Solar powering air conditioner

[Tombaker]

I want to solar power a 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner. Uses 1350 watts.

Rated amps us 12.0.

How can I do this?

We are renting a unit in Hawaii.

Have room for 2 Rich Solar 100 watt panels.

What do I need to power the air conditioner?
Tom

 

[Deleted member 1888]

Sorry but that is impossible the unit pulls 1350 watts per hour, the 2 panels can only pull 200 watts per hour. You would need 14 panels to pull that pulse a very large batter bank to go with it. Also how many sun hours do you have as you need to take that into account.

 

[Tombaker]

Thank you for your immediate response.

We live in Hawaii. Maximum number of sun hours per day can be as many as 12 hours.

Also we rent, so we can only put in 2 panels.

Our landlord pays our electricity. Included with rent. Landlord restricts AC usage unless electricity is monitored and gauged to be paid separately.

We estimating using the AC approximately 5 hours per day. This would be during sun light only. At night, it can cool off sufficiently for floor fans. The apartment we have is a studio. Approximately 300 sq ft.

The electricity is solar also. Installed on the roof.

Electricity rates runs at least 4 times rates to be charged in California, for example.

Do you know of any AC unit that could meet our 2 panel needs for about 5 hours a day, run during peak sunlight?

Thanks again or in Hawaiian, Mahalo!

 

[Deleted member 1888]

I looked up the sun hours and it looks like you only get up to 6.71 a day in the summer. with 2 100 watt panels you can only pull in 1342 in that 6.71 hour time frame. That is still short what you need for the ac, but do you have any yard that you can put panels out?

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Here is the formula for what you need
AC 1350 per hour X 5 hours = 6750 watts need for 1 day
6750 / 6.71 sun hours a day =1005 watts per hour needed
So you need a minimum 1000w of solar panels or 10 100 watt panels
Maybe you can set them out in the yard if you have one?

 

[Deleted member 1888]

Also you need a battery bank to hold that power
So 6750 watts / 12 volts = 562 amp hours
If you want to use lead acids you will need to double the 562 as you can never use more than 50% of the battery
So for lead acid you need 1125 amp hours

If you use lithium batteries you can get away with only 562 amp hours.

 

[Deleted member 1888]

If you have a yard then you can build a none permanent set up to hold the panels like what I made.

 

[Tombaker]

I guarantee 6 hours is really low balling. That why we thought solar would be the way to go.

Is there any AC unit, of any size that can be powered by solar?

 

[Deleted member 1888]

I guarantee 6 hours is really low balling. That why we thought solar would be the way to go.

Is there any AC unit, of any size that can be powered by solar?

Yes will is powering a 6000 btu with 800w per hour solar, but it is in a small extremely well insulated shed.

 

[Deleted member 1888]

 

[Deleted member 1888]

 

[Forbisher]

I guarantee 6 hours is really low balling. That why we thought solar would be the way to go.

Is there any AC unit, of any size that can be powered by solar?

You are going to need at least 1000 watts of panels to run a 6000 BTU air conditioner when the sun is shining to cool 300 sq feet.

So add up the cost of mounting 1000 watts panels. Charge controller. Inverter. Battery. Wire, fuses etc and compare to paying 50? cents Kw to your landlord.

 

[TinyQualityHomes]

Hey @Tombaker, I find that an AC unit that has "INVERTER" technology uses much less energy than an AC unit that doesn't have the inverter technology (now, don't ask me what is 'inverter technology.' It's new to me). Some mini-splits have about 12,000 BTU capabilities that only draw about five amps of power (I found this info on the Missouri Wind and Solar Power site). I have a 600-watt solar panel array with a 5000-watt inverter and just now installed an 8000 BTU inverter technology window AC unit running on my solar system.

 

[Dzl]

The wildcard in all this is duty cycle (with a non-inverter A/C). Without knowing duty cycle (ratio of time 'active' vs not) its hard to accurately predict the minimum system size.

Not knowing that, I suppose its best to assume 100% duty cycle but in reality it will be less. I imagine this would depend heavily on ambient temp, thermostat temp, insulation, unit size, square footage, etc.

If I understand correctly, Inverter A/C's don't have duty cycle, they have variable speed compressors so they can adjust the power level as opposed to switching on/off. This is one thing that makes them more efficient.

 

[Capt. John]

You could get some cool air using the same system people did a hundred years ago in the 1920s.
Freezes ice day and night get a fan blowing on the ice have the air hitting you. Ice maker (small one cube at a time ) about $100 T0 125 using about 100 Watt, fan 12v 30 Watt and up. Two Hundred watts could do this. I used a tub a so so water proof fan window screen over the tub put the ice on the screen had the fan point up. I used this foR getting to sleep at night here in AZ. Durning the Day used a swamp cooler I Had a nice one, about 18 inches by 18 used about 150 watts. I used a mechanical time so as not to run down the battery. Oh yes, you need a hole in the bottom of the tub to let the water out Before you drown the fan. Make the ice in a room your not cooling ice maker make heat. Use your refrigerator the landlord did not say you could not use it.

 

[Deleted member 1888]

You could use the 200w of solar to power several fans and make a wind tunnel in the house.

 

[tombely]

I want to solar power a 12,000 BTU portable solar air conditioner. Uses 1350 watts.

Rated amps us 12.0.

How can I do this?

We are renting a unit in Hawaii.

Have room for 2 Rich Solar 100 watt panels.

What do I need to power the air conditioner?
Tom

It's impossible for 1350 on BTU portable air conditioner.

 

[workin]

You need to install a lot more panels so that the air conditioner in your house usually functions. 2 panels of 100 watts is tiny, so try to use ordinary electricity or buy and install more panels. You will be able to use the air conditioner without problems. I did air conditioner installation in my house in the summer, and there were about 700 watts of electricity as far as I remember. Of course, it also depends on what size you take an air conditioner. There are a/c that consume about 1 thousand watts, but they cost a lot of money and consume a lot of electricity.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

I see this is an old post but for people in low humidity areas we use evaporative coolers and mine only uses 45 watts but that won't work in Hawaii or high humidity areas.

Lowest power window AC unit I have found is 5000BTU and would need 600 running watts and double that for surge.

The person that makes a true AC unit that can run on 200 watts and cool a room would be very wealthy!