AC is consider as an important appliance for home and offices in blazing heat of summers. Grid electricity is expensive enough that it can easily eat all of your savings. In this situation almost 75% -80% people asked me a single question and that is “How many solar panels are required for 1 ton and 1.5 ton AC?”.
As an solar energy expert, I know it is a common question in everybody’s mind. People are curious to know about the how big their solar panel system should be to support an air conditioner. Before Jumping into the answer there are few things that you must know before estimating the quantity of solar panels to run an AC.
Things you should know before running AC on solar panels
There are few important things that everybody should know before going to run an AC on solar energy. I will explain few check points briefly so that you don’t have to face any difficulty while shifting your AC load in to solar generated energy.
1. Check your AC input power
Every air conditioner takes a considerable amount of power when it runs. Normally, 1 Ton AC needs 1200W to 1500W and a 1.5 tons AC takes up to 1600W minimum to 2500W power to work. First thing you need to do is to check the wattage capacity of your AC.
It can be done by reading the label printed on AC unit or you can simply read it from user manual. Or if you are going to buy a new one then you must choose DC inverter because of it’s better compatibility with solar panels. After determining the input power, you may get a rough estimate of the quantity of solar panels you should use.
2. Note Down your Load
You have to list down the appliances that you are using at day time. If you have installed a small system then you must reduce your load coming from other appliances. Turn them off while your AC is running. On the the other hand, if you have installed a bigger solar panel system, you can also run other appliances such as fans, lights, LED TV etc.
3. Check out the efficiency of solar panels
It is a key factor to check how much output your solar panels are producing at day time. Solar panels do not covert sunlight into electricity entirely, about 30% portion of the sunlight energy got dissipated into other forms of energy. So , must calculate the useful amount of energy that your solar panels are producing.
For example, If I have installed one 585 Watt power of solar panel on my rooftop. Now, I have to determine how much sunlight is converting into electrical energy. Either you can do it by using a device such as multi-meter or solar panel clamp meter or you can simply get a rough estimation by multiplying the solar panel maximum power capacity with 0.7 or 0.8:
585 Watts * 0.7 = 409.5 (multiply total watts with 0.7 in average sunlight)
585 Watts * 0.8 = 468 (multiply total watts with 0.8 in good sunlight)
It means, the useful amount of power is only 409W in average sunlight and 468W in good sunlight in case of 585Watt of solar panel. Similarly, you have to find out the usable power of your PV module because customers use solar cells with different power capacities.
How many solar panels are required for 1 ton AC?
1 Ton air conditioner takes about 1200W to 1500W depending upon it’s model. Even a few models needs only 800W to start but i would recommend you to check it by yourself. To fulfil it’s power requirement a table is given below that will explain exactly how many panels you should install:
| 1 Ton AC Wattage | Solar panels power | Useful power | Total useful power | Required Panels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 800 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 2*409.5= 819W | Two (585W) |
| 1000 | 550 Watt | 550W*0.7= 385W | 3*385W= 1155W | Three (550W) |
| 1200 | 550 Watt | 550W*0.7= 385W | 4*385= 1540W | Four (550 W) |
| 1200 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 3*409.5= 1228W | Three (585 W) |
| 1500 | 550 Watt | 550W*0.7= 385W | 4*385= 1540W | Four (550 W) |
The number of solar panels required can be different depending upon the power wattage of solar panel. Less solar panels can be used of you are using high power panels.
How many solar panels are required for 1.5 ton AC?
1.5 tons AC can either be a DC inverter AC or conventional AC. DC inverter air conditioners are highly recommended to use with solar panels because of their ability to use less power. On the other hand, conventional AC takes almost 2400W to 2500W that is pretty high. Table below will provide you the best suited solar systems for your AC.
| 1 Ton AC Wattage | Solar panels power | Useful power | Total useful power | Required Panels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1600 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 4*409.5= 1638W | Four (585W) |
| 1800 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 5*409.5= 2047W | Five (585W) |
| 2000 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 5*409.5= 2047W | Five (585W) |
| 2200 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 6*409.5= 2457W | Six (585 W) |
| 2400 | 585 Watt | 585W*0.7= 409.5W | 6*409.5= 2457W | Six (585 W) |
Things to remember for better working of AC on solar energy
There are few important points you need to keep in mind in order to run you AC on solar panel.
- Try to buy Inverter AC that consumes less power.
- Keep your solar panels clean so it can absorb maximum light.
- Keep checking the direction of solar panels. Adjust it’s direction according to the season.
- Keep out the solar panels from shade.
- Always use a solar inverter that is compatible with your output capacity.
- Your total amount of energy produced by solar panels must be in surplus than required amount.
