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Speaking of refrigeration, what kind of portable solar-battery charger setup could run a small fridge in the summer?


A company called Sundanzer produce domestic Refrigerator and Freezers designed to be used with 12V solar PV. Typically if you wanted to run a Sundanzer Refrigerator of say 8 cubic feet in ambient temperatures of 100F then the amount of solar energy would be around 430Whrs/day with the PV array battery size assumming 4 sun hours/day @ 220W PV array with 335Ahr 12V Deep Cycle battery. For a Freezer of the same size then a 475W PV array and 740Ahr 12v battery would be required.

http://www.sundanzer.com/PDF/residential_system_sizing.pdf

http://store.sundancesolar.com/su80cuftdcfr.html

So the cost for the more expensive Freezer option would typically be;

Freezer - SunDanzer 8.0 Cu. Ft. DC Freezer -$1250
Solar PV array - Sharp 80 Watt Solar Panel NE-80EJEA x6 = $2574
Charge Regulator - Xantrex C60 Charge Controller - $179
AGM Batteries - 12V 105 Amp-Hour Sealed Lead Acid AGM Battery x8 - $2720

Total Cost including cabling - approx $7000

The SunDanzer 8.0 Cu ft. Refrigerator option would be considerably cheaper at around $4300

Of course if the ambient temperature for the refrigerator and Freezer operation are lower then the cost will come down as well.