Goal Zero 20 Amp Solar Charge Controller with Battery Terminal Connections for Boulder Solar Panels

Video Transcript for Review of Goal Zero Solar Charge Controllers - 20 Amp with Ringer Terminal Connections - GZ29YR

Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today, we're gonna take a quick look at this Goal Zero 20 AMP solar charge controller kit. This is going to allow you to charge your 12 volt battery using your Goal Zero Boulder 200 solar panel. Now, that solar panel is sold separately, but you can find it here at etrailer.com, using the part number that you see on the screen there. But if you already have the solar panel and you're just wanting to have a way to connect it to the 12 volt battery, this is going to work to help charge up your GEL, AGM, calcium, flooded lead acid, lithium titanium oxide and lithium iron phosphate batteries. So, if you have any of those 12 volt battieres you're wanting to use your Boulder 200 solar panel to charge them up, this is gonna be a great kit for you.

This does provide these ring terminals that we're going to have a nice secure connection onto your battery posts. And then they will connect right into our 15 foot long 12 gauge Goal Zero spayed to SAE cable. This is gonna give you 15 feet to work with, so that you can have your solar panel out in the sun getting all that electricity built up. And then you can have your battery sitting in the shade with you where it's nice and cool. On the spayed side of our cable, we are going to have positive and negative indicators, so we can make sure that we know how to get this hooked up.

And then on our solar charge controller, on the bottom side, you can see you could have that battery indicator with the positive and negative on there as well. So, it'd be very easy to loosen those screws, slide this in place, and then tighten so those screws down, to have a nice firm connection to our solar charge controller. We're also gonna have this three foot long spayed to high power court table, so that we can connect to our Goal Zero Boulder 200 solar panel. And then that power will flow from solar panel, into charge controller, which is gonna kinda act like the brains of our operation. So, this is a 20 AMP pulse with modulation, solar charge controller that's going to adjust your solar panel's output so that it can quickly and consistently charge your battery.

This does have an automatic multi-stage charging system that's going to switch modes as the battery charges, because if your battery is really depleted, it can be charged up faster. And then it gets closer to being full, it will slow down so that it's not going to overcharge and reduce damage to your battery. So, it's gonna help extend the battery's life. This does have several safety features that are gonna protect against overcharging, undercharging, reverse polarity, short circuiting and over voltage. You can see we do have this nice digital display that's gonna monitor your amperage, voltage, and battery capacity, so that you can always tell what's going on with your battery.

This does have a maximum solar or ray current of 20 amps. The normal input solar array voltage is gonna be between 15 and 22 volts. The maximum solar array voltage is 25 volts and it's going to operate in temperatures from -13 degrees fahrenheit, all the way up to a 122 degrees fahrenheit. And this is only about six inches wide, so you can see there height is approximately four inches and it's only about one inch thick. This does include the metal mounting bracket that will allow you to mount this onto your Boulder solar panel. So, normally weighs about a pound, so it's really not gonna be very noticeable, but it is going to help to watch that charge coming in from your solar panel, to make sure that it's not going to damage your battery. It's going to charge it up quickly and efficiently for you. This is IPE65 rated, so it's gonna be weather-resistant, dust-proof. Obviously when you're dealing with electricity, you don't want to have too much exposure to water, but it will hold up well for you and do a good job for a long time to come. So, if you are looking for a more permanent installation, you'll like these ring terminals here. There's also another kit that's very similar and it's got all the same components, except it's got aligator clamps instead of the ring terminals. And so, if you're wanting to have a more temporary hookup to your battery, you can put those aligator clamps on. We also have the kit that's going to include all of this, plus the solar panel. So, depending on if you already have the solar panel or not, that might be a better way to go for you. We also have other kits that are for your smaller solar panels, and lots of other solar charge controllers and solar panels, and that sorta thing. So, make sure you're getting the right one for your setup, be able to charge your battery while you're off the grid. So, that completes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrialer.com, thanks for watching..