Comments on: can i connect a solar panel 12v direct to a 12 v power inverter?

By: Renae Million

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By: busnuttwo

busnuttwo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:15:52 +0000

the inverter that connects directly to solar panel is a special inverter that is also connected to incomeing power not your inverter like you would use for battery to 110 v you need talk to you electric co as solar to inverter directly requires a special panel to pevent back flow of elect to grid and netural line much easyier to go solar to battery and to inverter you still need to isolate exactly what you want to run on solar like you would for gen stand by power you need to talk to power co as most state and city have code that regulate this type installations but email me with exactly what you plan to on running on solar have done a off grid solar house that is total elect

By: C2020

C2020 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:15:27 +0000

Absolutely, you can. The only problem is that you would need a very powerful solar panel to run anything useful and the inverter would shut down every time a cloud passes by.

Solar panels are usually set to re-charge batteries that store the solar energy until you need it. In typical systems, they store all day and discharge for a few short hours.

By: billybob

billybob — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:36:08 +0000

You could but I wouldn’t. You will be better off to use the panels to charge batteries to power the inverter. This way you won’t have power fluctuations and will have a reserve for night and overcast days.

By: JTH

JTH — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:05:58 +0000

The first step is to decide what you are going to run off the inverter and how much power is needed. Every appliance should have a label stating how many Watts it draws.

The next step is to get a solar panel with at least 15 percent more output in Watts than needed by the appliance. The 15 percent is to make up for power losses in the inverter.

And of course the inverter should be rated for the appliance you are trying to run.

This simple system will only work in the optimum conditions that the solar panels are rated at. Don’t expect it to work much before or after noon on a cloudless day.

In reality the solar panels are sized many times larger than the required demand. Storage batteries are also used to supply power at night or on cloudy days.