6.6kw solar system newbie questions

[Ejimenez]

Sooo im new to this and have been learning on youtube and chatgpt lol.

Is a 6.6kw solar system enough to power either and electric dryer or electric cooktop? I do plan on adding 20kwh in batteries (2 10kw batteries) with a 8-8.5kw inverter.

i live in Puerto Rico so my house roof is flat and summer sunny all year plus no tress or anything for shading the panels. I plan to run this system for the whole house and use batteries everytime possible to limit grid use

 

[Mattb4]

Possibly. You will need to know what the power needs for the dryer and cooktop are. You can look up the ratings and estimate runtime to get watthour. You also need to know if your inverter can handle startup current for the device you plan to power plus some idea of its efficiency.

Example: Electric dryer uses 6000w to operate. You intend to run it 45 minutes. This means power requirements are 6000w X .75h=4000wh If your inverter is 90% efficient that means your battery will see a draw of 4,444wh.

Your PV at 6600w is going to charge the battery or supply loads for a sunny day an average number of hours. Ex. 6 hours worth of panel wattage over entire day. Panels develop wattage starting low in the morning, peak at full sun and than drop until sunset. so 6600w X 6h =39660wh available.

Keep in mind W=VA

 

[OPTIMALSOLAR]

That's a really good answer. Well done. Easy to follow. Not too many variables.

 

[MisterSandals]

I do plan on adding 20kwh in batteries

6600w X 6h =39660wh available.

The batteries can store roughly half of that amount "available" (produced by the array daily). So each day, during the 6h of solar production, assuming you recharge batteries completely, there will be 20kwh that you can use at that time or not harvest (wasted opportunity).

So with an array so much larger than what you batteries can store, you should plan on running your large loads while the sun is shining.

 

[Ejimenez]

Thank you for the answers, im not very electrical savy (I HATE working with electricity and its meanings) so I kinda get confused or lost too much.

I normally do the laundry at daytime, very small ocassions where I use the dryer past 6pm for X or Y reason. (Currently doing laundry at 2:26pm)

I unfortunately don't know specifics about my dryer (Watts nor amps) but I do know its a 240v dryer since its the huge plug, I do know my cooktop says on the specs the big ones are like 2000W-3000W and smaller ones between 1000w-1800w give or take. The inverter is a manyusolar 8.2kw inverter and says its Maximum Conversion Efficiency(DC/AC) is 98% and Battery mode ouptut Efficiency(DC to AC) 94% plus a maximum main load of 8200w and surge power of 16400w (I Assume surge power is what I need to run big things like dryer starting up that takes way more power right?)


Im asking these things since I am not a DIY person unfortunately and a small company will install the whole kit (panels, inverter, battery, etc) and they told me that electric cooktop, dryer, heater should not be connected to the solar system. I have read online that it can be connected but just use when the sun is in the air in order for the batteries to last. Im sorry if I sound like not making sense or something lol

 

[Ejimenez]

Also another very rookie question (I assume the answer is yes but not sure).

I can still connect everything to the solar system AND if the panels+battery is not enough I can still pick up power from the grid no? or would that be a custom thing to protect the appliances in case of surges from the grid or such?


Or am I looking at this wrong and panels/battery/grid all go to inverter and my max output would be my inverter output only? kinda lost there

 

[peakbagger]

Buy yourself an electric induction cooktop, its much more efficient. Sure you can run a dryer on occasion on sunny day but you will be burning up a lot of KW.