I'm planning to set up a solar system for my RV that includes 10 100W 12V solar panels, a fridge, and 2-3 chest freezers I need to run overnight. Can anyone recommend the best charge controller for this setup and any tips for managing power consumption?
1 Answer
The energy consumption of freezers and fridges varies quite a bit, so it's tough to give a precise answer without knowing the wattage of your units. For instance, if two chest freezers use about 200W each and a fridge uses around 80W, you're looking at a total of approximately 480W per hour for both freezers and the fridge. If you want to run these overnight, you might need up to 9 KWh of battery capacity, which is significant — much more than what your 10 panels can provide in a day. You'd need at least 9 hours of full sunlight to recharge that! Keep in mind, though, that these numbers can vary based on the specifics of your appliances. Plus, a 1,000W inverter should be enough capacity to handle the load.
I think you overestimated the fridge and freezer usage. A typical chest freezer peaks at about 200W but doesn’t use that much constantly—maybe around 600Wh to 1500Wh daily, depending on the unit's efficiency.