Need advice. I am wanting to get 4 solar panels 800w total to run a 550w power load through an 800w inverter.

[Loneeagler]

Hi. I need some advice. I am wanting to get 4 solar panels 800w total to run a varying 400w - 550w power load through an 24v 800w inverter. I need this for 15 hrs. daily. I've read 800w should get me about 600w real power. Googles answer says it will work but I should get 1000w of solar panels and will need 800AH worth of battery backup storage for the 15hrs. Is that a realistic battery storage estimate I'll need? I have a 24v 100ah battery now and am wanting to buy another.
I'm looking at 4
ECO-WORTHY Bifacial 200W Watt 12V Mono Solar Panel PV Certified Refurbished $84.
There is also
ECO-WORTHY Bifacial 195W Watt 12V Solar Panel Mono High Efficiency $103

Would the extra cost of the High Efficiency be worth spending or would the difference be negligible and not worth the extra cost? These will be mounted on a roll around DIY ground mount stand used for a camping cabin.

 

[Backyard]

550W X 15 hours is 8250Wh. You'll need to generate all this during the time the sun is powering the panels. Typically somewhere around 5 hours depending on your location and season.

8.25kWh / 5 = 1,650 watts. Add in 20% or so for panel inefficiencies. Make that 2k watts of panels. Then add in some extra for charger and inverter inefficiencies, plus winter or cloudy days and you might need as much as 2,500 watts. Maybe more, maybe less. You'll need to do some math and look at the sun hours in your location to figure out what you'll get and need

For batteries. For 5 hours or so depending on your sum hours, the panels will be powering the load and charging the batteries. So for the 10 hours remaining when the batteries need to keep the load going.

550W X 10 = 5.5kWh. divide that by system voltage of 12 = 458Ah. So, looks like your battery plan will be sufficient. But I think your solar is inadequate

 

[Loneeagler]

Hi. I need some advice. I am wanting to get 4 solar panels 800w total to run a varying 400w - 550w power load through an 24v 800w inverter. I need this for 15 hrs. daily. I've read 800w should get me about 600w real power. Googles answer says it will work but I should get 1000w of solar panels and will need 800AH worth of battery backup storage for the 15hrs. Is that a realistic battery storage estimate I'll need? I have a 24v 100ah battery now and am wanting to buy another.
I'm looking at 4
ECO-WORTHY Bifacial 200W Watt 12V Mono Solar Panel PV Certified Refurbished $84.
There is also
ECO-WORTHY Bifacial 195W Watt 12V Solar Panel Mono High Efficiency $103

Would the extra cost of the High Efficiency be worth spending or would the difference be negligible and not worth the extra cost? These will be mounted on a roll around DIY ground mount stand used for a camping cabin.

 

[Loneeagler]

Thanks for 1 answer. I got part of the answer from Google it's not all correct answers. I'm still learning. I come here to get advise from others in the know and from their shared experiences. The answers I get will help me from buyers remorse. And I appreciate the help from answers. I have a 24v system so I divided the answer a forum member gave (550W X 10 = 5.5kWh. divide that by system voltage of 12 = 458Ah.) by my system voltage 24v = 229ah. I guess Google is going to be my best bet for answers.

 

[skyking1]

@Backyard summary is excellent; no need to rehash that. You'll need more than double the panels based on typical harvest.

 

[MisterSandals]

550w power load through an 24v 800w inverter.

Just out of curiosity, what is this load? A/C?

 

[Loneeagler]

Just out of curiosity, what is this load? A/C?

Hey thanks for the response. What I would like to do is get enough solar power that can run a 65" tv, stereo and a desktop PC. I have a 12v fridge that is on a 12v 100ah battery. Fans and lights are run on power stations. all gets solar recharged with 3 Bluetti portable120 solar panels(Not waterproof). I would like to put up 4? Eco Worthy 200w solar panels on a portable roll around cart to power the TV, stereo and PC mainly. I need enough power for about 15hrs a day for these. I can can only run these a few hrs. with my Bluetti AC70

The TV and stereo (Varies 240-300w peak)
The TV and stereo & PC (Varies 400-575 peaks high only when gaming)
This kind of averages out to 380w needed continuous.
I'm guessing. So I thought 4 of the Eco Worthy 200w 12v panels = abou 600w might work ok with that load not continuous drawning power at 575w. I have a Victron 100/50 mppt, Victron 800w inverter, and a 24v 100ah battery now and will add on more battery storage later. I can't afford to keep buying the wrong things not knowing what to buy that best suits my needs. So thanks for the help I realy appreciate it.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Thanks for 1 answer. I got part of the answer from Google it's not all correct answers. I'm still learning. I come here to get advise from others in the know and from their shared experiences. The answers I get will help me from buyers remorse. And I appreciate the help from answers.

Backyard is 1000% correct. If you think something is in error, you are not interpreting it correctly.

I have a 24v system so I divided the answer a forum member gave (550W X 10 = 5.5kWh. divide that by system voltage of 12 = 458Ah.) by my system voltage 24v = 229ah. I guess Google is going to be my best bet for answers.

Only if you're going to the DIY solar forum via a Google search.

Hey thanks for the response. What I would like to do is get enough solar power that can run a 65" tv, stereo and a desktop PC. I have a 12v fridge that is on a 12v 100ah battery. Fans and lights are run on power stations. all gets solar recharged with 3 Bluetti portable120 solar panels(Not waterproof). I would like to put up 4? Eco Worthy 200w solar panels on a portable roll around cart to power the TV, stereo and PC mainly. I need enough power for about 15hrs a day for these. I can can only run these a few hrs. with my Bluetti AC70

The TV and stereo (Varies 240-300w peak)
The TV and stereo & PC (Varies 400-575 peaks high only when gaming)
This kind of averages out to 380w needed continuous.
I'm guessing. So I thought 4 of the Eco Worthy 200w 12v panels = abou 600w might work ok with that load not continuous drawning power at 575w. I have a Victron 100/50 mppt, Victron 800w inverter, and a 24v 100ah battery now and will add on more battery storage later. I can't afford to keep buying the wrong things not knowing what to buy that best suits my needs. So thanks for the help I realy appreciate it.

With 800W of solar, the maximum you can count on assuming excellent solar conditions is 4000Wh.

You can run 550W for 7.25 hours. No more.

600W can only run 550W for 5.5 hours.

Anything that is giving you significantly different answers is wrong UNLESS you are using data specific to you that you have not provided.

 

[Glock24]

The answers you have received here are correct, you need way more solar panels than 800W for the 550W and 15h runtime.

The Victron 100/50 won't be enough to charge the batteries and power ypur loads as you'll be limited to around 1400W of charging 28V x 50A). You'll need an additional charge controller.

 

[Ecovault Solar]

You want to power 550W load for 15hrs runtime, so your daily energy usage is 550W×15h=8,250Wh(8.25 kWh)

Your panel rating is 200W, assume 4 peak sun hours/day (adjust for your location’s sunlight).
So assume each panel daily output 200W×4h=800Wh

8,250Wh/800Wh = 10.3 panels so suggest you need at least 12 200W panels to account for inefficiencies (shading, dust, etc.). 4 200W solar panels are not enough.

Your daily energy usage is 8.25 kWh (from load), and now you already have a 24V 100Ah battery (24V × 100Ah = 2,400Wh), assuming you have a lead-acid battery (50% DoD): 2.4kWh×0.5=1.2kWh usable, so 8.25kWh−1.2kWh= 7.05kWh is what you needed more for battery.

If you plan to buy another lead-acid battery, recommended capacity: ≥7.05 kWh (accounting for 50% DoD), you can consider 4 12V 200Ah batteries (wired in series-parallel for 24V 400Ah = 9.6 kWh total, 4.8 kWh usable).

But I strongly recommend Lithium/LiFePO₄ battery which DoD is 80-90%, and more importantly safer and more durable.

 

[Cmiller]

@Loneeagler I second what others are saying! Also, I am located in Coshocton County Ohio and my solar panels only produce just under 2 sun-hours in January. December through February is always the crunch! So if your daily usage will be 8.25kWh (550W x 15 hrs) then you will need 8.25kWh/2 sun-hours = 4.125kW in order to pretty much keep up in winter! I would round that up to 4.5kW of solar panels! If you were to go with the 200W panels that you mentioned, you would need 22.5 solar panels! In summer you will have way plenty then, but unless you are fine with backup charging a lot in winter, you will want to use those numbers!

 

[CommandoJoe]

Hi. I need some advice. I am wanting to get 4 solar panels 800w total to run a varying 400w - 550w power load through an 24v 800w inverter. I need this for 15 hrs. daily. I've read 800w should get me about 600w real power. Googles answer says it will work but I should get 1000w of solar panels and will need 800AH worth of battery backup storage for the 15hrs. Is that a realistic battery storage estimate I'll need? I have a 24v 100ah battery now and am wanting to buy another.
I'm looking at 4
ECO-WORTHY Bifacial 200W Watt 12V Mono Solar Panel PV Certified Refurbished $84.
There is also
ECO-WORTHY Bifacial 195W Watt 12V Solar Panel Mono High Efficiency $103

Would the extra cost of the High Efficiency be worth spending or would the difference be negligible and not worth the extra cost? These will be mounted on a roll around DIY ground mount stand used for a camping cabin.

If you're not opposed to used panels, you can get a lot more power for the same $... I just picked up 7x 300w panels for $25 each on Facbook marketplace. I saw someone in VT selling pallets of 24x 300w panels for $200, new 500w panels for $125, and everything in between. In my area at least, they are more often $50-75 each, but the really good deals do pop up now and again. My best score was 20x 550w panels for $500.

As others have said, more panels! You can never have enough. I would also go with a bigger inverter so you're not running so close to the max, and if you ever want to run something else, you can.

Simple solution would be a 3kw 24v AIO. I've had good luck with the PowMr POW-LVM3K-24V-H. It can take 4kw of solar, charges battery at up to 80a, can accept grid or generator input as a backup.

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