I'm looking for advice on portable solar options since I live in the Caribbean and rent my home. Most places I've been in have both 220V and 110V power supply. I want a system that can power just one inverter-style AC unit to help reduce my electricity bill. I prefer something that's not permanently installed and can stay under $1000 USD. Any recommendations or insights on what I should consider?
3 Answers
Check out the Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus—it provides a peak of 6kW, which should be suitable for your AC. Just remember, you'll need to figure out how many solar panels and batteries to pair with it. If you're looking at a 300W draw, you might manage with 2 batteries and 1kW of solar, but closer to 500W would mean needing 4 batteries and around 1.4kW of panels. It's definitely worth doing the math to see if it saves money in the long run.
For a portable option, consider a big solar generator like the Jackery 5k, which has 220V outlets. If you don't need the 220V, a setup with a couple of 48V batteries and a 48V inverter could be easier to transport—just make sure you can set up and take down the solar panels when you need to.
To power an AC unit, you'd need a solid inverter and enough batteries to handle the initial surge when it starts up. If you can connect to the grid, that could help with the startup power requirements. How many solar panels you need would depend on your setup.