Wednesday, June 13, 2018

How much is enough?

Put another 400 watts of solar into service today (1,200 total now for my main system).  Figuring out how much solar one needs is always a bit tricky - especially when using items that require AC voltage from an inverter. The good thing is, solar can be modular and you can keep adding panels until you have enough to feed your electronic comforts - and multiple charge controllers can feed the same bank of batteries.  These three sets go to three different charge controllers all hooked up to one battery bank.   My 5,000 Btu air conditioner is rated at 115 VAC and 4.6 AC amps. Using this online converter I figured out my air conditioner is pulling almost 50 DC amps out of my solar system.  With the latest addition, I am now pumping in about 66 DC amps during peak hours which keeps me ahead in the energy game when I require extra cooling in the hut.  The really good news is that we have cooler temperatures and some good chances of rain headed this way for a week starting Saturday.  Now it's time for storm prep.  92,99,73,0,B  

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Good to have electricity during a storm! ;-)

David Johnson said...

The solar looking very good. Glad to hear about the cooler weather heading your way.

Off Grid Research said...

Thumbs Up!
I hope the area get some good rains.