This number will be the number of solar panels necessary to cover your air conditioning needs.
How many solar panels to power air conditioner.
How many watts an air conditioner uses depends not only on the btu but what kind of ac it is.
More is needed with more clouds.
The only option for solar powered air conditioning is to use an inverter air conditioning unit.
To provide about 14 5 kwh of electricity each day in arizona you d need a 3kw solar installation or a system with about 12 solar panels.
A single solar panel is going to charge your batteries much too slowly you ll use up the stored electricity faster than the solar panel can charge them again.
For example a portable ac like the honeywell 10000 btu only requires 880 watts.
This is the most energy efficient type in the industry and it is simply amazing.
In order to meet this need the solar panels would be required to generate 107 amps 7 hours every day this is if it is a clear sunny day.
How much you use the air conditioner.
Assuming that the air conditioning unit requires 1500 waats of power a collection of 6 solar panels at 250 waats capacity could in theory power the air conditioning unit but a lot of individual factors can throw this number in either direction.
So to power a 13 500 btu air conditioner 1 500 watts of solar panels is the minimum required.
This allows me to run the ac full blast to keep my house nice and cool.
It depends on the air conditioner and how much power it needs.
When it s hottest and the sun is shining the brightest i can make lots of power.
A few factors determine how many solar panels you will require to run an air conditioner.
My inverter ac unit can use as little as 240watts right up to its maximum rating.
These numbers only take into account the energy needed for air conditioning.
The short answer is the number of solar panels depends on which solar panels and air conditioner you have.
So we ll assume these to give you an idea.
The advantage of solar powered air conditioning.
Even with the air conditioner on high my solar panel system still makes enough power to add 2 000 watts into the batteries.
The higher number of watts per panel the less of them you ll need to generate your full electricity needs.
So smaller portable air conditioners or window units would be able to run on the yeti power station we looked at above.
Solar panels come in a range of sizes.
I actually gave away my original 18000btu unit to install a 10000btu inverter.