Need Solar Custom Air Conditioner Setup

[Rasman]

Hi I am a newbie with what I consider to be a big issue to figure out a solar system to do.

Here is what I need to do. I need to install Three 6000 BTU 48 volt Air Conditioner units in a small truck.
I need two of them, but of these, one will be set up to run about every 10 minutes, for about 3 days 24 hours a day. To clarify: 1 Air Conditioner will need to run and then it stops, then after 3 days the other unit will need to run while the first air conditioner unit is thawing out. These two maintain a 4’ square area at about 45 degrees Fahrenheit and low 50% Relative Humidity.

I am relying right now on 120 volt 6000 BUT Air Conditioners plugged into the grid and need to go solar.

The final Air Conditioner is to maintain the ambient air in the truck just below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Truck is 23 feet long bumper to bumper, and 8 feet wide by 11 feet high inside.

I have a built in Generator that will run for 15 hours on a full tank of gas, and can repair and use a 5000 Watt Honda Generator as backups.

So my reason is that cost is super high running as I am on the grid.

I am thinking of using three Sunny TKC(R)-17Y/DC (6000 BTU 48 volt) Air Conditioners. If these do not output as much cooling as a 120 volt 6000 BTU air conditioner then I would need to go with the Sunny TKC(R)-25Y/DC (9000 BTU) Air Conditioner.

It is important for moisture to condense on the evaporator grill of the Air Conditioner, eventually freezing the unit, to remove water vapor and reduce humidity to 50% while dropping temperature to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why after 3 days I need to swap to the other air conditioner while the first one thaws out and drains away its water down a pipe.

The Final Air Conditioner, will need to simply be run all day and night 24 hours all summer long to keep ambient temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whew!

Ok Looking at this site and the simplicity offered, I am thinking I would need to buy an MPP Solar Inverter/Charger LV 5KVA-48V, of course enough Solar Panels for the Array, and a sufficient battery array. I need to know what kind of solar panels I would need, and which batteries to use.

Unfortunately I am in Canada, and I have no idea of what this may all cost.

So I need Help!!!!

 

[Sparky]

Why is this your required method of dehumidification?

 

[snoobler]

If you haven't insulated the living crap out of the truck, that is step 1.

Any 6000BTU A/C unit should put out the same cooling as the 6000BTU/h is it's rating, i.e., it removes 6000BTU of heat from the environment per hour.

As stated, your theory on freezing is kinda silly. A properly designed system will not freeze the evaporator and will drain the condensation removing humidity from the environment.

The 48V A/C units you reference are 350W.

Unit 1: 350W * X hours/day = 350X Wh/day
Unit 2: 350W * Y hours/day = 350Y Wh/day
Unit 3: 350W * Z hours/day = 350Z Wh/day

X is presumably 3 days out of 6 or 12h/day average
Y is presumably 3 days out of 6 or 12h/day average
Z is presumably 24 hours/day

Sum the Wh/day required of the 3 units is 16800Wh/day

To power that with solar, you will need 16800Wh/day / 5 = 3,360W of solar panels.

You will also need about the same amount in batteries to ensure that you can store enough overnight. This is a large and expensive battery bank.

If you only need to use 48V A/C units, you don't need an inverter. Simply get a charge controller capable of at least 80A and charge the bank while the A/C units pull from the bank. This will be more efficient as you will lose about 10% converting from DC to AC for the 120V A/C.

You should probably put killawatt meters on your current A/C units to establish their ACTUAL power usage as all 3 are not necessarily running at 100% all the time during your stated criteria. The 48V are also inverter A/C units, and they are designed to run at the lowest power possible to maintain the temperature vs. the typical 120VAC unit that is either full on or full off.

Measuring the actual usage will produce better results and potentially allow you to downsize and not plan for the worst case.

Assuming your need isn't for nefarious purposes, I'd love to hear what this is for.