As a media director, film maker, professional photographer and adventurer, this is how I power my life and job from the road:
Pop up dance party on the bus? Recharging my laptop? Backing up valuable video content on my 10TB Drobo? Apparently that’s not a problem anymore. Goal Zero’s Yeti 1250 seems to handle it all just fine.
Installing the two 90 watt panels on the roof of my bus was a breeze. The brackets GZ provided were sturdy and weather proof. Connecting the panels together and into the 100 amp hour battery bank inside? Also not a problem. There is a simple 2 picture “how to” included, its pretty much idiot proof and I was able to connect the dots in a few minutes. The plug only fits in one place, so I even had that going for me.
Goal Zero makes it extremely simple to do anything you want charging wise. There’s 3 universal USB ports on the front, your regular car charging socket, 3 wall sockets and some universal anderson powerpoles. The USB ports are great for your phone, GO PRO or anything that plugs into a USB and requires charging. The 120v wall socket can power a 300 watt sound system big enough to throw a dance party at Burning Man. A blender to make some margaritas at the beach or even a hair straightener for any ladies you may be traveling with (though I found out quickly that hair straighteners require a ton of power). The anderson powerpoles are fantastic to setup anything that requires 12 volts of power. I used the powerpoles directly into a circuit breaker box that essentially splits the power out to 12 different outlets and powers our interior LED lights, interior sound system, and anything else that’s hard-wired in the bus.
My personal favorite part about being powered by the sun is I can take my work anywhere. As a professional photographer, I can plug my camera batteries in, my laptop, and my RAID backup system for any media I create on the road. I’m able to pull over and park my bus and setup a mobile work station and crunch out a ton of work. If I’m in front of a Starbucks or local coffee shop? Well then, I’ve got internet to upload my content to as well. Overall, the Goal Zero panels and YETI are two badass pieces of equipment that I can’t live without.
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