how big a solar panel needed to run small onboard freezer (1 Viewer)

Welsh girl

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How big does a solar panel have to be in watts to power a small onboard seperate freezer , I want one fitted to a new motorhome. we are picking up a new motorhome from a dealer and they said they could fit a solar panel to run a freezer I want fitted as the model I chose doesnt have one, the fittings are already there I was told.
 

Spacerunner

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Its normal practice for the solar panel to charge the leisure battery(s) and the batteries to supply your 12 volt items with the necessary power.

So you will need a decent amount of battery amp hours in the first place and lots of sun to fire up the solar panel!
 

johnsandywhite

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How big does a solar panel have to be in watts to power a small onboard seperate freezer , I want one fitted to a new motorhome. we are picking up a new motorhome from a dealer and they said they could fit a solar panel to run a freezer I want fitted as the model I chose doesnt have one, the fittings are already there I was told.

:Smile: It is NOT so much the size of Solar power as much as a joint Solar Panel + Battery bank. You would need to know the wattage used by the Freezer and then find out how many batteries you require to run it and then calculate the size of Solar Panels to charge the battery bank. :thumb:

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scotjimland

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Hi

Perfectly feasible with a proper set up, I was looking to do this with a 12v compressor fridge, but more information required, do you know the power requirements or have a make and model number of the freezer ?
 

gazz

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i have a 12 volt compressor fridge freezer, it pulls 80 amp hours in a 24 hour period, (9 amps for about 20 minutes every 40 or so mins... i measured the AH with my solar panels AH counter with just the fridge freezer connected to it)

i have 696 amp hours worth of batteries, and we can struggle a little after 3 days of bad weather, but we do have other electrical loads, laptop on charge pulls on average 5 amps (i've just got a netbook that pulls 2 amps max so should last longer)

my solar array is 373 watts, i see upto 25 amps on the display in full sun, but last summer in scotland, i saw an average of 5 or 6 amps, that's cos up in scotland the weather was awfull for the 2 months i was up there,
i wore my cheapo 2 stroke genny out (it threw the rod thru the crankcase when the big end bearing let go) and had to buy a new un (this time a 4 stroke inverter one) as i just couldent survive on solar up there.

Don't get me wrong, i'm a great fan of solar panels, but sometimes people expect too much of them, dosent help when salesmen offer them as the solution to all your electrical needs, you need to do a lot of calculations to see if they will do what you want, and you will always find out you need more panels than you think.... unless you live in somewhere sunny all the time like spain.
 

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