How many watts per hour does this unit use? Will you tell me... How many watts per hour does this unit draw?How well will this unit perform with an 80 watt solar panel on our RV and 1~ 12volt deep cycle battery? and what about with a 160watt solar panel with 2~ 6volt Golf cart batteries? Please elaborate on power usage and requirements using solar. How many watts per hour does this unit use? Will you tell me... How many watts per hour does this unit draw?How well will this unit perform with an 80 watt solar panel on our RV and 1~ 12volt... » Read More How many watts per hour does this unit use? Will you tell me... How many watts per hour does this unit draw?How well will this unit perform with an 80 watt solar panel on our RV and 1~ 12volt deep cycle battery? and what about with a 160watt solar panel with 2~ 6volt Golf cart batteries? Please elaborate on power usage and requirements using solar. « Show Less
293658
From the manufacturer's website:Voltage power AC (110V - 1A) or DC (12V - 2.75A Car Lighter Socket)
703998
Inverter choosing is not only a money matter, it's also about consumption, and potential growth. You 95 watts solar X 5hr, is what we use on an average day harvest. Might run one tv for five or six hours. You loosing the solar charging war. your banking 2760 watts 1380 @ 50 percent harvesting 475 watt and when in full rv use you'll use a lot more than you harvest. Why not just but a couple cigarette lighter 150w or 300w inverters?
1157682
If you plan to use this with an inverter attached to the solar charge controller, the amount of current being drawn from the battery is dependent on the solar charger and the inverter. the solar charge cotroller i use does not allow for more than 20 to 25 amps (300 ac watts). If you run the inverter directly off of the battery, you can use larger wattage inverters. The simplest way to use these panels is to hook them to the solar charge controller and hook the batteries up to the charge controller. Then hook the inverter of your choice up to the batteries. I use a 2000w samlex sine wave inverter. This covers refrigeration and recharging sensitive products. If you plan on running these to your electrical panel, you need an electrician to figure that out. I used these panels for my solar generator project. They worked great. The 2 panels combined give you about 10 DC amps of continuous power (about 120 watts of continous power). Without getting technical, It would take about 8-10 hours to charge a 100 amp hr deep cycle battery. How long that battery lasts depends on how much power you draw. Definitely can't run central Air conditioner with 120V. You can run a fan, lights, refrigeration. Your limitation will be the alternate current 120V inverter and the max continous wattage.
921246
Hey race walker, just about anywhere. I installed my panels on a motorhome that has been using two 12 volt 200 amp hr deep cycle batteries wired in parallel without solar. For the last 6 years I have used two GC-2 240 amp hr 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series. I have always used this rule, get the newest, heaviest batteries that you can afford. In my case I have been served best by 6 volts golf cart batteries in series since my system is 12volts. Hope this helps
458390
It's a combination of solar panel size and the inverters self-contained in the Sentinel unit. The unit can accept 12v at 16amps from solar panels, so the recommended solar panel wattage is at total of 100-120 watts. That amount of power will charge the unit from completely depleted to 100% in approximately 8 hours.
275064
I purchased two of these units in August. They did not come with solar panels, which the manufacturer said should have happened. I ordered, from a different source, the 130 watt solar panels at about $750-850 each, since I want the maximum available power. The unit did not work. In December, Nature Power finally put me in contact with the manufacturer of the unit . I have been working with a gentleman there since then. Currently, in mid-January, he is sending the 80 watt solar panel that should have been provided. Hopefully this will give me a working unit. In the meantime, I want the maximum power storage to run lights in my greenhouse. I bought the battery connector to add storage batteries and paid $100 for each. I haven't used them yet since we can't make the unit work. These batteries are external additions and are very expensive marine batteries. I recommend that you call the 800 number for Nature Power and if they don't give you a direct answer, ask to be put in contact with the manufacturer. I think that you should be able to add another battery or two IF you have the solar panels to support it. There is a maximum, but you must have an expert figure it out. I think that the Nature Power people on the phone are salesmen, not experts on the details of the product. I still think that it is a great concept. And by the way, the Nature Power solar pathway lights are second to none. They are the very best! But I am frustrated with this 1800 watt power kit. Martha
874637
Not too smart, but here goes. Minimal power is consumed during standby. The unit operates on 1 or 2 AA batteries. Can't remember which. The power consumption of 12 volts is determined by the load size. Small load minimal draw. Large load big draw down. I am using mine on 60 watt aerators. They run 5 hours during the day and 8 hours at night. They are powered by 2 100ah batteries on each unit. They charging is done with 150 watts of solar panels. Batteries stay charged and the aerators run when scheduled. Sorry for the long answer that really says nothing.
779404
That is going to depend on how discharged the batteries get each night. To give you an idea of what to expect, I have a 1600 ah battery bank and 6 panels. They are able to fully charge the batteries each day as long as it is sunny. They produce around 30 amps for about 5 hours mid day in February. With 2 panels I would expect 10 amps. I am in northern Nevada, farther south you should get more sun/power.
194277
If I had it to do all over again I would probably buy something better. Batt is probably 1600 and the solar panel puts out 1.5 watts per hour. Took 2 weeks for solar panel to charge internal batt in the window sill, direct sunlight in summertime.
2231190
This solar panel will charge any 12 volt battery. What you need to determine is the amp hour rating of the battery to power this item. You would also need an inverter to convert DC power to AC power. If, for example you used a 108 amp hour capacity battery, you could run this item for nearly 7 hour before the battery voltage would drop and cut off the inverter. You could use two batteries and connect them in parallel to double the amp hours to 216. The preferred battery of choice would be absorbed glass mat batteries for solar applications due to their ability to withstand deep discharge and recharge cycles.
962976
This is only 68 watts so the max you can get out of it is 68 watt-hours. IRL you will probably only get half of that and you will also lose some in the DC to AC conversion, charge controller and storage battery. I would guess you will probably only get 30 watt-hours so if the sun is shining on it brightly for 10 hours, you will get about 300 watt-hours a day. If it is cloudy out you will only get about 1 tenth of that. I would also guess that the electric company pays about 10 cents a KWH so with this along with a good charge controller, battery, DC to AC inverter and the special interface to the electric company you can expect to earn about 3 cents a day. Enjoy!
1283052
145watts *2 panels is 290watts --- 290watts / 12volts = 24.16amps under max sunlight and optimal conditions. Youll need to use 2 charge controllers or one that can handle 48.34amp. 2 charge controllers will work together to get the batteries charged. I currently am useing 3 with my 840watts and get about 70amps to charge 9 115amp/hr batteries.
243759
I used this panel to keep the batteries charged for my gate opener. If you use this make sure you cover it to block the sun until after everything is connected. IE: Load controller and the load, batteries also if you are charging them. This panel puts out around 28V so it will fry anything that is not going through the controller. I charged to motorcycle size batteries, 24V kept them charged. Am going to use it now to keep the batteries charged on my Quads, I will reset the charge controller to use 12V instead of 24V Great little trickle charger and it will maintain your battery, Not meant to recharge the battery just maintenance. I used this panel to keep the batteries charged for my gate opener. If you use this make sure you cover it to block the sun until after everything is connected. IE: Load controller and the load, batteries also if you are charging them. This panel puts out around 28V so it will fry anything that is not going through the controller. I charged to motorcycle size batteries, 24V kept them charged. Am going to use it now to keep the batteries charged on my Quads, I will reset the charge controller to use 12V instead of 24V Great little trickle charger and it will maintain your battery, Not meant... » Read More I used this panel to keep the batteries charged for my gate opener. If you use this make sure you cover it to block the sun until after everything is connected. IE: Load controller and the load, batteries also if you are charging them. This panel puts out around 28V so it will fry anything that is not going through the controller. I charged to motorcycle size batteries, 24V kept them charged. Am going to use it now to keep the batteries charged on my Quads, I will reset the charge controller to use 12V instead of 24V Great little trickle charger and it will maintain your battery, Not meant to recharge the battery just maintenance. « Show Less
748143
This is primarily a 12vdc device. You would need to set up batteries with an inverter to run your AC operated devices, and you will most likley need two or three panels to keep up with the demand. The batteries would need to be enough to run your heat lights all night I am guessing. Knowing (calculating) what your power demand is will be key to proper setup. That will tell you the number and capacity of batteries/inverter you will need and the charging demand you will need taking into account cloudy overcast skies (winter weather, etc..) when a solar panel is not as efficient.
1687746
The unit has a UL label on the bottom that says 1500 watts. I doubt if it actually uses quite that much power. I don't have a clamp on amp meter and decline to build a rig to measure the voltage and current while it is in use. You could measure the amount of water, the temperature change and calculate the power required presuming perfect efficiency. All of that I decline to do as well. Sorry all I got is the 1500 watts.If you are worried about current draw on a given circuit I expect that this thing will draw around 12 to 13 amps. That is a guess not a professional opinion. I retired and put my license on inactive. The unit has a UL label on the bottom that says 1500 watts. I doubt if it actually uses quite that much power. I don't have a clamp on amp meter and decline to build a rig to measure the voltage and current while it is in use. You could measure the amount of water, the temperature change and calculate the power required presuming perfect efficiency. All of that I decline to do as well. Sorry all I got is the 1500 watts.If you are worried about current draw on a given circuit I expect that this thing will draw around 12 to 13 amps. That is a guess not a professional opinion. I... » Read More The unit has a UL label on the bottom that says 1500 watts. I doubt if it actually uses quite that much power. I don't have a clamp on amp meter and decline to build a rig to measure the voltage and current while it is in use. You could measure the amount of water, the temperature change and calculate the power required presuming perfect efficiency. All of that I decline to do as well. Sorry all I got is the 1500 watts.If you are worried about current draw on a given circuit I expect that this thing will draw around 12 to 13 amps. That is a guess not a professional opinion. I retired and put my license on inactive. « Show Less
1680018
Doing a quick conversion, but realizing the two (watts and BTU's) measure in different time-forms, ONE 8000 BTU AC unit consumes 2344 Watts. TWO of those units (running at the same time,) puts you at 4689 watts, which is well beyond this unit's capability. Research the WATTAGE or AMPS consumed by each AC unit and you'll get a closer comparison, (those figures should be marked on the AC unit somewhere,) but I still think running the two at the same time will not work with this generator. Running this unit at full load, (3500 watts continuous) might get you 8-9 hours, but I've not seen any figures to support this. Most figures are given at 1/2 load. You may need to look at a larger generator unit if the AC's are the primary consumer....
235287
In practice it's more like 6 amps, but at room temperature mine runs less than 20% of the time. Of course the lower the temperature it's set at and/or the higher the ambient temperature is the more it runs. I fear there is no one size fits all scenarios answer to this question. Also in practice, I had no trouble running two of these in the upper 90's (daytime, of course) on about 800 watts of solar panels.