200-watt Solar panels are excellent for powering an RV, camp setup for power on the move. When purchasing solar panels (200 watts), you must know what devices you can run on a 200-watt solar panel kit, how many you need, and other details to ensure optimal functioning.
A single 200-watt solar panel can power small to standard appliances, as long as they do not require high energy. It’s crucial to understand how to charge a battery to store energy that you can use for later.
Overview
- What a 200-watt solar panel can power
- Battery requirement for a 200-watt system
- Are 200 Watts of Solar Enough
- Solar controller for 200-watt systems
- Common 200-watt solar panel questions
What if you could run your microwave oven, laptop, and coffee maker with a single energy source, and even better, one that’s cheaper and more efficient? That’s exactly what a 200-watt solar panel can and will do for you.
Keep reading to learn more about how to save money on energy and which kinds of devices you can run on a 200-watt solar panel.
What is a 200W Solar Panel?
Usually, 200-watt solar panel kits consist of two 100-watt panels sold together that equal 200 W total. This arrangement means the lot will produce less electricity than other residential solar panel models.
How much power you generate depends on the season and how much sunlight you can get, your geographic location, the size of your panels, shading, how clean your panels are, and the type of solar panels you purchase.
Benefits of a 200 Watt Solar Panel
One of the primary benefits of 200W solar panels is reducing energy bills. The average amount of power that the panel can produce is much less than the amount of energy a standard household consumes.
However, it is still possible to power your small electronics or a tiny home if you have multiple batteries and manage the times you run the devices. Still, this saves you money on your energy bills by using solar panels.
See also: Solar Panel Sizes and Wattage: A Comprehensive Guide to Making the Right Choice
What Can I Run With a 200-Watt Solar Panel?
You can run the following types of devices with a 200-watt solar panel 24 volt:
- A 45W laptop for 22 hours
- A 625W microwave oven for an hour and a half
- A 1000W coffee maker for one hour
- A 60W light bulb for one hour
Some of these appliances seem too high to function on just 200 watts. In reality, using a battery bank and strong energy can allow you to power heavy-duty appliances worth the hell of the 200W solar panel.
You’ll also need a power inverter to convert the 12V DC power into AC power. We’ll get into that later, but keep this possibility in mind. You don’t need batteries for your solar panels, but you should.
Here’s an EcoWorthy complete kit with solar panels and controller;
- [Wide Application]: Daily Output 800wh/day under 4 hours full sunshine condition. Perfect for RV, Caravan, Marine, Camper,...
- [Excellent Performance]: ECO-WORTHY solar panels use high-performance monocrystalline solar cells, which can provide up to...
- [Durable]: Corrosion-resistant aluminum alloy frame, so that the panel can be used for decades, and can withstand strong wind...
For a combined 200 watt solar panel and power station, there are few better than this Bluetti kit
Unfortunately, 200-watt solar panels provide an average of 160 watts per hour, not 200. This solar panel gets its name because, theoretically, it can provide a maximum of 200 watts per hour. Likewise, a 500-watt solar panel does not truly produce 500 watts per hour, and so forth. To provide 200 watts per hour, a solar panel would have to be exposed to direct sunlight for eight hours every day, without any losses in transmission. It is impossible to assume that any location, during any season, would receive enough sunlight day after day. Additionally, generating and transmitting power requires a portion of the wattage produced. Assuming that a solar panel receives eight hours of direct sunlight on a perfect day, it will produce 1,280-watt-hours in a day. Average 200-watt solar panels provide 12 volts of electricity, but some can give as much as 25 volts. They also provide 8 DC amps and 1.66 AC amps every hour if you assume 8 hours of direct sunlight. Since you’re not running all of your appliances at once, you can effectively manage your power consumption and power items such as LED lights, a mini-fridge, a 32-inch LED TV, a coffee maker, an exhaust fan, etc. As long as you know the amount of energy you’re producing and the amount you need to offset, managing your panels and stored energy won’t be too challenging. Remember that energy consumption is measured in watt-hours, and you calculate that by multiplying the watts (power input) by the hours (time of usage). Therefore, to know what your 200W solar panel can run, you’ll have to inform yourself of how much energy your devices consume. 200-watt solar panels are ideal for RVs and boats, but they may not be powerful enough for your home. Most homes and businesses use 250 to 365-watt panels. Therefore, you would likely need to make some cutbacks if you decided to run your home with 200-watt solar panels. Most solar systems for houses include 20 to 25 panels. Unfortunately, unlike your chosen vacation spot for an RV or boat, your home is unlikely to get an average of 8 hours of sunlight all year. Using a 12-volt solar panel system is best for use with boats, an RV, cars, etc. They benefit smaller needs, but the 24-volt system can help you power a family home. While it’ll cost you more upfront, you’ll also have a great return on your investment. You can use the 24 V for appliances that require 12 and 24 volts, which makes it more efficient concerning heat loss. Overall, it is a better choice because of its compatibility and versatility. 100-Watt solar panels can run many small appliances, including these listed below. Although you cannot run a full-sized refrigerator using one 200-watt solar panel, you can run some smaller options. A mini-fridge or dorm fridge 80 to 100 watts can run off a 200-watt solar panel, but you will need a battery. This option is perfect for those vacationing in an RV. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples. Assuming the average number of watts per hour is 160, and you are using the solar panel on a bright day with 8 hours of sunlight, you will have 1,280-watt-hours in a day. With this, you could run: This scenario requires 1,160 watts throughout the day, providing a small buffer in case there is less direct sunlight than expected. If you are hoping to add a couple of additional appliances, your situation may look like this: This scenario requires 1,176 watts throughout the day. Once again, you’ll have a small buffer. Keep in mind that neither of these scenarios includes a fridge. You will need an additional solar panel if you want to run an 80W mini-fridge alongside other appliances. You will need batteries if you plan to run your RV on 200-watt solar panels. After 12 hours of 50% sunshine, a solar panel this size will fully recharge the batteries. Portable solar panels make powering RVs easy because they allow you to park in the shade while the solar panel receives direct sunlight. Plus, using solar panels benefits the very nature in which you love to vacation. Boats are perhaps the most obvious choice to pair with solar panels. Because a boat is exposed to direct sunlight without any shade nearby, you will rarely have to worry about having too little power. Additionally, 200-watt solar panels are the best size for a boat. They are compact but provide plenty of power for the onboard appliances. You’ll need batteries if you want a power supply that goes uninterrupted even on days when the weather isn’t the best (clouds, rain, snow, etc.). They serve as a storage unit to endure that you have a constant energy supply. You wouldn’t have emergency backup power if you didn’t use batteries with your solar panels. Batteries are also useful for storing an oversupply of energy that your panels absorb. You can charge the battery to power microwave ovens, laptops, coffee makers, drills, toaster ovens, and other standard appliances. It’s best to use lithium batteries, the top solar panel manufacturers recommend. They usually come with extended warranties, a long lifespan, excellent power output, and are more reliable than other battery types. The best match for a 200 W solar panel is typically a 500Wh 12V battery. It’s best to get two of them to ensure that you have enough. Remember that how many batteries you connect to your solar panel inverter will depend on how long you want to run your appliances. For a power station setup with your solar panel, the Maxoak is a great battery. For a 200 watt system, this is at the lower end of the price range (some go up to 1k). It’s a great size and weight with all the features you’ll need; Alternatives Available The type of battery you get also suits your solar panels perfectly and should be contingent on your unique setup. The previous suggestion is a general recommendation that may or may not apply to your solar panels. For a fixed system, a nice battery option for a 200-watt system is Miady. Again this offers great value for money with dependable quality; Alternatives Available A charge controller is a device that prevents the batteries from absorbing too much charge. Therefore, it helps to extend the lifespan of your batteries. You’ll have to know how much current the solar panel produces to decide on the size of the charge controller. Usually, that’s between 8-12 amperes if your solar panels get a good amount of sunshine each day. If we assume that they do, you should get a charge controller that’s at least 15 amperes (amps). A 200-watt power inverter is a portable low-powered device that can provide grid power to smaller appliances while out and about in an RV or car or in an emergency. You can easily damage them if you overload them with limited capabilities. They do, however, have built-in overload protection. The continual power draw doesn’t go beyond 200 watts, and the surge power draw isn’t over 400 watts. Ensure that you review the manufacturer’s manual for your specific make and model to know the limitations of your device. Here’s a list of some of the appliances that can function with a 200W inverter: Here are some appliances that are most likely not to work in tandem with the 200-watt inverter’s high power draw: Appliances like or similar to kind above all have a maximum power draw higher than 200 watts, and as a result, they’ll cause the inverter to overload and force it to shut down. A 12V battery connected to a 200 W panel that produces one amp will reach a full charge within five to eight hours. There are other factors to include that can make the estimation more difficult. Factors that affect charging time include battery condition, the quality of your panel, the efficiency of the charge controller, and the amount of sunlight absorbed. How well these components function will dictate the charge efficiency. On the other hand, if we presume that the battery amp you have has an hour rating corresponding to the amps generated by the panels, the estimated time to fully charge is about five to eight hours. Furthermore, the solar panel must face the sun without being obstructed. Remember that solar panel charging will take longer on days when there’s an overcast and vice versa; on days when there’s full sun, charging is faster. Here are four factors that dictate how long it will take for your battery to charge: Among these factors, the amount of amperage is a crucial factor. This figure describes the energy output that the battery is capable of holding. When a battery has higher amperage, there’s more power, and therefore it takes longer to charge such a battery. For the most part, a 75 AH battery only takes about 50 percent of the time it hasn’t a 200 AH battery to charge. When the average amount of sunshine is factored in over a day, the solar panel will run at a maximum capacity of approximately the five-hour level, no matter the season. If you have battery-backed or off-grid solar panels, you should use deep cycle batteries as a battery backup. These types of batteries closely resemble car batteries; however, they deliver power for a longer period and are rechargeable. Using up to 80 percent of the total amount of your deep cycle battery’s capacity is possible without causing any harm. When using a battery with a capacity of 100 amp-hour, only use 80 amp-hours. To extend the lifespan, manufacturers advise consumers not to allow it to drop below 45 percent. These properties are what make deep batteries great for solar panels. Assuming 5 hours of peak sunlight and 160 watts per hour from each panel, a 200-watt solar panel can provide 800-watt-hours daily. A system of 25 of these panels can produce 20,000-watt-hours per day. Most heaters require 1,500 watts per hour and run about 6 hours a day, which adds up to 1,368,000 watt-hours per year. An AC unit will require an average of 2,000,000 watt-hours per year. If you wanted to use both a heater and AC unit with your refrigerator, you would need to choose a smaller refrigerator rated at about 350 watts per hour. To use this fridge all day for an entire year, you would need 3,066,000 watts hours per year. When you combine heat, AC, and a fridge, you require a total of 6,434,000 watt-hours per year. Luckily, a system of 25 200-watt solar panels receiving an average of 5 hours of daily sunlight will produce 7,300,000 watt-hours per year. Thus, you will be left with 866,000-watt-hours per year to power small appliances, such as microwaves, coffee makers, TVs, and WiFi routers. As you can see, using a 200-watt solar system for a home is possible, but you would be unable to leave the TV on all day, and you would require a smaller fridge, along with other restrictions. Although they are small, 200-watt solar panels can be very powerful. The combination of this compact size and strong power output have made them quite popular. There are many things to consider when changing the source of electricity for a vacation or your home, but calculations like those above can help you find a solution. Once you know certain variables, such as how many hours of daylight your solar panel would receive and how much daily electricity you use, you can find the perfect solar panel. A highly recommended 200-watt solar panel, with 22.8% efficiency is the BougeRV. See the product below, or check out our full review here. Below are some answers to some of the most commonly asked questions concerning a 200W solar panel: A 200-watt solar panel can indeed power a fridge. With that being said, it cannot power all kinds of refrigerators. It will all depend on the size and energy the refrigerator consumes. 200-watt solar panel dimensions are usually 65 inches by 39 inches. The typical size for commercial use is 77 inches by 39 inches for solar panels. A 200 watt will typically produce between 10-12 amps an hour. There’s usually about six hours of respectable daylight to power a solar panel within a day. When you do the math, a 200-watt solar panel will likely produce 60-70 amp-hours daily. A foldable 200-watt solar panel for sale can cost you about $410, but sometimes you can find these panels for cheaper when they don’t fold. 200-watt solar panel systems usually consist of two 100W panels, and you’re paying for the weather’s durability and efficiency. You may also choose to invest in a high-quality 200-watt solar panel kit with battery and inverter for around $250 from Amazon. 200-watt solar panel specifications: To cover 100 percent of the electricity demands of a home, a typical home will need between 20 and 24 solar panels. The exact number you’ll need will depend on factors such as panel efficiency, geographic location, panel rated power, the space you have for solar panel placement, and how much energy you consume. References:
How Much Power Can I Get From 200-Watt Solar Panels?
Voltage and Amps
Are 200 Watts of Solar Enough?
RVs and Boats
Solar Panel 12V vs. Solar Panel 24V
What Can a 200-Watt Solar Panel Power?
Can I Run a Fridge?
Small Appliances
RVs
Boats
How Many Batteries Do I Need for a 200-watt Solar Panel?
What Are the Best Kind of Solar Panel Batteries?
What Size Solar Controller Do I Need for a 200w Solar Panel?
What Can a 200W Inverter Run?
How Fast Will a 200 Watt Solar Panel Charge a Battery?
Additional Factors That Affect Charging
Amount of Amperage
Deep Cycle Batteries
How Much Sun Does a 200-Watt Solar Panel Need?
Why Consider a 200-Watt Solar System?
Fixed 200 Watt Solar Panel
Flexible 200 Watt Solar Panel
All-In-One Solution 200 Watt Solar Panel + Power Station
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can a 200 Watt Solar Panel Run a Refrigerator?
2. How Big Is a 200W Solar Panel?
3. How Many Amp Hours Does a 200 Watt Solar Panel Produce?
4. How Much Does a 200-watt Solar Panel Cost?
5. How Many 200 Watt Solar Panels Do I Need?
