As an example let s consider the amperage draw of our rv ac and how many hours per day we plan to run the unit.
Run an ac with solar panels.
A good rule of thumb is 4 hours.
Since a well pump could easily be the biggest electrical load in your off grid system it is worth taking the time to consider your options.
To run an ac off solar power for an extended amount of time the ac will essentially need its own solar setup.
You will need at least 1 800 watts of solar panels to run your rv air conditioner.
Air conditioners typically use between 1 2kw 2 5kw of power and a typical solar panel system has an energy output of 2kw 4kw.
Example rv ac daily amperage draw 150 amps hr x 5 hrs day 750 ah day.
So if you have a powerful air conditioner you ll need to make sure your solar panel system can handle it.
How much you use the air conditioner.
300 times 4 is 1200 watts.
Number of panels additional watts needed watts per panel.
The size of the air conditioner and solar panels.
This number will be the number of solar panels necessary to cover your air conditioning needs.
You multiply the combined wattage of the solar panels by the number of hours sunlight they will receive per day.
Using solar panels to run air conditioner units ac units use a lot of electricity but they re really no match for a well sized solar installation.
A solar panel can run an air conditioner but it ll use a large portion of your panel s capacity.
So we ll assume these to give you an idea.
The advantage of solar powered air conditioning.
You generally have two options for this an ac pump with inverter or a dc powered well pump designed for use in an off grid systems.
If you re connected to the grid and you ve got the roof space installing enough solar panels to cover your entire electricity usage including ac is a very doable task and one that many homeowners have done before.
This is also assuming of course you have a lot of battery power too.
Even with the air conditioner on high my solar panel system still makes enough power to add 2 000 watts into the batteries.
The short answer is the number of solar panels depends on which solar panels and air conditioner you have.
A few factors determine how many solar panels you will require to run an air conditioner.
With a properly sized solar system you can run a well from solar power.
This is assuming you are considering using 12 volt rv grade panels.
This allows me to run the ac full blast to keep my house nice and cool.
1200 watts divided by 1 000 equals 1 2 kwh produced per day.