I HAVE A 110 VOLT REFRIGERATOR THAT I WOULD LIKE TO POWER WITH A SOLAR PANEL OR WIND GENERATOR.?

It is a full-size model made in 1995. I can not find the watts usage but it is 60 hz and 6.5 amps at full load. I need to know what size inverter, how many deep cell batteries, and how much 12 volt power I would need to put back into the batteries to keep them charged. Thank y’all.

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Comments (5)

#1 written by Don
about 2 years ago

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6.5 amps at 120 volts would be 780 watts. This isn’t a particularly efficient refrigerator, and you could probably cut this figure in half or better with a new “energy star” rated refrigerator. But that’s not what you asked.

I’d figure a 1000 watt inverter. How many batteries is more a function of how long you want them to power your refrigerator until either the “sun” or the “wind” comes back on – the more batteries, the longer this period can be. Every hour this refrigerator runs is going to use 65 amp-hours from a 12 volt battery bank. You can typically draw a battery down to about 1/2 of its amp-hours of capacity, so I’d be looking for about 130 amp hours of battery bank capacity for each hour of refrigerator-running time I’d be going without sun or wind.

One common off-grid battery is the Trojan L-16 batteries, they come in different sizes but I think the ones I use have an amp-hour capacity of 385 each, so each one of these batteries might run your refrigerator for about 3 hours. These batteries sell for about $250 (approx.) apiece, if that gives you an idea. That’s one reason I’d suggest swapping this refrigerator out for a more efficient one instead, that would be a small expense compared to what the rest of this equipment is going to cost you.
#2 written by ericscribener
about 2 years ago

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Your fridge uses 6.5 x 110 = 715 watts. (There’s a conversion example at the link I left.)

Your inverter should be at least 1,500 watts to ensure you have adequate for the surge of the motor.

How many batteries you use depends on the batteries you select. The more amp hours the batteries have, the fewer you’ll need.

Suffice it to say the batteries will need lots of charging time. We are off-grid on a 24-volt system, and the fridge and freezer really suck the batteries down fast. The solar panels or wind generator you select will require a charge controller – it will attend to the charging.

There’s more iinfo at:
http://mymilescity.com/how-to-solar-power/index.html
#3 written by James L
about 2 years ago

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#4 written by roderick_young
about 2 years ago

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Let me second that your lowest cost route is to buy a super-efficient refrigerator to be powered off solar, rather than get a larger solar array.

Also, if you run with batteries, bear in mind that you don’t want to drain them below 50% of charge (deep cycle), or 80% of charge (other batteries) for lead-acid batteries. So if your bank is 500 AH x 12V, you would think it’s 6000 wH (6 kWh), but in fact, you should only take 3, or maybe even less than 2. If you drain the batteries flat, they will provide the energy – once – then be ruined forever.
#5 written by Robin the energy saver
about 2 years ago

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Buy yourself a Kill A Watt meter or other home energy monitor and measure the fridge consumption for a full three days to get an average per day. That plus the number of hours of decent sunlight would tell you how many solar panels you might need.

When I priced solar panels two years ago we were going to pay about $10,000 for a 1kwh system that would, if everything went according to plan, produce about 3.5 kwh a day. A good standard energy efficient fridge uses about 1.5 kwh a day, one from 1995 somewhat more as they are much more efficient these days. On the other hand, if you buy a Sun Frost refrigerator, which is specifically designed for solar electric powered homes, you will spend considerably more on the fridge than on your 1995 model (which you don’t have to spend a cent on because you own it) but you will save big time on solar panels because the Sun Frost is so energy efficient.