Hi Gerrad, Is that Fujitsu 9RLS2 reasonable to use on a 480 watt system with a standard battery bank? 12v 560ah sonnenschien gel battery bank, Major power loads: This takes a lot of careful planning. In fact, there have been some amazing developing electronics that monitor your “whereabouts” and “time” there/use to help automate the hvac system in a “on-demand” for the 9-5 crowd. Your advise will be highly appreciated. AC. An inverter is an electronic device that produces AC Power as its output whenever DC Power is provided at its input. I am doing this for my project and wanted to see the performance of the whole system with batteries and without batteries (grid tie) An AC unit is critical, even if you’re running on solar power. That’s why solar panel systems are quite expensive. Would give anything for a bit of heat and humidity. A/C= Air Conditioner. If I could add on house heating, that would be even better. So you’re going to need at least 3kW of energy from your solar energy system for single room AC, which will also cover the energy requirements of other appliances and fixtures. DC Disconnect (additional) I’m not 100% of my calculations, but an efficient A/C unit running for 12 hours at between 200-500w would probably be enough for this small temperature adjustment. Join the newsletter and get it for free now! If you want to run your AC for a longer period, go for a system with a higher capacity – around 3-4kW. This automatic shut off on the solar panel system prevents damage to the batteries by discharging too deep. Solar power just needs SUNLIGHT, hence they still work fine in the Arctic regions in sub-zero temps (which also has a disadvantage effect on the batteries themselves if they are not insulated). If I could take just 1-2 degreess of heat out of the house during the day with the A/C, it would give me the temperature I need. What is the draw of the AC ? Also, there should be an equally powerful inverter to handle the load. I decided to “stress test” my solar panel system by turning the portable AC unit on high and setting the thermostat to 60 degrees. That’s how I found a local guy who worked for a bigger company but did mine on a weekend. We will do it as a test and will let you know, thanks for sharing. It’s a smart idea to power your appliances and air conditioning unit with solar energy. Kind of a shame you can’t bypass the power supply board and run stright DC. Would a 3500 W inverter be enough if it were to run 220 AC? This results in a major drain on your batteries.  Compounding the issue of running heating off solar panel energy, heaters are more energy intensive than cooling and air conditioning units. With solar panels becoming increasingly affordable, it’s natural to think about solar panels as an alternative to run your air conditioners. I am thinking further in night/cloudy/rainy days I want to switch to our electricity GRID. Most of the time it doesn’t take a whole lot to top them off, or fill them after vac down (sucking air out of system). However, the ideal output of each solar panel should be about 345W. As I discovered after buying my mini split unit, most installers insist they need to sell you the air conditioning equipment if they are going to install it. Obviously, this was an unknown factor to me when I ordered my house air conditioning unit…but these are the bumps in the road you experience when you live The Tiny Life. The A/C will have to be run on generator or on the grid. I work for a home automation company and we did robust test with such setups and the conclusion is always to monitor and control usage than install solar systems. Wash your clothes at any time. They are fast AND efficient to cool (or heat) the area of almost any decent size room that you are using. How long will it need to run ? Charge Controller And it costs more than four times an equivallent 120 VAC. Just a roof is sufficient, you don’t need to enclose it (in fact you shouldn’t). I’m from Minnesota and have a 10×16 160 square foot cabin with a 13 foot peak. After doing my research on what unit would work best with my solar panel set up and power levels. One thing to get used to with a mini-split… a factor that contributes to it’s higher seer value… is that there is no air-makeup…you are always recycling the same interior air… When weather permits, you’ll want to shut it down and open a few windows with a fan running to change your air out. Even with the air conditioner on high my solar panel system still makes enough power to add 2,000 Watts into the batteries. Compare this to heating, where you often need the heat the most at night when the sun isn’t out. As I am also setting up solar powered AC system,I would like to know if the same configuration which you used can be applicable for my system. The biggest drain of electric is upon “startup” when the unit needs to “BANG” the fan and the compressor. The first 500 watts produced go to the air conditioner directly. The average air conditioner uses 1.3kw of power, and the average solar panel system ranges from 2kw to 4kw. What is the start up SURGE for the AC unit ? Many tiny homes, by their portable nature, don’t have basements, where you can retreat if you need to cool off. The only option for solar powered air conditioning is to use an inverter … The other night I decided to conduct another experiment.  I got my house very cold by running the AC unit. The next step is to see how solar panels can power air conditioning. They just keep getting better and should be considered not just for tiny homes but multiple units for regular homes too. If that’s the case, by the end of the year, the solar panel system will give you a total output of 121kwh per sq. Then again, a mini-split sounds expensive, but foolproof, but no sense of accomplishment after experimentation. You can deposit as much power in the grid as you want, and many utility companies buy electricity at fair prices from homeowners. I’ll chime in here on the topic, because I have used mini split air conditioners (some with heat pump capabilities for the winter) for the 9 years that I lived in Mexico in the state of Sonora. As far as your “installation” issues go it’s a real bummer that CO’s do that. My 500 watt design would never make it. I’m hoping to supplement that with a generator when it’s so bad I can’t stand it. I was wondering how many 700 W solar panels it would take to run a household A/C unit. Unfortunately, we had a series of cloudy days, making it tough to get more energy.  While I’ve had plenty of power to run the AC overnight, the battery reserve is lower than I’d like.  To give you an idea: on a normal sunny day my solar panel power system makes about 8,000 Watts, but on a cloudy day (when the clouds are very thick with no gaps) I get between 2,000 and 4,000 Watts. Each solar panel needs sufficient space to get the maximum exposure to sunlight. If a single solar panel produces approximately 300 watts or more, you need about ten panels to take care of your energy needs. Inverter (2kw or 3kw). What is the draw on your on your Mini split AC . Besides, solar panels don’t pollute the environment while producing electricity. If I had to do things all over again I’d go with a Mitsubishi brand mini split over the Fujitsu, because they seem to be a bit more well-designed. Opening the windows at night goes a long way to help. Need a light? This is based on the fact that in most environemnts, solar panels can produce their full power for about 4 hours per day, on average. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In comparison, a normal solar panel system produces 2kW to 4kW of power, on average. Anyhow, we’ll help you simplify the problem. There are also the tin can solar heaters, which I’m trying first, but will only work in fall and spring here, I’m pretty sure, because of all our rain and clouds, and of course, the coil in the compost pile, which will take me a few years to try out. Since Air Conditioning units come in different sizes, their energy consumption varies. They want to stop paying them money and generate their own electricity. Then, I turned off the cool air at midnight (when I usually go to bed).  Outside it was about 65 degrees and about 45% humidity–so not bad.  I left all the windows closed to see how much my body heat would warm up the house. Average power consumption 350w. So how many of these panels would be needed to run a 1HP window AC? If a 330-watt (0.33kW) solar panel in full sunshine actively generates power for one hour, it will have generated 330 watt-hours or 0.33kWh of electricity. NO other split system comes close to Fujitsu’s cold temp performance regardless of “others” claims. The other big reason I choose this particular mini split air conditioning unit versus a standard window air conditioner was aesthetics.  My air handler is wall mounted, out of the way and above eye level.  This has a few advantages. We have put in various mini-splits over the years and people here think it’s some “magical NEW system”, yet they have been around for at least 30+ years. It made me realize I need to rethink heating for my tiny home to be. Max power draw 750w only for v short time. In our case, the air conditioner can run for about 4 to 5 hours, which is also an average run time for AC. Thats how I found mine. Heck, LINE UM’ UP! Hot and humid summers (25-40 C) Warm winters (15-30 C) When the solar panels generate more electricity than needed, with net metering it can either be stored into batteries or transferred to the utility grid, or the power distribution system. You cannot deny that Global Warming has forced all of us to use an air conditioning system to survive the summer. I notice my home temperature goes up several degrees when I take a bath in my 100 gallon trough/tub. I know the post is about the technical side of it but never the less I think readers should be aware that its not the most efficient way of doing it.