current version is twice as efficient. Yes the batteries need some maintenance, but it's simply resolved by plugging them into the wall and leaving it until you need it.

nordie wrote:Thanks for the great answers, everyone.

Just out of curiousity, is the Escape 150 going to be around for awhile, or is goalzero blowing these out in anticipation of a new power pack launching in the next few weeks?

The Escape 150 is a core product of ours and will be around for quite some time. We may change some aesthetics or do some minor improvements, but this medium size Power Pack is not going anywhere. If you were to see a current Roadshow setup of ours, you would see that we only offer this Power Pack in a kit with a panel now, so that is why we needed to offer these single units for an amazing price now. Woot is the perfect partner to make that happen. Our goal is to get our products into as many new hands as possible so that we can have new customer experiences and the GOAL ZERO reputation spreads more rapidly of being the worlds most popular personal solar power company!

This is going down as one of the most useful comment sections in Woot! history. Thanks most everyone for keeping it real and not full of the usual BS, I ordered 2.

goalzero wrote:Great Question! Yes it has an on-board charge controller that monitors the power in and out. The best way to store the GOAL ZERO Escape 150 is to have it plugged in to some type of power source, either the wall, solar or car (car charger sold separately). If you cannot supply power to it all the time, please make sure to maintain the power pack by giving it a full charge every 3 months, or as often as you can. The main benefit of having it plugged in all the time (cost about a dollar/year to do that) is that when you need to use it, whether it's for a power outage or when you go camping, you will know your power pack has a full charge and it is ready to go!

Alright, I'm in for 1!

Edit: is there any quick way to test the battery to check the capacity (ie whether it's working or is a dud)?

The description is misleading. You cannot run a blender from this thing, because it only provides 80 watts maximum. Blenders generally require 500-1200 watts.

goalzero wrote:You know what, that doesn't sound right and I don't have an answer for you unless we could talk about it in more detail. Could you give us a call on Monday so we can help figure it out with you? 8887946250

Thank you for your time. I'll try for tomorrow if not some time this week

jianghai wrote:Does anybody know if the charging system for the power pack is a "smart charger"? All the research I've done recently about lead acid batteries says that the best way to make sure the battery doesn't die (ie sulfation) is to have it on trickle charge all the time...

that is very true, i have used lead acid batteries in the field for 25 years (recording concerts) and they work best never letting them die, leaving them on trickle whenever possible and of course don't put them on anything cold, that will kill them faster then anything

ObsessiveCompulsive wrote:I'm not able to tell you exactly when the sale will be however it will happen.

Grrrr...it was listed on the Woot Plus thing (and already sold out) which isn't on the daily email! Just happened to notice it when I came to the full site tonight to check for more comments on this thread.

Woot people? Any thought to making a single page that has every current deal on it? With all the different sites and then the Woot pluses with the different offers it is kind of info overload to click around and check everything.

GoalZero guy, how about throwing us a coupon code or something? I'd really like the solar briefcase!

My Pack didn't come with its chargers and also seemed to be tampered with, has scratches and loose packaging, what do?

chrisgohlke wrote:Grrrr...it was listed on the Woot Plus thing (and already sold out) which isn't on the daily email! Just happened to notice it when I came to the full site tonight to check for more comments on this thread.

Woot people? Any thought to making a single page that has every current deal on it? With all the different sites and then the Woot pluses with the different offers it is kind of info overload to click around and check everything.

GoalZero guy, how about throwing us a coupon code or something? I'd really like the solar briefcase!

Just an FYI I went to Manventureoutpost dot com and got the escape 30m for $180 shipped with 5% off coupon spring12

Just wanted to drop a quick update in here so when these come up again CowboyDann can link to it:

I picked up one of these and so far have used it three times. It's AWESOME. I had an indoor storage unit to clean out that had no outlets nearby. It was HOT in there. Plugged a fan into my goalzero and my phone into the USB and had a nice breeze and great music for hours. It really saved the day.

Used it another time cleaning out a garage (also with no power) on a 100 degree day. Different fan, same phone, same day-saving capability.

I definitely recommend this, and am tempted to get more for myself and as gifts for friends!

I recently purchased this and I regret my purchase. The unit doesn't last more than 2hrs to charge just an ipad... doesn't hold the charge more than 2 weeks (without ever using it)... its a piece of crap...