So, I was asked by someone(since in my extended familly, I am the solar fanatic), to come up with a solar panel system, for an RV, that will run a Oxygen Concentrator off-grid.
The idea(these are the prepper-type people), is that they want it for a SHTF scenario, they want it to run without any access to grid power, gas generator or propane. 24 hours a day.
I was not told how much power the concentrator users, however, based on my reading, they range anywhere from 180W for a small unit to 600W for a large unit.
The concentrator that I was tasked with powering is probably a medium unit, with a power consumption of ~400W.
Now, the problem is, based on my calcs, 24 hours a day * 400W = 9,600Wh/day. So, 9.6kWH per day, in an area that receives 4.5 peak sun hours per day on average, should require a 2,200W solar array. And of course, this will require at least a 9.6kWh battery for storage. For Lead-Acid, I want at least double that capacity, so 19.2kWh of Lead-Acid battery. Lastly, in order to have some reserve for cloudy days, I will multiply by 3, so I need 57.6kWh of battery.
I highly doubt this is a realistic number. 57.6kWh of Lead-Acid battery will weigh well over 3,100lbs if I use 2V deep-cycles...
Do you have any pointers for what can be done, to either reduce the amount of battery that I need, or reduce the weight of the batteries?
Preferably, these batteries should be able to sit for a while in storage, since I doubt that the scenarios that they envision(SHTF) will ever actually happen.
The idea(these are the prepper-type people), is that they want it for a SHTF scenario, they want it to run without any access to grid power, gas generator or propane. 24 hours a day.
I was not told how much power the concentrator users, however, based on my reading, they range anywhere from 180W for a small unit to 600W for a large unit.
The concentrator that I was tasked with powering is probably a medium unit, with a power consumption of ~400W.
Now, the problem is, based on my calcs, 24 hours a day * 400W = 9,600Wh/day. So, 9.6kWH per day, in an area that receives 4.5 peak sun hours per day on average, should require a 2,200W solar array. And of course, this will require at least a 9.6kWh battery for storage. For Lead-Acid, I want at least double that capacity, so 19.2kWh of Lead-Acid battery. Lastly, in order to have some reserve for cloudy days, I will multiply by 3, so I need 57.6kWh of battery.
I highly doubt this is a realistic number. 57.6kWh of Lead-Acid battery will weigh well over 3,100lbs if I use 2V deep-cycles...
Do you have any pointers for what can be done, to either reduce the amount of battery that I need, or reduce the weight of the batteries?
Preferably, these batteries should be able to sit for a while in storage, since I doubt that the scenarios that they envision(SHTF) will ever actually happen.
Comment