General questions?

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in General Solar Power Topics #1
I have a new home in Haiti where there's no electricity. I run approximately 2 new refrigerators, a 52" flat screen tv, Radio, Microwave, and few florrescent lights. I have a 5.kva invertors, and 12 gells batteries I don't know if the new. how many solar panels that I need to charge those batteries? and I have a 3.5kva generator, and its not capable to run the invertor to charge the batteries.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #2
    Re: General questions?

    Do you know how many Watt*Hours/kWH per day you need?

    For Greensboro NC, 1,000 watts of solar panels will generate (approximatly) a minimum of 2,000 WH (2 kWH) per day for 9 months of the year (assuming the other three months of the year, you will use your genset a few hours per week to cover cloudy weather/storm season as needed).

    So, without knowing anything more about your needs, it looks like a minimum of 2,000 watts of solar panels (4 kWH per day) will be a good starting point.

    A 5kW inverter is pretty large and depending on the brand/model may have significant losses unless it supports some sort of low power/standby mode when your appliances are off (like refrigerators cycling).

    Also, it would be nice to know the configuration of the batteries (12, 24, 48 volt) and capacity (Amp*Hours) to make sure that you have enough solar panels to keep them properly charged too.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: General questions?

    Perhaps you could save some energy if you used something smaller than a 52" wide screen!

    Tony
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: General questions?

    tony, that would be redundant as he already has the tv, but 2 refrigerators? conservation is primary, but anything you add now in the way of pv would help offset the runtime for the generator. how much to eliminate it depends on how much the loads (in watt hours or kilowatt hours) are over a day in relation to how many full sun hours you average per day feeding xx many watts in pv each day.
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