How did i come up with 300.
How many solar panels to run ac.
Air conditioning doesn t have to be your motive for going solar.
If you prefer higher efficiency 350 w panels the number would be reduced to 9 to 10 panels.
Solar panels are sold in varying sizes but a 100 watt panel is a commonly found size particularly for rvs.
It depends on the air conditioner and how much power it needs.
Eer amount of heat removed in watt power consumed in watt.
If you want to run your rv air conditioner on solar and battery remember that a typical rv air conditioning unit outputs 15 000 btus of cooling power.
When it s hottest and the sun is shining the brightest i can make lots of power.
Let s take a look at ac energy requirements and typical solar production to see if solar panels can really run air conditioners in each setup.
For example a portable ac like the honeywell 10000 btu only requires 880 watts.
How many watts an air conditioner uses depends not only on the btu but what kind of ac it is.
Ac for grid connected homes the fact that we are all able to access almost unlimited amounts of electricity 24 7 is a beautiful part of our modern electricity grid.
To run an ac off solar power for an extended amount of time the ac will essentially need its own solar setup.
How many solar panels do i need to run my rv ac.
That panel is rated at 100 watts at peak efficiency meaning on a 78 degree cloudless day at solar noon on the equator during the equinox.
So will any solar generator be able to run your air conditioner.
Every 1 ton of cooling power commonly known as heat removed by a 1 ton ac in one hour is also expressed as 3516 watts.
So you are going to need a total wattage of 300 combined solar panels.
However it will require a lot of energy.
Example rv ac daily amperage draw 150 amps hr x 5 hrs day 750 ah day.
These ac units generally require about 3 500 watts of power just to start up and then about 1 500 watts just to keep running.
Some air conditioners need 2 5kw.
So smaller portable air conditioners or.
For this example if you are using 404 kwh per year that is 1 11 kwh per day.
Can you run your air conditioner off solar panels.
This allows me to run the ac full blast to keep my house nice and cool.
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.
Even with the air conditioner on high my solar panel system still makes enough power to add 2 000 watts into the batteries.
You can power your air conditioner with solar panels.
So your solar panel system would need to have at least 3kw to power the air conditioning.
It works the other way as well.
Installing air conditioning after a solar installation.