Recommendation for emergency plan and solar

[rs334]

Hello all, new to solar and recently bought a bluetti ac200p with 3 rigid 210W panels. Have been testing and not happy with my results thus far. From the 630W panels I typically get 425W at solar peek, if I manually adjust them I've seen 510W. My disappointment is mostly with the ac200P 2000WH battery.

I've been testing my one of my deep freezers which is only 7.0CF and based on the display pulls 1038W on startup and mostly shows running at 36W but sometimes 46/48W. I should be getting 30+ hours of life but I'm getting less than 20 plugged in to the AC Output, assume it's inverter loss.... My hope was to power two deep freezers and one standard refrigerator but looks like plan won't happen.

I'm in the south United States and given not every day is full of sun wondering from others if there would be a good strategy for getting the most of the solar equipment I already have. The freezers contains frozen meat, so I would expect they stay frozen for 3+ days. I can't purchase anymore equipment currently and just wondering if alternating equipment in a power out situation would be feasible such as;

On a bright sunny day I might able to run everything for a few hours, but on a cloudy day or at night I may need to ration power to appliances to a few hours of use. Or maybe I run each one for 5 hours then switch it to other device - just not sure how that's going to work if we get a week of rain which is possible but unlikely here. Anyone have any thought on if that approach of appliance rationing would work short to long term? I know the battery inverter can handle the load and the 2 freezers again use about 36-48W when running and the fridge uses around 240W when running.

 

[kenryan]

Just curious, why does the refrigerator consume 6 times as much electricity as the freezer?

 

[DaGoose13]

So, I have a similar deep freezer and the ambient temperature affects mine greatly.

With a Kill-a-Watt meter, I measured a full days worth during the spring (highs 60s, lows 40s) which was .68 KWh, but during the summer (highs 95 lows 75) it was using 1.96 KWh as the garage was at a higher temperature.

It could be that the first time you measured the power usage, it was cooler around the deep freezer and it wasn't pulling or running as often, but later in the day when it was hotter, that would change.

 

[iamrich]

I think I would look at a small generator to supplement the bluetti. I know you said no new equipment, but you can get a small 1000w generator for under $300 (maybe a lot less if you can find one used). That would allow you to run for 5+ hours on generator for .5 gallons. You would have to top off every 5 hours, but I assume we are talking about an emergency where normal is out the window anyway...

 

[rs334]

Hey thanks for the replies all

Kenryan - That is what I read online I've not yet tested what the actual usage is but I would agree I think it will be much less.

DaGoose - I have my freezers inside so it's climate controlled between 70-75, but that's a good point you brought up with no electricity the temps will rise substantially using even more power (in the summer).

Iamrich - I did consider a generator but did not want to store the gas for it but also the noise I'd rather not draw attention to the house which is why I opted for solar for now.

Do you guys think it would work to ration the power between the appliances cycling power to them every other day or as much as the weather would allow. The only scenario I'm trying to protect the food from is a prolonged power outage, if we are talking 2 or 3 days I'm fine with the current equipment but just trying to plan out a longer term outage. Thanks again

 

[DThames]

Many freezers dump their heat into the outside skin to keep the outside warm enough that you don't get condensation on the skin and it mildew. So don't cover the freezer with blankets and run it. But if the power is out, first cover the freezer with any additional insulation that you might have available. Those cheap movers blankets can help. Anything to slow heat transfer. Remove them when you want to provide power and run the unit.

Put some type of remote temp monitor in the freezer (even if a thin wire is under the gasket) so you know the temp without opening it.

Get more panels and an an inverter (or some setup) so you can have more solar power and run the unit as much as you can during the day and maybe not at all overnight, so you are not running on battery. If the inside temp is normally zero and you can run it during the day only and can still keep the temp below 20F, you will not be thawing your food.

When you to open it, plan for what you might need for the next X days and open it fewer times rather than many times.

I also see mine put pretty high watts on initial startup.

 

[rs334]

Thanks Dthames for the ideas

 

[Bob142]

I did consider a generator but did not want to store the gas for it but also the noise I'd rather not draw attention to the house which is why I opted for solar for now.

Something to think about if you can't get the runtime you need with solar alone. To get through bad solar days in emergencies I have shifted from a gasoline genny to a dual fuel inverter generator that I only run on propane. It avoids the gasoline storage/spoiling issue and runs very quietly. I'll only run it for a few hours during the day to top off the batteries, and it gets an almost absurd amount of runtime on a standard 20lb propane tank compared to a tank of gasoline (34 hours @ 1/4 load on propane).

Example 2000W Champion Dual Fuel Inverter generator for $522:

Champion 2000 Watt Dual Fuel Inverter Generator Parallel Ready | 200960

Best Price Anywhere: Champion 2000 Watt Dual Fuel Generator. Runs 34 hrs Ultra-Light. Ultra-Quiet Portable Inverter Generator for RV, Camping, Backup

www.norwall.com

Good luck.

 

[iamrich]

Example 2000W Champion Dual Fuel Inverter generator for $522:

Champion 2000 Watt Dual Fuel Inverter Generator Parallel Ready | 200960

Best Price Anywhere: Champion 2000 Watt Dual Fuel Generator. Runs 34 hrs Ultra-Light. Ultra-Quiet Portable Inverter Generator for RV, Camping, Backup

www.norwall.com

You just hook a propane tank to it? How have I never seen this? This is the winner all day long! Could you hook this to a 500 gallon residential tank and run it forever?

 

[DaGoose13]

Something to think about if you can't get the runtime you need with solar alone. To get through bad solar days in emergencies I have shifted from a gasoline genny to a dual fuel inverter generator that I only run on propane. It avoids the gasoline storage/spoiling issue and runs very quietly. I'll only run it for a few hours during the day to top off the batteries, and it gets an almost absurd amount of runtime on a standard 20lb propane tank compared to a tank of gasoline (34 hours @ 1/4 load on propane).

Example 2000W Champion Dual Fuel Inverter generator for $522:

Champion 2000 Watt Dual Fuel Inverter Generator Parallel Ready | 200960

Best Price Anywhere: Champion 2000 Watt Dual Fuel Generator. Runs 34 hrs Ultra-Light. Ultra-Quiet Portable Inverter Generator for RV, Camping, Backup

www.norwall.com

Good luck.

I have the 3400 watt model of this and it's well worth it.

Definitely run it on propane though and not gasoline.

 

[Bob142]

You just hook a propane tank to it? How have I never seen this? This is the winner all day long! Could you hook this to a 500 gallon residential tank and run it forever?

Yup, you just hook up a tank and go. I think the biggest it supports is a 30lb tank.

 

[DaGoose13]

You just hook a propane tank to it? How have I never seen this? This is the winner all day long! Could you hook this to a 500 gallon residential tank and run it forever?

You can hook it to a residential tank, but it won't run forever, but should last a few weeks at least.

 

[DaGoose13]

Yup, you just hook a tank and go. I think the biggest it supports is a 30lb tank.

Think there is a kit you can buy to hook it to larger tanks.

 

[rs334]

Awesome idea I've not heard of that before either, seems like a great solution though. Just found out I could also charge my battery from my car so that would be another idea if I got in a situation where it came down to spoiled food vs having to charge from the car. Thanks for the ideas and answers, long term I would like to invest in some of these but short term I'm going to have to get by with what I currently have. Much appreciated to all.

 

[DaGoose13]

Some of the Champion generator can be chained, so you can get more power from them.

Another thing you might think about, is the new Bluetti power packs coming out soon. Will cost more, but the big one is 3KWh and can be used with the older AC200P.