What all I need for solar

[danabeall]

I will be using a dorm 110 fridge. And I rest of the appliances I use will be 12 volt cooking and maybe used twice a day. once in the morning and the other in the evening. Would 200 watt solar system with 2 agm batteries be enough? I know I would need an inverter as well. I am not techy so how much do you think it would cost to have someone hook this up for me? Thank you so much for any help. Love this site!!!

 

[Wabbit]

Solar panels --- charge controller --- battery bank --- inverter

Also wiring and some optionals might be very handy, like a battery monitor.

However, using a dorm fridge might not be a great option. Seems like it would use more power than other 12v fridge options. Also if it's bumped around much with driving and what not, usually those kind of fridges don't do to well with that.

FYI, i have no real world experience with a dorm fridge on solar, just what I have read/heard in my own research into the issue.

 

[jimindenver]

What do you need? You need to know your needs. How much power do you expect to use daily. How many days do you want to be able to do that when the solar doesn't provide due to bad conditions? That is the size your battery bank needs to be. Once you know how big of a bank you need, you will know how much solar it takes to feed the batteries in the conditions you are in.

I know of people using full sized fridges and dorm sized off of solar. They have big banks to keep things going in the bad times and a generator to charge them up when the weather doesn't cooperate. There are more efficient 12v options but they are more expensive than a regular fridge.

 

[akrvbob]

200 watts and 2 batteries meets all my needs including a 12 volt compressor fridge. I think the dorm fridge will draw much more but how much I don't know.

For simplicities sake you have two cheap and easy choices:

Here is a 200 watt kit with most of what you need for $309
http://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Solar-Panel-Bundle-200Watt/dp/B00B8L8MD2/

Here is a 100 watt kit with everything you need, and no installation. It's a suitcase kit and you just open it up and clip it to the battery, but it's more expensive for the convience $245 for one and you'll need two:
http://www.amazon.com/RENOGY®-Foldable-Suitcase-Without-Controller/dp/B00LXG4AXS/

If you have to pay someone to install it, it might end up cheaper.
Bob

 

[SternWake]

A Small dorm fridge will use 50 to 100% more electricity than a 12v compressor fridge of the same size, and require an inverter likely in the 1250 watt range to handle the start up surge of the compressor.

Depending on batteries, to power 12v appliances for regular daily cooking, is not wise.  Heating anything uses a lot of electricity, and while batteries might be big and heavy and expensive, they just do not store much electricity.

Even with 200 watts of solar, your batteries are going to live in the very low state of charge, and far too soon they will not be able to power your fridge.  The batteries will lose capacity quickly, and even after you find somewhere to plug in to recharge, they will exhibit this lost capacity from their abuse of being discharged and kept discharged while trying to power your 12v cooking appliances as well as your inefficient dorm fridge.

People with large battery banks and lots of solar and generators to recharge and to power larger loads, can get away with dorm fridges, or even full size residential fridges.

We all understand that dorm fridges can be picked up cheaply.  Most who do so, do not realize the need for a larger inverter to power it, more battery to power the inverter, and more solar and other charging sources to replace the extra juice required to power the inefficient dorm fridge.

All that money initially saved by going with a cheap dorm style residential fridge, quickly gets eaten up by the bigger battery bank, the extra solar required, and other means to recharge( generator and plug in charger) that will be required to power just the fridge by battery alone. Once you  Fall well short, add in the price of another set of batteries that you killed by chronic undercharging and overdischarging.

Once you throw in all the other things you will ask from your batteries, they are simply doomed, and you are doomed to frustration, and you will eventually come to realize the 120 dollars you spent on a dorm fridge was better spent toward a 12v compressor fridge, and that energy contained in one small green bottle of propane is about 20 or 30 AGM batteries worth. Though I have not done the math on that number, and won't, so don't quote me on that figure.

And yes we all understand the fear of cooking  via burning hydrocarbons in an enclosed area.  We are all aware of the risks.  We take precautions and are still alive.  

Cook with propane or butane, allow for forced air ventilation when doing so,  get a 12v compressor fridge, and then 200AH of AGM and 200+ watts of solar will allow your batteries to live a respectable lifespan, and for you to live in this manner where you do not have to stress out about "do I have enough battery to cook with, and power my fridge?  What if I don't and 60$ worth of groceries go bad?  What if I get sick from eating spoiled food?

Hearing a low voltage alarm on the inverter at 3 in the morning, will make you wish you did it right the first time, and 'doing it right' and 'dorm fridge' are never spoken in the same sentence, Unless you will always be able to plug into the grid overnight, every night.

 

[highdesertranger]

I totally agree with stern. when I tried to get off the ice dependency, I first tried rv refers although I didn't need ice every couple of days I needed propane once a week and the refers only worked marginally. so I tried the dorm refer. no good needed to much power I had 160 watts solar and 2 marine batteries. it would kill the batts in a couple of days. mind you this was with temps in the mid 90's. so I tried a 12v, I was hesitant having tried the solid state 12v coolers years before and was disappointed. boy I wish I would have tried the 12v refers right off the bat would have saved a ton of money. no heat exchangers, no rv refers, no dorm refers. from my experience ditch the dorm fridge and go with a 12v compressor refer, I run two 12v refers off the same 160 watts of solar and 2 marine batts with plenty of left over power. highdesertranger