Air conditioning while running on home solar and batteries

LCBXX said:
Off course it would be if the inverter and connected batteries are specced correctly. Then you can start all your A/Cs, the pool pump and 2 electric kettles at exactly the same time without issue.
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I just used your example except I have 400Ah, but it worked equally well on 300Ah too...while the geyser is on.

But yes it's very unlikely they will all kick on at the same time.

I would not risk it on a 5kW though.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yes but the point is that doesn't mean it will use 2,4kW in an hour as it won't be on the entire hour.

The inverter will be on 24/7 and never turn off but just at a lower wattage.

So depending on the variables a non-inverter could cool a small room rather quickly and then turn off and use very little power.

A badly sizes inverter unit might very well have the opposite effect of using more power as it never reaches temp.
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I agree, that is the error in the article, where it assumes that the start-up draw is the continuous draw.
 
SauRoNZA said:
I just used your example except I have 400Ah, but it worked equally well on 300Ah too...while the geyser is on.

But yes it's very unlikely they will all kick on at the same time.

I would not risk it on a 5kW though.
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Good Lord; what do you need 19kW battery storage for?! That's some abundance!
 
LCBXX said:
Good Lord; what do you need 19kW battery storage for?! That's some abundance!
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Dude if I do it again I'd put 40kWh in. And probably will do exactly that when these die off in 10 years.

In fairness it's not really 19kWh because they shutoff at 15% so more like16kWh.

I had 3 x 4.8kWh units and was just losing so much generation that I got another one and now it's put me basically off grid.

If I was willing to compromise and run aircons and things less I'd probably never pay Eskom anything, as it stands I still source about 15% a month from them.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Dude if I do it again I'd put 40kWh in.

In fairness it's not really 19kWh because they shutoff at 15% so more like16kWh.

I had 3 x 4.8kWh units and was just losing so much generation that I got another one and now it's put me basically off grid.

If I was willing to compromise and run aircons and things less I'd probably never pay Eskom anything, as it stands I still source about 15% a month from them.
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Yoh, that's lekke!
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yeah that's a good point the "click" from the compressor as it turns on and off does tend to disturb me if the timing is such that I was just about to fall asleep.

Like I said though when they start giving problems I'll probably replace rather than repair, or like you say consider moving it to another room and replacing my own.
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Maybe the confusion with power consumption over time is between heat pump type aircons and inverter type aircons? Maybe the heat pump type uses less energy over time compared to the inverter/non-inverter compressor types?
 
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LCBXX said:
Isn't that the principle of any non-inverter, constant speed compressor? It it needs 1200w when running, it will use 1200w until it stops, needing minimum 2400w to start itself again.
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for 0.1 seconds.
 
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SauRoNZA said:
Yeah that's a good point the "click" from the compressor as it turns on and off does tend to disturb me if the timing is such that I was just about to fall asleep.

Like I said though when they start giving problems I'll probably replace rather than repair, or like you say consider moving it to another room and replacing my own.
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The click doesn't disturb me as much as the compressor drone itself. Huuuuuge diffs with the inverter.
 
I was thinking about going off grid dependence but can't decide between upping batteries+panels so my inverter can run the AC's and oven/stove without Eskom or throwing out the (new and expensive) stove and oven and getting gas in and then connecting everything else up to the inverter. Although I have 3 large and rather hungry geysers...
 
LCBXX said:
Good Lord; what do you need 19kW battery storage for?! That's some abundance!
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Have the same, because everything is on essentials. Can run the geyser and aircons at whatever time of the day, irrespective of what Eskom is doing. Also helps during extended outages.

The storage helps, but the power output of 9.6 kW helps more. If there's a trip during an outage then it's because of hitting the inverter limit rather than the battery limit...
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yeah that's a good point the "click" from the compressor as it turns on and off does tend to disturb me if the timing is such that I was just about to fall asleep.

Like I said though when they start giving problems I'll probably replace rather than repair, or like you say consider moving it to another room and replacing my own.
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nothing puts me to sleep like the drone of motor/compressor. i can be out like a light with that sound lol. Click and all..
 
LCBXX said:
Good Lord; what do you need 19kW battery storage for?! That's some abundance!
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It's a good sweet spot for being powered over a week long eskom outage.
You don't have to think too much about where it's coming from provided you have enough solar to bump the battery up.
 
neoprema said:
I was thinking about going off grid dependence but can't decide between upping batteries+panels so my inverter can run the AC's and oven/stove without Eskom or throwing out the (new and expensive) stove and oven and getting gas in and then connecting everything else up to the inverter. Although I have 3 large and rather hungry geysers...
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Stick to leccy. You never know when the next gas shortage will be. Also, gas stoves are crap in a slight breeze and hard to slow cook imho.
 
lkpat said:
Cooking on lekky at night when there's grey skies for the next week can be daunting on most home setups. Especially when you have 3 hungry geysers as well.
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Sure, but this is @neoprema we are talking about here. I have a gas stove and I hate it. Have to close the kitchen door and windows before use.
 
wingnut771 said:
Maybe the confusion with power consumption over time is between heat pump type aircons and inverter type aircons? Maybe the heat pump type uses less energy over time compared to the inverter/non-inverter compressor types?
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That would only apply in winter though?

I seem recall all of mine are heat pump units so I don't have much to compare.
 
neoprema said:
I was thinking about going off grid dependence but can't decide between upping batteries+panels so my inverter can run the AC's and oven/stove without Eskom or throwing out the (new and expensive) stove and oven and getting gas in and then connecting everything else up to the inverter. Although I have 3 large and rather hungry geysers...
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**** gas.
 
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