Running a fridge

NO you cant just run an inverter from the solar panels as the voltage of 12v panels will greatly exceed the input voltage of the inverter (usual cuttoff 15v).That is the usual case
Your problem its impossible to do what you want with a standard 240 v refrigerator as you have 6x12v x5 a panels thats only 360w no where near enough to start the refrigerator..You will need about 1000 w to start the fridge.
older refrigerators can be modified to run off inverters as small as 300w . But from limited information I have the very latest type ones cannot be modified in the same way,
Some people that know nothing about refrigerator motors will tell you that a fridge motor will use same amount of power to start up if under load or not under load because of the motor design ,, Its not true

Really? 1000W to fire up a fridge rated at 110W? I know they surge on startup but that much?
Even if my 12V panels are in parallel you think there will be too much voltage ? I know they fluctuate depending on conditions but i didnt think they would break 15V each...Righto i will take your advice on board. Cheers
Wheelz

You will find even some 1000 w inverters wont start a reasonable sized fridge reliably;
Low frequency ones certainly will but they are about double the price of high frequency ones
12v panels should easily exceed 15v or how could they fully charge a 12 v battery to 14.4v ?? charge controler losses will account for some voltage drop also
but your main problem is at best you have 360w..

I see. As this is a beginners thread i will throw out some beginners like questions
The 500w inverter Im looking at offeres 1000w surge, and is rated at 65A max input.
If this inverter was running of a battery as intended and not a solar setup, the max voltage supplied would be 14.4V ?
14.4v x 65A max = 936W. How can 1000w surges be compensated for?
Sorry, probably a real beginners question.
Thanks John.
Wheelz

that 936 w is the theoretical max but you will never get that under any condition.
for a start the inverter is most likely to be about at best 90% effecient = 840w
connector losses about 40w =800w
you will only get 14.4v if the battery is under charge a battery at rest will only give a little over 13v
that 1000w surge will only last for a few milliseconds in most cases

Do they make refrigerators that are built to run off solar power? Or as far as modifying an older fridge, how old does it have to be? Do you know of any popular models that are good for modifying that also have a refrigerator water filter? I've got an old refrigerator in my garage that I wanted to tinker with and see if I could power it with solar panels and batteries.

Yes but the question is can you afford one, plus the equipment to run it. If you have commercial power it would be foolish to run one off of solar alone.

Sun Dancer
Norcold
Tundra


Here is a decent article written by a friend of mine. Backwoods Magazine it very biased to the point of radical survivalist, but Jeff is honest and knows his stuff.

The old fridge in the garage is usually a real energy hog.

I've mentioned in a couple of threads on this forum about a great conversion project for a fridge in the garage. I converted an old chest freezer that I purchased for $40 used and a digital thermostat I got off of ebay for less than $20. It uses on average a little less than 190 wh per day. Very easy to run on solar, of which I do.

These are a couple of links to the references I used to blueprint my DIY project off of. They are not advertisements, so I hope they don't get deleted by the mods, as I think that they offer good information for people interested in doing the same.






After looking at a couple of the articles, it gets kind of redundant. The premise is the same, and the controller is a variant of the same thing as well.

Here is a YouTube video of the same idea.






Again, this is one of the best projects I have done with my DIY solar panels. My converted freezer to fridge uses on average less than190 watt hours a day, and I have over 15 cu ft of fridge in my garage!

Good luck in your endeavours.