Sorry for the long tale, but I think the context matters here. In 2007, our home burned down due to wildfire and we rebuilt in the same place. Some people lost their pets because the pets were in their home when the roads were closed and the owners could not return and retrieve them. We rebuilt on the same site but determined whenever we left, the dogs would be with us.
We live in the mountains east of San Diego at 2750'. The sun is usually out and it is intense. It's 18 miles to the closest grocery store, so we have installed a 110V smallish refrigerator in a Transit Connect. It is powered by an inverter powered by three 110AH deep cycle flooded batteries and recharged using shore power. We also have a Fantastic vent fan in the ceiling and two dog cages that heat/cool using 12v power. This combination works fine until the outside air temperature exceeds 80 degrees. Above that, we use our Roadtrek Class B motorhome, which has a generator, air conditioner, and a gas hungry engine.
The Transit Connect needs a new transmission, and we are looking to replace both the Transit Connect and the Roadtrek with another vehicle that has Air Conditioning independent of the vehicle's system powered by the motor (so we have air conditioning with the car engine off). There have been several example of how much solar/battery power you would need to power air conditioning here on the forum, but the math seems to assume the air conditioning is in use when the solar panels are not working. I suspect that is a rare case in San Diego.
So here's the question. I can find a 5000 BTU 110v window A/c that consumes 550 watts. I can find numerous flexible 100w solar panels. I see that solar panels are less efficient when hot, so I guessed 80w out of a 100w panel. Using six panels, that would produce about 480 watts of power--the additional 70 watts would come out of the batteries.110AH x 3 = 330AH *12 = 3960 watt hours, divided by 70 watts (the shortfall) = 56 hours. Since the intense heat rarely exceeds 8 hours, there seems to be no problem here--which is never the answer I see to the question, "Can I power an air conditioner with solar?"
So, there is a pretty good chance I misinterpreted something. Will you please provide your thoughts/corrections and especially ideas on whether it would be smarter to go to 24v (bearing in mind I still have 12v things to power).
Thanks!
We live in the mountains east of San Diego at 2750'. The sun is usually out and it is intense. It's 18 miles to the closest grocery store, so we have installed a 110V smallish refrigerator in a Transit Connect. It is powered by an inverter powered by three 110AH deep cycle flooded batteries and recharged using shore power. We also have a Fantastic vent fan in the ceiling and two dog cages that heat/cool using 12v power. This combination works fine until the outside air temperature exceeds 80 degrees. Above that, we use our Roadtrek Class B motorhome, which has a generator, air conditioner, and a gas hungry engine.
The Transit Connect needs a new transmission, and we are looking to replace both the Transit Connect and the Roadtrek with another vehicle that has Air Conditioning independent of the vehicle's system powered by the motor (so we have air conditioning with the car engine off). There have been several example of how much solar/battery power you would need to power air conditioning here on the forum, but the math seems to assume the air conditioning is in use when the solar panels are not working. I suspect that is a rare case in San Diego.
So here's the question. I can find a 5000 BTU 110v window A/c that consumes 550 watts. I can find numerous flexible 100w solar panels. I see that solar panels are less efficient when hot, so I guessed 80w out of a 100w panel. Using six panels, that would produce about 480 watts of power--the additional 70 watts would come out of the batteries.110AH x 3 = 330AH *12 = 3960 watt hours, divided by 70 watts (the shortfall) = 56 hours. Since the intense heat rarely exceeds 8 hours, there seems to be no problem here--which is never the answer I see to the question, "Can I power an air conditioner with solar?"
So, there is a pretty good chance I misinterpreted something. Will you please provide your thoughts/corrections and especially ideas on whether it would be smarter to go to 24v (bearing in mind I still have 12v things to power).
Thanks!
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