re-thinking my solar aquaponics setup...
Options
urbansun
Registered Users Posts: 1
I set up an aquaponics with a small pump running in my greenhouse.... I am getting ready for winter so I made a heater out of a heating element from a hot water tank, running off of 110....It didn't seem like it would be a bad idea to run this off of a 60watt solar panel w/two 6volt batteries.....but now I am thinking I was a little naive to think this would work as the subject of Solar energy has proved a little bewildering to me....8)
I am wondering how far my math is from getting this thing to work?
I am wondering how far my math is from getting this thing to work?
Comments
-
Re: re-thinking my solar aquaponics setup...
Heating probably will require a lot of PV power, but if the area is small and it's not very cold outside it may be Ok.
The best way to start is to buy a Kill-a-Watt meter and measure your daily consumption for heating. -
Re: re-thinking my solar aquaponics setup...
Probably not worth the time/energy... Best case, how much help would running a 60 watt light bulb for 1-2 hours per day in winter?
Worse case, unless you add an AC inverter--Your 110 VAC heater running on 12 volts will not produce much heat at all.
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: re-thinking my solar aquaponics setup...
One 60 Watt panel and a string of 6 Volt golf cart type batteries?
Won't even charge the batteries, much less provide any extra power for heating.
Typical 120 VAC water heater element is like 1500 Watts. Now how do you get 1500 Watts from a 60 Watt source? Answer: you don't.
Categories
- All Categories
- 243 Forum & Website
- 150 Solar Forum News and Announcements
- 1.4K Solar News, Reviews, & Product Announcements
- 190 Solar Information links & sources, event announcements
- 919 Solar Product Reviews & Opinions
- 256 Solar Skeptics, Hype, & Scams Corner
- 22.5K Solar Electric Power, Wind Power & Balance of System
- 3.5K General Solar Power Topics
- 6.7K Solar Beginners Corner
- 1K PV Installers Forum - NEC, Wiring, Installation
- 2.1K Advanced Solar Electric Technical Forum
- 5.5K Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems
- 438 Caravan, Recreational Vehicle, and Marine Power Systems
- 1.1K Grid Tie and Grid Interactive Systems
- 652 Solar Water Pumping
- 829 Wind Power Generation
- 626 Energy Use & Conservation
- 626 Discussion Forums/Café
- 303 In the Weeds--Member's Choice
- 91 Construction
- 124 New Battery Technologies
- 108 Old Battery Tech Discussions
- 3.8K Solar News - Automatic Feed
- 3.8K Solar Energy News RSS Feed