Hello, I apologize for posting on the forum as I am very new to this, but my parents have recently purchased a house near Manassas VA with 5 solar panels and we need your help. The former owner told them that he had them hooked up to x6 12V car batteries and was using them to power his swimming pool pump. The former owner took everything with him when he moved out, but left the panels. The only other information that the former owner told us is that the panels were making 2kW/day, but we will have to pull the panels off and look at the backside of them for the exact specs. Judging by the condition that the former owner left the house in, I don't know if I trust anything he says.
I was able to find out that the former charge controller that he was using was an ebay style controller, PWM 30A Solar Charge Controller, pretty inexpensive.
The pool pump is a Zodiac brand, but the motor is a Jandy VS-FHP2.0. According to those specs it's 230V and 2400W at it's highest setting, which runs for about 2 hours a day, then goes to a lower setting for the rest of the day. 2400W seems like a lot for only the 5 panels, even if it's for only a couple of hours.
My questions for you are what information can I use to get us started in figuring this out? Will a 12V or 24V system be better for us, how many batteries are needed, will I then need a 3000W inverter and a switch that will put the pump back on the house if the batteries get low? Is this even worth it at all or should I use the panels for something less critical? Any help is appreciated, thank you.
I was able to find out that the former charge controller that he was using was an ebay style controller, PWM 30A Solar Charge Controller, pretty inexpensive.
The pool pump is a Zodiac brand, but the motor is a Jandy VS-FHP2.0. According to those specs it's 230V and 2400W at it's highest setting, which runs for about 2 hours a day, then goes to a lower setting for the rest of the day. 2400W seems like a lot for only the 5 panels, even if it's for only a couple of hours.
My questions for you are what information can I use to get us started in figuring this out? Will a 12V or 24V system be better for us, how many batteries are needed, will I then need a 3000W inverter and a switch that will put the pump back on the house if the batteries get low? Is this even worth it at all or should I use the panels for something less critical? Any help is appreciated, thank you.
Comment