Needing a small all in one for Freezer only

[Capt Tango]

I live in AZ for the winter and want to go off grid while I'm away for the summer. The only appliance I need to power is an upright freezer in the shed. Is there something like a Jackery that would be powerful enough to keep it running. What watt rating should I been look for and how many panel and size would work. I have built a 600 AH system with 1600 watts of solar for the house but look for something more compact and simpler.

 

[wpns]

Pick up something like https://www.harborfreight.com/kill-a-watt-electric-monitor-93519.html and measure your exact freezer, they are going to vary all over the map depending on age, size, defrost status (self/auto or manual and if manual how long it’s been since defrost), ambient temperature and thermostat setting, etc.

 

[Rednecktek]

Small? MPP 1012-LV and a mini battery or two. Problem solved.

 

[wpns]

Pick up something like https://www.harborfreight.com/kill-a-watt-electric-monitor-93519.html and measure your exact freezer, they are going to vary all over the map depending on age, size, defrost status (self/auto or manual and if manual how long it’s been since defrost), ambient temperature and thermostat setting, etc.

FWIW: I have a manual-defrost upright freezer in a humid environment, and my temperature sensor showed it was originally cycling normally. After a while it was taking longer and longer to cool off and cycle off, to the point where it spent most of it's time running while barely keeping the freezer at temperature (-30C).

So I unloaded it, defrosted it, let it sit for a couple of days while I tried to determine if there were interventions I could perform. Our HVAC guy wanted to add a couple of 'piercing valves' to the sealed freon system and check pressures and maybe add some more, but I didn't want that kind of intervention, as then it's no longer sealed...

Anyway, plugged it back in and it's fine again. My guess is that the frost built up inside the door and around the insulation, and created an 'ice short circuit' around the insulation, which effectively reduced the insulation effectiveness and caused the compressor to work overtime.

So regular (yearly?) defrosting may well be a part of keeping the energy efficiency up.

In addition, chest freezers are going to be a lot more efficient, as the door seals are at the top. And newer freezers are going to be a lot more efficient, so think about how you might put all the long-term-storage frozen stuff in a chest freezer while you are not in residence, to reduce your solar power system requirements significantly.

 

[chrisski]

I live in AZ for the winter and want to go off grid while I'm away for the summer. The only appliance I need to power is an upright freezer in the shed. Is there something like a Jackery that would be powerful enough to keep it running. What watt rating should I been look for and how many panel and size would work. I have built a 600 AH system with 1600 watts of solar for the house but look for something more compact and simpler.

Don't think a Jackery or like device is a good idea for off grid storage where you'll be gone for six months a year. IMO, you'll need to design your own. In fact, I think it would be cheaper to can or purchase a freeze drier and bagger for the food than build something to comfortably keep the food frozen for several months of the year.

For system design, I would look at this:

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Need to start out with a kWh rating for a day, and then figure how many bad weather days to save up for. Measuring the device on the most worst consumption day of the year with a Kilawatt meter for good numbers. I googled the results

What is on the energy sticker won't help you much. That shows average cost of energy over the year when inside a climate controlled room, and not the energy used for the two hottest months of the year in August and September with the freezer in a shed where its 105 F most of the day.