Number of panels additional watts needed watts per panel.
Run an ac with solar panels.
So if you have a powerful air conditioner you ll need to make sure your solar panel system can handle it.
Example rv ac daily amperage draw 150 amps hr x 5 hrs day 750 ah day.
A good rule of thumb is 4 hours.
To follow the example above let s say you re looking to generate an additional 3 333 w to run your air conditioner in massachusetts.
The short answer is the number of solar panels depends on which solar panels and air conditioner you have.
A solar panel can run an air conditioner but it ll use a large portion of your panel s capacity.
A few factors determine how many solar panels you will require to run an air conditioner.
With a properly sized solar system you can run a well from solar power.
This is assuming you are considering using 12 volt rv grade panels.
This is also assuming of course you have a lot of battery power too.
Even with the air conditioner on high my solar panel system still makes enough power to add 2 000 watts into the batteries.
If you re connected to the grid and you ve got the roof space installing enough solar panels to cover your entire electricity usage including ac is a very doable task and one that many homeowners have done before.
Air conditioners typically use between 1 2kw 2 5kw of power and a typical solar panel system has an energy output of 2kw 4kw.
So we ll assume these to give you an idea.
This allows me to run the ac full blast to keep my house nice and cool.
Using solar panels to run air conditioner units ac units use a lot of electricity but they re really no match for a well sized solar installation.
When it s hottest and the sun is shining the brightest i can make lots of power.
The size of the air conditioner and solar panels.
1200 watts divided by 1 000 equals 1 2 kwh produced per day.
To run an ac off solar power for an extended amount of time the ac will essentially need its own solar setup.
You will need at least 1 800 watts of solar panels to run your rv air conditioner.
As an example let s consider the amperage draw of our rv ac and how many hours per day we plan to run the unit.
300 times 4 is 1200 watts.
You generally have two options for this an ac pump with inverter or a dc powered well pump designed for use in an off grid systems.
The advantage of solar powered air conditioning.
How much you use the air conditioner.
Since a well pump could easily be the biggest electrical load in your off grid system it is worth taking the time to consider your options.