Overland

Gear Check: Goal Zero 12V Lithium Yeti Charger

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I have written before about my Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium Power Station that keeps all my camera gear charged on long road trips. Until recently you were only able to charge the Yeti Power Stations with main AC power or with solar power, but now Goal Zero have (finally) released a 12V DC power supply. This is definitely a must-have accessory for any Yeti 400, 1000 or 1400 user. The charger is also compatible with the new Sherpa 100AC battery pack, and presumably the upcoming Sherpa 100PD which is launching soon. At $40 it’s somewhat steep for a 12V …

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Adding a Simple Circulation System to my Adventure Trailer

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I know quite a few people are following along as I build out a small trailer into the ultimate adventure photography basecamp. If you aren’t caught up on this, you can find some previous blog posts in this section. This week I tackled the problem of poor air circulation in the Taxa Tigermoth trailer, which was leading to condensation trouble when sleeping in colder temperatures. Unlike most larger RVs and trailers, for some reason the older models of this trailer did not have any kind of roof ventilation. I believe they have fixed this for the newer models of this …

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Adding Camera Gear Storage to my Photography Adventure Trailer

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I know that plenty of you are following along with my project of building the ultimate photography adventure trailer. Many of my previous updates to the base trailer (Taxa Tigermoth) centred around getting the solar power and general electrical systems up to scratch, but I’m really happy with how that’s all working now so it was time to move onto new projects. I just pulled the trailer out of winter storage and my first task was to improve upon how I store camera equipment when I’m on the move. I toyed with the idea of adding a huge sliding drawer …

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Powering my Photography Adventure Trailer with a Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium Power Station

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This part of the project was made possible by my friends at B&H Photo. If you’ve been following along with the build-out of my photography adventure trailer then you’ll know that the last thing I did was to install a 100W Goal Zero solar panel on the roof, to go with my 50W panel that can be deployed alongside it. This has all been in preparation for adding a Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium Power Station to the kit list. When I first purchased the trailer in the summer I quickly realized that keeping my camera gear and laptop charged …

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Installing a Goal Zero Boulder Solar Panel on My Trailer Roof

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This post was made possible by my friends at B&H Photo, where you can buy the Boulder 100 solar panel that I installed on my Taxa TigerMoth photography adventure trailer. Of course this content is also relevant to any other van or trailer you might be considering for your own adventure vehicle! If you’ve been following the posts in the Overland section of my blog in recent months, you’ll have first seen me writing about how to connect a Goal Zero solar panel to a Zamp solar connection. This was my initial setup when I got this trailer, and it …

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Building a Solar Junction Box from a Pelican Case for Goal Zero Solar Panels

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Those of you following my Instagram stories recently will have seen my portable base camp, a Taxa TigerMoth adventure trailer. I’ve been documenting some of the modifications I’ve made to it on this blog, and today we’re going to solve a solar power problem. I have a lot of Goal Zero gear because I think their products represent good value for money, and their customer service has proven to be exceptional. They make a variety of great products, such as battery packs and solar panels, but they have a tendency to go their own route, instead of using industry standards when it comes …

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GoPower 300W Pure Sine Wave Inverter. WHY?!?

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Those of you following my Instagram stories recently will have seen my portable base camp, a Taxa TigerMoth adventure trailer. This rugged little trailer came pre-wired for 120v shore power for RV park usage, and solar power, but lacked an inverter to convert DC to AC. Normally you would simply buy one of those little cigarette lighter 12v adapters that gives you a regular 120v power outlet, like this one, but I found that when I used my laptop with this on the 12v DC circuit of the trailer, it drew too much power and continually blew the fuse in …

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How to Wire a Goal Zero Solar Panel to a Zamp Connector

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My Taxa TigerMoth adventure trailer has a so-called “Zamp” connection on the outside of it for wiring solar panels to charge the battery. I say “so-called” because actually the plug itself is a standard SAE connector, but the solar company Zamp wires the plug up with opposite polarity to the industry standard. Then they put a big sticker on the trailer or RV that says “Warning, only use Zamp solar panels with this plug!”. Well… that’s a load of crap if you have a soldering iron and ten minutes to spare! When I first got my trailer, the dealer (British …

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