Yes, given that your solar panel has a battery to store enough energy and the energy demands of your refrigerator aren’t too overwhelming!
If you have a smaller fridge, mini fridge, or 12v fridge, then a 300 watt solar panel could work! It doesn’t really matter how big is a 300 watt solar panel, it all depends on the specific wattage requirements of the fridge, as well as how much sunlight you expect your panels to receive.
Everyday hundreds of Americans are turning to solar. In fact, there’s plenty of good reasons to use solar energy. From saving money to saving the environment, solar is a great option for many homeowners!
In this article, we’ll break down the numbers to help you figure out if a 300 watt solar panel is the best option for powering your fridge!
Using a Battery
While it’s true that refrigerators don’t require the same amount of energy throughout the day, no one wants to wake up to spoiled milk because their solar panel couldn’t power the fridge through the night.
Since refrigerators require some amount of energy 24/7, you need to make sure that you have a way of powering the appliance even during the night.
The easiest way to fully utilize what can a 300-watt solar panel run is by having one of the best solar powered generators or a battery and an inverter installed alongside the solar panel. This will ensure that some of the energy that the panel collects throughout the day can be stored and used to power the fridge at night.
You might ask how many batteries would you need, learn here: how many batteries do I need for a 300 watt solar panel? When looking to purchase a battery and inverter, here are a couple rules of thumb:
- Battery should be able to store more than a day’s worth of energy
- Inverter should be able to handle about double the wattage the appliance will need over the course of a day
This will ensure that even on days that sun isn’t shining, your fridge is still running strong.
What Size Fridge Can a 300 Watt Solar Panel Run?
The best way to know if a 300 watt panel will work is to do the math yourself.
Find the estimated power rating of the fridge, and multiply it by the amount of hours it will run. Then, use a solar calculator to figure out how much energy you can expect on any given day.
So, for example, let’s say a fridge’s power rating is 30. Multiply 30 x 24 to get 720wh. Then, determine how much energy you can expect from your solar panel. Keep in mind that the daily average for a 300 watt panel is around 1000wh.
In this scenario, the 1000wh from the panel would cover the 720wh daily demand from the fridge, so a 300 watt solar panel would work great for this particular fridge. If your primary concern is to run a refrigerator using solar check the best solar powered refrigerator to get more options.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has given you all the information you need concerning 300 watt solar panels and their power!
