Written on January 3, 2012 at 4:38 pm by buildsolar

exactly what size solar panel would it take to run a new single door fridge energy star fridge only.?

Filed under Solar Power 5 comments 5 Comments Post a Comment

1. f100_supersabre says:

   August 24, 2010 at 6:41 am

   Since you failed to give any specifics, this is a general idea of what is needed, assuming a "standard" home type refrigerator!

   1. take wattage of refrigerator, and add 50% to cover starting surge.
   2. buy inverter large enough to start and run fridge, and determine amperage required.
   3. buy enough batteries for inverter to handle a full 24 hours of running fridge, (measured in amp/hours)
   4. buy appropriate charge controller for batteries
   5. buy sufficient panels to generate at least twice, preferably 3 times, what is drawn from batteries to run inverter, since they only supply power during the daylight hours.

   NOTE: it will require MORE than a single panel to run ANY large appliance.
2. ericnutsch says:

   August 24, 2010 at 6:41 am

   To measure the power consumption of an appliance I recomend using a Kill-a-Watt unit:
   http://www.aurorapower.net/products/categoryid/5/list/1/level/a/productid/22.aspx

   Once you know the usage of the fridge you can select an inverter and panels to meet that usage. If you have stable grid power I recommend grid tieing the inverter so you wont need batteries.

   Just guessing the value for the fridge I would estimate:

   **If on grid:
   200w inverter with a 200W panel to run in the spring and early summer
   - or -
   400w inverter with two 200W panels to run year round.

   **If off grid:
   500W inverter with a 200W panel to run in the spring and early summer
   - or -
   500W inverter with two 200W panels to run in the spring and early summer

   (Note that if your fridge is in a heated house you may need to have 3 or 4 panels during the winter)

   If you do the off grid setup I would recommend getting a charge controller to protect your batteries: http://www.aurorapower.net/products/list/1/categoryid/13/level/a.aspx

   If you need assistance sizing a system or selecting components Aurora Power & Design can help: http://www.aurorapower.net/contact-us.aspx

   Hope that helps!
3. New says:

   August 24, 2010 at 6:41 am

   1or 2 160W solar panels should be sufficient, depends on how sunny it is in your area.
4. magicpana says:

   August 24, 2010 at 6:41 am

   Hey real good question.
   it depend on follwing thing

   1. how much electricity fridge consumes ( got to monitor that!)
   2. Geographical location of where you live as solar energy is diffrent in diffrent part of world.
   3. number of sunny days/hours you get
   4. location of solar panel installation.

   how ever i guess it’s possible, as people runnig their all household appliances using solar energy.

   for more information

   try this review
   http://www.review-ant.com/GreenEnergyProductsReviews/

   one of the products reviewed here has a solar calculator to find out how much energy you need and how to produce it using solar panel

   good luck
5. statickema says:

   August 24, 2010 at 6:41 am

   One large enough to run when the sun doesn’t shine.