help with solar power aquarium heater

[caro123]

Hi there I am completely new to solar power and would really appreciate some help on my project.
I am hoping to charge something like this aquarium heater 25w functioning off a 25w solar panel

http://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium/aquarium-equipment/aquarium-heaters/25w-aquarium-heater/

however, I am not sure how it works as all of the solar panels I have tried to buy say that they are 12v whereas this heater for example needs 220-240v to function. I am also unsure about the bits i would need in-between the cables and the panels to make it all work. any help or advice would be much appreciated

[inetdog]

Hi there I am completely new to solar power and would really appreciate some help on my project.
I am hoping to charge something like this aquarium heater 25w functioning off a 25w solar panel

http://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium/aquarium-equipment/aquarium-heaters/25w-aquarium-heater/

however, I am not sure how it works as all of the solar panels I have tried to buy say that they are 12v whereas this heater for example needs 220-240v to function. I am also unsure about the bits i would need in-between the cables and the panels to make it all work. any help or advice would be much appreciated

You cannot drive a heater which expects 240V AC input from a 12V or even a 60V solar panel. And to run an inverter to get 240V AC you will have to add batteries and a charge controller to your PV system.
Not likely to be economical. Why do you want/need to run the heater off solar in the first place?

PS: Even if the heater would work, but at a reduced capacity, on a lower voltage it is likely that the thermostatic control will not work on DC, period.

[Sunking]

Forget about it, won't work work like you think and to make it work will send you into sticker shock. The heater has to work 24 hours per day or fish die. Sun does not shine 24 hours per day. only 3 to 5 hours.

25 watts x 24 hours = 600 watt hours or about 6 to 10-cents worth of electricity per day. To take it off line will require a 300 watt panel ($400) 35 amp MPPT controller ($200), 12 volt 250 AH 130 pound battery ($330), and a $50 inverter. In all about $1000. Then in 2 or 3 years replace the $330 battery. In 3 years your electric company will only charge you less than $100 for the same amount of power.

Forget about it and just pay your electric bill. .

[caro123]

Hi thanks for the advice, it is much appreciated. it is for a college project that i am building for an exam so that is the why! a little uneconomical i know but i do really want to try and do it somehow.
I have found this http://www.reef-one.com/products/pro...lligent-heater
which is a 12v 50watt heater and I get your point about the dc maybe not working on the thermostat ( i hadn't thought of that) so i would still need a convertor right to convert to ac?

I should probably add also that this isn't for fish, i wanted the water to be around 25-30 degrees celsius so i thought perhaps the aquarium heater would be the safest way to achieve this, another option could be something such as the below I understand but i am also unsure of if i would need a battery etc or other complicated parts here

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-water-heater-element-12-volt-600-watt-submersible-HD-4-solar-panel-or-wind-/181629265400?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a49f2a5f8

[sdold]

It says it plugs into a "Power Pod". What is that?

What's the application? Heating a trough of drinking water for animals in freezing temps would take a lot more energy than maintaining a small tank of water slightly above room temperature, for example.

[caro123]

It says it plugs into a "Power Pod". What is that?

What's the application? Heating a trough of drinking water for animals in freezing temps would take a lot more energy than maintaining a small tank of water slightly above room temperature, for example.

I'm not sure what a power pod is, where did you read that? i couldn't find it. So the application is for heating a water feature that holds about 10 litres of still water indoors linking to the solar panels that would be outdoors, so the aquarium heater seems like it would do the job it just seems tricky to convert it to ac from dc.

[sdold]

I'm not sure what a power pod is, where did you read that?

It was on the reef-one link you gave. This project sounds like a weird application for solar, if it's going in a house that already has power.

[Johann]

It was on the reef-one link you gave. This project sounds like a weird application for solar, if it's going in a house that already has power.

I believe a power pod is a transformer etc that reduces grid-power to the 12 volt needed for the heater.

[Johann]

Hi thanks for the advice, it is much appreciated. it is for a college project that i am building for an exam so that is the why! a little uneconomical i know but i do really want to try and do it somehow.
I have found this http://www.reef-one.com/products/pro...lligent-heater
which is a 12v 50watt heater and I get your point about the dc maybe not working on the thermostat ( i hadn't thought of that) so i would still need a convertor right to convert to ac?

I should probably add also that this isn't for fish, i wanted the water to be around 25-30 degrees celsius so i thought perhaps the aquarium heater would be the safest way to achieve this, another option could be something such as the below I understand but i am also unsure of if i would need a battery etc or other complicated parts here
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-water-h...item2a49f2a5f8

Could you tell us how many gallons/liters you are heating with this and if this system is insulated or if the system is recirculated etc etc.
So far you did not tell us much about it.

The more body of water you have the more energy/heat you can pump into it and store it, but to remain the heat for nights there you have to have insulation to reduce losses or have enough mass in liters or gallons to avoid cooling it to much over night where there is no sun.
The 600 watt heat element you linked to would require about 900 watts of solar panels for a 12 volt system since it would require 50 amps at 12 volts. I think about a 200 watt heat element is the lowest you would be able to get for this kind and it still would take about 300 watts on solar panels. A battery may or may not be required but it all depends for what all that setup is designed to do.
Why are yo trying to do this with PV panels?
Why not use an solar water heating system instead?