Here is a 200 watt machine that you could ceratinly use off solar and may
well be worth experimenting with or to give a taste of "solar
living".
Again I hope YOU are doing the washing and not expecting someone else to do it.
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Hi
A washing machine would be about the last thing I would power from solar as there are plenty of other alternatives.
I actually use something like this (there are many similar brands/types).
Works well and no power and can take it anywhere.
If you must have a powered washing machine then there are lots of low power portble ones though they too only do fairly small loads....around 240 watts is the smallest I can find in a quick search on ebay...actually there is a 2.5K kilo machine that may be less than 240 watts.
You might be able to find a 12 volt washer too though maynot be worth bothering for that.
I would not want to be doing a wash for a large family in anything like these though.Leave a comment:
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Well if your intention is to save money by taking your washing machine off-grid to save money is extremely flawed and will be a very costly lesson if you implement it. Off-grid battery system the electricity will cost you 10 to 20 times more then what the electric company charges you. That only holds true if you utilize all the energy the system can produce in a day. Used infrequently like a washing machine load every two or 3 days that goes up to paying 50 to 100 times more.
You washing machine uses 960 watts and with a .5 hour cycle uses 960 watts x .5 hours = 480 watt hours. Buying that from the POCO cost roughly a whooping 5 cents. To do that with solar battery and you are looking at around $1500 with around $400 of that in batteries you need to replace every few years. So let's say the battery last 5 years, and you run the washing machine 3 times a week. So running 3 times a week you use 1.5 Kwh and there are 260 weeks in 5 years so it would use 1.5 Kwh x 260 weeks = 390 Kwh. If you buy that from the POCO at 11-cents per Kwh will cost you $.11 Kwh x 390 Kwh = $42.90. The Kwh cost to take that off grid is $1500 / 390 Kwh = $3.85 / Kwh
So taking the machine off grid will cost you 3500% or 35 times more than leaving it connected to the grid. Is that what you mean by saving money?Leave a comment:
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I would start with some lighting Not a large motor load.
Realize that to get 8A of 120V means 80A+ of 12v load. then there are motor starting surge that needs to be accounted for in the inverter. Peukerts law of batteries comes into play with high amp draws.Leave a comment:
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washing machine off solar?
I was looking around the house thinking of an area where I could get my feet wet with solar. Some appliance that uses a decent amount of electricity so there would be some economic benefit, not just a proof of concept.
The best I could come up with was the washing machine. It's 110V @ 8amps. The longest wash cycle on it is about 30 minutes. So I believe that means it requires 440 watt hours.
This would obviously require a battery for storage. I looked at Optima Yellow, rating says 140 minutes of reserve capacity @ 25 amp discharge to 10.5 volts. I believe this is about 300 watt hours for 140 minutes.
Here's where I get lost. Can I compare those watt hour calculations? Can I assume that if the battery can supply 300 WH for 140 minutes, it will be able to do 440 WH for about an hour?
Then I realize I will lose power at the inverter, so that 1 hour will look more like 40 minutes, which should be enough for one wash cycle.
Are my calculations and concepts correct? I'm new to this, please go easy.
Then all I need to figure out is how big of a solar array I'd need to be able to charge that battery in 48 hours or less. At my house I could face the array west or SW. Cleveland OH is the location.
Brian
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