I was trying to figure out if I could run an electric heater off of a solar panel, but I don't understand these electric convertion factors and stuff. Would it work? (I know it'll only work in the daytime and stuff.)
SOLAR PANEL
Peak Power 195W
PTC Watts 173.0W
Voc 30.7V
Peak Voltage 24.4V
Isc 8.6A
Peak Current 7.96A
HEATER
Input: 120 V/60 Hz
1,500 W/5,200 BTU
2007-12-15 20:16:09 · 7 answers · asked by Moral Orel 6 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
the panel would have to be on for 10 hours in the sun to get an hours use with the set up. try researching solar hot water heaters. they are much more efficient. a cheap one would be painting an old hot water heater black and pipe it to the new hot water heater. it will save you 80% of your electric hot water bill.
2007-12-15 22:25:54 · answer #1 · answered by jgonzos6 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A 1500 watt water heater is very small. Most are over 5000 watts. But even a water heater that small would not heat water with a 195 watt solar panel. Inverting the 24 volt to 120 volt would still give you 195 watts of power. A little short of the 1500 needed. Sorry. Solar is cool but not practical for large loads unless you install more panels.
2007-12-16 15:09:58 · answer #2 · answered by John himself 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, not enough power. Energetic got some of it. A transformer will not convert DC to AC. Transformers work on AC. A power inverter converts.
Your solar panels do only put out the 195W but at the higher impedence of the heater, at 24V it would only be able to push through about 45W. Less than an average light bulb in a desk lamp.
2007-12-16 00:20:21 · answer #3 · answered by Charles C 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Watts = Volts * Amps
Your heater needs at least 1500 watts of AC power.
The solar panel only produces about 200 watts of power ( 24volts * 8amps). Not enough to run the heater.
Also, the solar panel produces DC current, not the AC current that the heater needs. However, if you had solar panel that produced enough power (watts), you could buy a transformer to turn the panel's DC output into the required AC output. But that doesn't seem like a real cost-effective plan.
2007-12-15 20:31:42 · answer #4 · answered by energeticthinker 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You will have to run the solar panel to a 12v or 24 v battery array that use an inverter to convert the battery power to 120 for the heaters.
2007-12-16 00:23:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Homemade Solar Power Videos : http://SolarPower.siopu.com/?PHa
2017-04-02 22:04:35 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO! not enough energy available, even if you got the suitable voltage.
2007-12-15 20:26:51 · answer #7 · answered by friedach 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋