How many panels are needed to run a four bedroom house?
1168390
You would not use the Thunderbolt Solar kit to run a 4 bedroom house. That is a serious investment in no less than 12 panels, a good sine wave converter, and a 24 volt forklift battery pack at the least. This kit is suitable to keep 1 or 2 RV 12 volt batterys charged for use with an 800 to 2000 watt converter.
1168391
Go get your past electric bill. Your bill will tell you how many kilowatt hours you use on average. Then take that to divide by the watts of the solar panel. There is usually 5 peak hours a day of sunlight. Then add 1 or 2 more panels just to be on the safe side.
1591681
Hello, Since this unit is 50 watt you can use at least a 5-10 amp controller. If you want to add more panels in the future you may want to consider a 30A controller. Other than the panel you also need cables to run from panel to controller and cables to run from controller to a battery/set of batteries. Let us know if we can help with anything else. Regards, AW
159173
I currently have a small system (4-250 watt panels and a battery bank of 20-12 volt batteries), which I use primarily for back-up in case of a power outage. My recommendations are: first, consider how you are going to use the system: total energy supply with the grid (i.e. power company) as a back-up; operate some of your house on solar, with any excess being fed into the grid; back-up in case of power outages. You also need a clear view of the southern sky, since the sun is always to the south in the U.S. Panels mounted on the roof of the house require a licensed contractor, and only the part of the roof that faces south is suitable. Where you live is also important. Solar does not work well on cloudy days and in the winter when the days are short and the sun is low on the horizon. This is especially true in northern climates. Cooling is very difficult, since air conditioners/heat pumps typically run on 220 volt/2 phase electric power, which is hard to produce with solar power. I suggest you find and consult with a qualified solar installer. Typically you need the solar panels, a large battery bank to store the electricity produced by the panels, inverters, which convert the DC to AC for use in the house, plus the appropriate wiring into the house circuits, etc.
2079607
I think it really depends on several factors. Are you going with 12V system or 24V system. I am using the solar panel for 12v system on my RV in remote areas and have an inverter to run few 110v devices. Typically I get 10 amps during the day in the summer and less in the winter months. You can get more with better controller. With 4 storage batteries it is adequate. If I was in a cabin I would try to maximize on power capable on this panel and build a 24v system and use an inverter to supply 110v for in the cabin. With 24v system, because this panel output is 37v you get more power. It also depends on what appliances you have in mind. In general you really can't run any appliances that use lot of power like large fans for long. But you learn to convert everything to low energy use devices. I have converted all the lights to LEDs. Prior to conversion regular lights would drain the batteries in hours. But with LEDs it takes weeks. I think with enough storage batteries one panel is adequate, but if you spend lot of time in the cabin in the winter months, I would install 2 or more. In general this large 37v panel is better buy than several 18v panels. Hope that helps.
1283053
31.666 amps is where you are with your 4 panels. I agree with AT... You need a larger charge controller or research using multiple controllers.
159171
what little I do now is that heating is the most demanding and you would need multiple of these not sure how many.In addition there is battery load to consider you see your panels are only as good as were you are storing the excess solar energy & that means batteries and plenty of them!Hope my answer is helpful to you I will say building a small system for myself forced me to learn more about solar.
1296118
Yes. You will need one a least. Six or eight is not out of the question either because, this will give you more electricity into the evening hours.
662815
Not sure I remember, but more than you'll probably need over a period of years. If you need more, you probably should buy new panels.
752589
I used it on 4 100 watt panels and it worked fine. I did replace it with a MPPT controller because I got up to 30% more from the MPPT controller.
2197000
3 batteries should do it, but to be safe 4.600 watts of panels to be safe. In theory you should need 2, but real world use is what im going by.
1263493
If you are planning to run lights along all 4 walls, you will probably need 4 kits. In my kit, the power supply and control box were only rated for a 16' combined length of lights. The good news is that 1 remote can control all 4 control boxes at once if the sensors are placed near each other.
1440212
I purchased the six panel. Since I have an open concept kitchen I'll use 4 panels on one side of my island and 2 on the other to keep my dogs confined while I'm away. I sometimes use 4 panels rather than 6 to create a smaller pen. I love the having different options.
1155321
As long as you aren't putting power back on the grid no but if you do yes. One panel is good for a hot water heater. If you have the money to be approved you might as well go through your utility provider. Then buy more then you need.
2165901
20 amp minimum with the 2 panels connected in parallel at 12 volts. You can use a PWM or an MPPT controller. The panels don't care
2048354
I would get 2 of these kits for a total of 4 panels. My pool is 6500gals and one kit heats it perfect
1857262
yes, you can use 3 or 4. I am also just using three, but it's nice to have that extra panel in case I want to use it somewhere else.
1532432
Yes you can. Depending on how long you want to run them & the amount of wattage you will be pulling out of the battery pack you can figure out how many panels and batteries you will need.