LiFePO4 batteries charge much faster than lead acid batteries. A similarly sized LiFePO4 battery can often have much more usable amp hours than a lead acid battery.
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LiFePO4 batteries charge much faster than lead acid batteries. A similarly sized LiFePO4 battery can often have much more usable amp hours than a lead acid battery.
Well, if the batteries are new, and you only need it for how long?
You have nearly 3 kilowatt hours of storage.
That's 260 amp hours at 12 volts of storage. You just need to put in more than you take out. No reason that couldn't run a fridge daily.
I'd figure out how much you use on a daily basis, do you have a kilowatt meter? Easy and relatively cheap, lets you figure out how much that appliance actually uses.
I'm not sure what brand of panel or charge controller you have, but you can always add another.
The real question is how much power do you need?
Eastcoastcolt
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If I can run the fridge would be great. Everything else is led as far as lighting goes. I do fire up a coffee perk. System has no problem doing that. I like the meter idea. I have hanwau q peak panel 400 watt and a epever tracer an charge controller 30 amp. I agree I don't have nearly enough coming in. I can run the fridge all day long when it's sunny and as soon as night time hits it just seems to deplete my batteries rather quickly. If it's a nice sunny morning I have no troubles catching back up. A bit of overcast and I might as well unplug the fridge. Not a chance to run it 2 days in a row.
Assuming 100% efficiency, that panel could put out around 33 amps for a 12v battery. You are pretty much spot on with that combo, but no room to add another panel.
I would suggest running the kilowatt meter on the fridge for a day to see how much it really uses, then switch it to the coffee maker and get an idea there. Ideally you should record how many amp hours out of the battery, and how many in, but a good meter to do that will be about double the price. This should get you a decent idea if you even have enough capacity to run overnight and experience good sun the next day.
I would have no problems running my fridge, but it is a year old LG inverter fridge (24+ cubic feet). With mine I would turn off the ice maker.
A 1000 watt Victron inverter can run it all day, and include router, modem, and LCD television with a 280AH battery pack.
How much yours uses, we don't know. That's what you need to figure out so you can see what your system needs.
This is what I've used, looks about $2 cheaper (I got it because the cheap kilowatt doesn't have non-volatile memory):
If you have a single plug into your inverter, maybe just plug it in to measure total consumption for 24 hours.
That would give you a good idea of what you need to plan for.
If you have a single plug into your inverter, maybe just plug it in to measure total consumption for 24 hours.
That would give you a good idea of what you need to plan for.
Eastcoastcolt
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Thanks! I'll get one and a bit more info and report back. Appreciate all the help
Some immediate suggestion I could offer is to find a small cooler to move the medication to so the kiddo doesn't go foraging it and losing your trapped cold. Out of reach, out of sight, out of mind.
secondly I do believe that you are lacking the solar intake necessary to run the refrigerator. It took me about 1kw of charge and 2 used 220ah LiFePO4 8s packs to feel secure in leaving my fridge going non stop, but I was using a full size fridge and I prob could've gotten away with 1 pack but I wasn't ready to risk it. I do believe you could get a second identical charge controller and panel and parallel them, however you are pressing urgently for your batteries to charge at that point. Lead acid is not fond of rapid charging and you'd need to refer to the data sheets of the batteries to see if 60A charge rate is appropriate.
secondly I do believe that you are lacking the solar intake necessary to run the refrigerator. It took me about 1kw of charge and 2 used 220ah LiFePO4 8s packs to feel secure in leaving my fridge going non stop, but I was using a full size fridge and I prob could've gotten away with 1 pack but I wasn't ready to risk it. I do believe you could get a second identical charge controller and panel and parallel them, however you are pressing urgently for your batteries to charge at that point. Lead acid is not fond of rapid charging and you'd need to refer to the data sheets of the batteries to see if 60A charge rate is appropriate.
Geokilroy
New Member
I am new to solar so I have one Question: Do you need another charge controller to hook up a second solar panel? Can't you hook up a second panel in parallel? The controller can't handle the two panels and not have to use another controller?
