ELLIES 1200W/2000VA inverter how to add a solar panel

[citizensa]

I bought an Ellies 1200w/2000VA inverter trolley ie a complete package with batteries and inverter. I want to use this as main source of power to run my house except hot plates, fridge and deep freezer.All my lights are led except 2 outside lights. Can I add solar panel to charge inverter if so what power and what the chances of succeeding in this. The system comes with 2 deep cycle 104AH 12V batteries.What options are available for me to achieve the goal.?

 

[X-Gamer]

I bought an Ellies 1200w/2000VA inverter trolley ie a complete package with batteries and inverter. I want to use this as main source of power to run my house except hot plates, fridge and deep freezer.All my lights are led except 2 outside lights. Can I add solar panel to charge inverter if so what power and what the chances of succeeding in this. The system comes with 2 deep cycle 104AH 12V batteries.What options are available for me to achieve the goal.?

Unfortunately, that's not enough to power a home.

 

[Messugga]

Unfortunately, that's not enough to power a home.

Yip. The geyser will kill it.

1200W unfortunately isn't a lot.

 

[agentrfr]

I do not know if that inverter is pure sine wave or modified sine wave - if it doesn't say "pure sine wave" then it isn't. You can use a modified sine wave inverter for resistive loads (lights, chargers and heaters), but not electronics (TVs and computers) or motors (fridges, air-cons). Please don't try running electronics or motors on a modified sine wave inverter, you'll just break them

You need an electrician to connect it to your DB properly. Do not do this yourself - you will burn down your house and insurance will laugh at you.

You can indeed charge the batteries using solar panels, but you will need to have some charge controllers help you out. The wattage of the panels depends entirely on how much electricity you use daily, however, as a guess I'd recommend the following:

104Ah*12V=1248 Wh * 0.2 (they're lead acid and you shouldnt use them more than 20% DOC) =~ 250 Wh per battery = 500Wh total, which means that you should get away with a small 100W solar panel (500Wh/6h per day sunlight). That being said, 500Wh is a very small amount of electricity and I doubt that is terribly useful to you. You probably need waaaay more batteries. An average person uses about 220 kWh of electricity a month, or 7.33 kWh/day - so as a baseline I'd guestimate you need at least 7.33kWh of usable energy stored daily.

This means you need about 1.25 kW in solar panels (that work 6 hours a day more or less) and at least five(5) 104Ah batteries total.

 

[citizensa]

Yip. The geyser will kill it.

1200W unfortunately isn't a lot.

Ok but I use a solar geyser and I'm not going to use kettle or hot plate fridge or microwave on it. What I'm trying is to run my lights and tv and some plugs to charge phones or music system on it daily so that I can save some electricity

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

I do not know if that inverter is pure sine wave or modified sine wave - if it doesn't say "pure sine wave" then it isn't. You can use a modified sine wave inverter for resistive loads (lights, chargers and heaters), but not electronics (TVs and computers) or motors (fridges, air-cons). Please don't try running electronics or motors on a modified sine wave inverter, you'll just break them

Agreed on motors but electronics run fine on modified sine, been doing it for years.

 

[citizensa]

I do not know if that inverter is pure sine wave or modified sine wave - if it doesn't say "pure sine wave" then it isn't. You can use a modified sine wave inverter for resistive loads (lights, chargers and heaters), but not electronics (TVs and computers) or motors (fridges, air-cons). Please don't try running electronics or motors on a modified sine wave inverter, you'll just break them

You need an electrician to connect it to your DB properly. Do not do this yourself - you will burn down your house and insurance will laugh at you.

You can indeed charge the batteries using solar panels, but you will need to have some charge controllers help you out. The wattage of the panels depends entirely on how much electricity you use daily, however, as a guess I'd recommend the following:

104Ah*12V=1248 Wh * 0.2 (they're lead acid and you shouldnt use them more than 20% DOC) =~ 250 Wh per battery = 500Wh total, which means that you should get away with a small 100W solar panel (500Wh/6h per day sunlight). That being said, 500Wh is a very small amount of electricity and I doubt that is terribly useful to you. You probably need waaaay more batteries. An average person uses about 220 kWh of electricity a month, or 7.33 kWh/day - so as a baseline I'd guestimate you need at least 7.33kWh of usable energy stored daily.

This means you need about 1.25 kW in solar panels (that work 6 hours a day more or less) and at least five(5) 104Ah batteries total.

Thanks for the details I understand that it's not a lot of power but I would like to run my tv (55" smart uhd led) and LED lights and small appliances on it , nothing heavy like hot plate or iron box or microwave, freezer, fridge etc. What you think can be operated within this power limit in terms on appliances and how much solar panel needed to charge these batteries (2 supplied) and use daily

 

[Lupus]

Ok but I use a solar geyser and I'm not going to use kettle or hot plate fridge or microwave on it. What I'm trying is to run my lights and tv and some plugs to charge phones or music system on it daily so that I can save some electricity

You're not going to be saving any money with that setup, you've already probably spent about R6000 to R10 000 for the inverter and batteries, than you're looking at solar panels + a regulator which will add another R6000 to the bill. Which means you're initial outlay is probably 2 years worth of electricity and batteries can only take a certain amount of charges before they go kaputski and with a 55" TV already using 100+watts you're going to be discharging the batteries and charging them a lot so you'd need to replace your batteries sooner.
I use my inverter and batteries only when we have no power, which lately has been quite a lot and with two 98ah and a 1440 inverter we can get maybe 6 hours out of it using a TV and a decoder.

 

[citizensa]

You're not going to be saving any money with that setup, you've already probably spent about R6000 to R10 000 for the inverter and batteries, than you're looking at solar panels + a regulator which will add another R6000 to the bill. Which means you're initial outlay is probably 2 years worth of electricity and batteries can only take a certain amount of charges before they go kaputski and with a 55" TV already using 100+watts you're going to be discharging the batteries and charging them a lot so you'd need to replace your batteries sooner.
I use my inverter and batteries only when we have no power, which lately has been quite a lot and with two 98ah and a 1440 inverter we can get maybe 6 hours out of it using a TV and a decoder.

That's gonna be very sad I hoped to save at least some monies

 

[TheChamp]

That's gonna be very sad I hoped to save at least some monies

Your electronics are the lowest consuming appliances in the house so whatever you save will be very little but at least you will have power for your TV and lights in the event of a power failure, it makes you feel like a BOSS when your neighbours are in the dark and you relaxing watching you favourite shows.

 

[Lupus]

Your electronics are the lowest consuming appliances in the house so whatever you save will be very little but at least you will have power for your TV and light in the event of a power failure, it makes you feel like a BOSS when your neighbours are in the dark and you relaxing watching you favourite shows.

This . The big wasters of electricity are your geysers, stoves, heaters, air conditioners, tumble dryers and basically anything that cools or heats .

 

[The_Traveller]

There's a built in charger , so until you get that disabled, you're stuck ( I think ) .

 

[TheChamp]

There's a built in charger , so until you get that disabled, you're stuck ( I think ) .

The batteries are easily accessible, you just need some kind of switch to select between the internal charging circuit and your external charging source.

 

[citizensa]

The batteries are easily accessible, you just need some kind of switch to select between the internal charging circuit and your external charging source.

Hope I will be able to do it with the help of an electrician . What's your suggestions about the cheapest panel watt to charge this batteries?

 

[Lupus]

Hope I will be able to do it with the help of an electrician . What's your suggestions about the cheapest panel watt to charge this batteries?

Just remember you are going to end up costing yourself more than you think and won't be fully off the grid.

 

[TheChamp]

Hope I will be able to do it with the help of an electrician . What's your suggestions about the cheapest panel watt to charge this batteries?

check http://www.sustainable.co.za

I think that particular inverter is a 24 v inverter so you will at a minimum need two panels rated at 12v, 100W min connected in series and a charge controller.

I am not a solar expert so that website might be very helpful with expert advice on what you will need. You don't have to go for anything expensive as yours is a basic setup.

 

[Lupus]

check http://www.sustainable.co.za

I think that particular inverter is a 24 v inverter so you will at a minimum need two panels rated at 12v, 100W min connected in series and a charge controller.

I am not a solar expert so that website might be very helpful with expert advice on what you will need. You don't have to go for anything expensive as yours is a basic setup.

A 100W would be a bit small, that would only charge his batteries about 6 or 7 amps an hour, he'd maybe have to look at 200w maybe.

 

[citizensa]

check http://www.sustainable.co.za

I think that particular inverter is a 24 v inverter so you will at a minimum need two panels rated at 12v, 100W min connected in series and a charge controller.

I am not a solar expert so that website might be very helpful with expert advice on what you will need. You don't have to go for anything expensive as yours is a basic setup.

Yes it has 2 batteries of 12V 104Ah and I'm looking for not to go off grid I am sure I can't afford it any time soon but just to use this batteries and inverter for what it can power up. That's where I'm getting confused in terms of how many appliances can be connected to this set up and what wattage solar panels required to charge this 2 batteries efficiently in SA conditions.Thanks

 

[Lupus]

Yes it has 2 batteries of 12V 104Ah and I'm looking for not to go off grid I am sure I can't afford it any time soon but just to use this batteries and inverter for what it can power up. That's where I'm getting confused in terms of how many appliances can be connected to this set up and what wattage solar panels required to charge this 2 batteries efficiently in SA conditions.Thanks

Okay so you've got them setup in parallel, which means you are getting 24v but still 104Ah. Which means you only ever want them to get to around 52Ah remaining on the battery. So you'd be able to use about 1248watts (Ah*v) that's you're total wattage you'd need to bring the battery to 50% which is the recommended drain.
That would mean if you were powering a TV and a decoder you'd probably get 6 to 7 hours (150watts +-). So if you drain it to 50% you'd need to charge back 1248watts during the day, so you'd need a 200W+ solar panel to replace that in about 8 hours or so.

 

[citizensa]

Okay so you've got them setup in parallel, which means you are getting 24v but still 104Ah. Which means you only ever want them to get to around 52Ah remaining on the battery. So you'd be able to use about 1248watts (Ah*v) that's you're total wattage you'd need to bring the battery to 50% which is the recommended drain.
That would mean if you were powering a TV and a decoder you'd probably get 6 to 7 hours (150watts +-). So if you drain it to 50% you'd need to charge back 1248watts during the day, so you'd need a 200W+ solar panel to replace that in about 8 hours or so.

Thanks for the useful tips, much appreciate it