Your guide to smart, optimal, self-sufficient energy.
Your guide to smart, optimal, self-sufficient energy.
So, you have a 12 Volt battery, a refrigerator, and you’re wondering “how long will the battery run the refrigerator?” Due to the many factors involved (temperature, usage, age of the refrigerator, etc..), there are no general or 100% accurate answers to this question. However, you can still…
The amount of electricity a mini fridge uses depends on a few factors, such as ambient temperature, insulation, usage, age and model of the fridge, etc… However, in general, mini fridges consume between 200 and 280 kWh (kilo-Watt-hours) of energy per year. In this article, I will put…
On average, full-size refrigerators (16 – 22 Cu. ft.) consume between 1500Wh and 2000Wh (Watt-hours) of energy per day. To run a full-size refrigerator on solar, you would need 300 to 400 watts of solar power. The exact amount of solar power you need mainly depends on the…
A solar charge controller also called a regulator, is an electronic device used in solar energy systems to protect the battery. Solar charge controllers are mainly used to keep batteries from overcharging and over-discharging. However, newer MPPT charge controllers can also decrease power production losses. In this article,…
PWM charge controllers are probably the most used type of solar charge controller in small off-grid systems. Compared to MPPT charge controllers – another type of solar charge controller- they are very cheap and accessible. In this article, I’ll explain what a PWM charge controller is, how it…
The PWM calculator below will tell you which PWM is best for your system based on the maximum current your solar panels can put out. All you have to do is enter a few details that describe your solar system and the calculator will display a link to…
MPPT charge controllers are expensive, but they are the best charge controller technology on the market. In this article, I’ll answer some of the FAQs about these devices. If there are any questions I haven’t answered, please feel free to ask in the comment section. What are MPPT…
MPPT solar charge controllers are rated in amps (output current). To select a charge controller, you’ll need to know how high the output current can be. This max output current value is calculated by dividing the system wattage by the voltage of the battery bank. In other words,…
Solar charge controllers are rated in amps but are also limited by their maximum input voltage. To select the right MPPT charge controller for your system, you need to answer 2 questions: How much voltage do you expect it to handle? How much current do you expect it…
Nobody wants to buy a 200W solar panel and only get half the output power they were promised. But without a little bit of optimization, that’s probably what you’re going to get. Losing a couple of dozen percentage points of your power output is no big deal, as…
In this article, I’ll use examples to answer a few of the most frequently asked questions about 200W solar panels, such as: how much power does a 200 watt solar panel produce? what can a 200 watt solar panel run? how many batteries are needed? and more. How…
