Have you ever wondered how many amps does a 200-watt solar panel produce? Look no more. We´ve got you covered.
is a fantastic idea if you are planning on being eco-friendly. It can also save you a huge amount of money since you won’t have to buy fuel for your generator.
Well, at the very least, you won’t have to try and hunt down somewhere to buy fuel for the generator. On this page, we want to give you a rough idea of how many amps a 200-watt solar panel can produce.
So, how many amps does a 200w solar panel produce? On average, a 200-watt solar panel should be able to produce 10 to12-amps of power per hour or around 60-70-amps of power per day.
However, do bear in mind that the information is going to be very rough. This is because there are a lot of different factors like the amount of sunlight that can influence how much power can be provided, and we will talk about that throughout this page.
Let’s start with the basics, though.
Table of Contents
What is Amperage?
Amperage is one of the most important numbers that you will need to know when you are choosing a solar panel. Well, actually, it is going to be amperage-hour, but pretty much any time you see amperage listed, it really does just mean amperage-hour, or AH, for short.
So, what is amperage? Amperage is the number of amps that something consumes per hour. So, if you have an appliance that is listed as being 3AH, this means that if you want it to run for an hour, then you need to be providing it with 3AH of power.
When we are talking about solar panels and batteries, we aren’t talking about the amount of power that they consume, though.
We are talking about the amount of power that they are going to be able to provide. So, for instance, if you had a solar panel that claims it can produce 6-amps, this means that it will be providing 6-amps of power, roughly, for each hour that it is exposed to direct sunlight.
So with that in mind, you will be better versed to understand why the amount of power that a 200w solar panel produces is important.
Read also: How Many Amps Does a 250-watt Solar Panel Produce? (Explained)
How Many Amps Can a 200W Solar Panel Produce?
On average, a 200-watt solar panel should be able to produce 10 to12-amps of power per hour. This is because 100-watts of solar panel can produce 5-6amps of power per hour.
The solar panel will not be producing this power consistently throughout the day. After all, the solar panel can only generate power if it is exposed to the sunlight.
On average, most places should get 6-hours of sunlight per day. This means that you can expect a 200-watt solar panel to produce around 60-70-amps of power per day.
As the day goes on and the sun starts to set (i.e. beyond that 6-hours), the amount of amperage that a 200-watt solar panel produces will start to fall.
Remember, any power that the solar panel produces which is either not being used to charge batteries or power something in the RV will be lost.
A solar panel cannot store energy unless it is connected up to a battery. So, if you have no battery, and you are only using 10-amps of power per day, then 60-amps is going to be wasted. As soon as the sun goes down, you won’t have any power at all.
Therefore, if you do plan on buying a 200-watt solar panel, you should be purchasing a battery at the same time. If you don’t, then having a solar panel is going to be useless. You will be wasting a lot of power. At that point, you may as well just be using a generator.
What Will Impact How Many Amps a 200W Solar Panel Can Produce?
As we said, it is tough to predict exactly how many amps a 200-watt solar panel can produce per day. While the average may be 10 to 12 amps per hour, it won’t be consistent.
👉 A major factor will always be the amount of sunlight that the solar panel is being exposed to. If it is a bright day, packed with sunshine and now cloud then you can expect the solar panel to be hitting that maximum number of amps generated per hour.
However, if it starts to get a bit cloudy, or if the solar panel ends up in the shade, then you can expect that number to fall rather quickly.
👉 Some of the cheaper solar panels on the market tend to be a lot less efficient when it comes to generating power too. More expensive solar panels tend to use the latest tech.
This means that they may be able to generate much more than those 12-amps an hour. You will have to look at the solar panel specification to find out exactly how much you can expect it to generate.
👉 The reason why we are firm advocates for overestimating the amount of power that you use is so that you are essentially accounting for the fact that there will be time periods where you are not producing as much power.
How Many Amps Do You Need?
This is the big question. We are sure that the vast majority of people that are browsing this page are not wondering how many amps a 200w solar panel produces, but whether it is going to be producing enough power for them. The truth? Maybe.
Many people seem to suggest that the average person uses 100amps of power per day. So, you would expect an average couple to use 200amps per day, and a family may use 300amps or so.
In all of these cases, a 200watt solar panel wouldn’t be enough. However, two of them may be enough to almost cover a couple for their energy usage.
This means that you are going to need to have a couple of tips for working out how many amps you will require. To begin with, we suggest that you check the AH for the following appliances since they are likely to be on the vast majority of the time:
- Fridge
- Freezer
- Air Conditioner
- Water heating system
Once you know how much power these will be consuming, you will have a base figure for the number of amps that you need per day. However, you aren’t done yet. Chances are that you will likely have the following used at various parts of the day:
- Television
- Cooking appliances
- Lighting
- Charging (laptop, phone chargers, etc.)
And that means you are going to need to work out how many amps they require each day. Chances are that you may not be able to have them turned on at the same time.
For example, if you are using a solar panel not connected to a battery that only produces 10-amps an hour, and your energy consumption with everything switched on is 12-amps, you won’t be producing enough power.
What can you run on 200 Watts of Solar @ AZ Off-Grid (Unplugged) >> Check out the video below:
Our suggestion is to monitor your energy usage for a while. It shouldn’t be that difficult to keep tabs on the amount of power that you are consuming through your batteries.
If you do this, then you should get a rough idea as to whether a 200-watt solar panel is going to be right for you.
However, in our experience, for most RV users, unless they are really focused on trying to keep their power consumption to the minimum, it probably isn’t going to be enough. A couple of them may be, though.
Read also: This Is What Happens to Solar Power When Batteries Are Full? – (FACTS)
Appliance Amperage Draw Chart
In the following table you can see how much amperage the most common devices consume during operation:
| Equipment | Amperage Draw |
|---|---|
| Toaster | 8-10 Amps |
| Coffee Maker | 5-8 Amps |
| Television HD, Digital | 1.5-4 Amps |
| Refrigerator | 5-8 Amps |
| Space Heater (1600 watts) | 7-13 Amps |
| Water Heater (6-gallon, heating) | 8-13 Amps |
| Satellite Receiver/Game Console | 0.5-0.8 Amps |
| Vacuum (Hand-Held) | 2-6 Amps |
| Hair Dryer (High) | 7-13 Amps |
| Frying Pan (Cooking – High) | 7-12 Amps |
| RV Converter (charging) | 1-8 Amps |
| RV Air Conditioner (Running) | 13-16 Amps |
| Furnace Fan | 7-9 Amps |
| Microwave Oven (Standard) | 7-13 Amps |
| Washer/Dryer | 140-16 Amps |
Power Consumption Chart
Here in the chart below you can see the average power consumption for electrical appliances:
TABLE
| RV and Camping Appliances | Rates Watts (running) |
|---|---|
| RV Roof-Top AC (15,000 BTU) | 2,000 W |
| RV Roof-Top AC (13,500 BTU) | 1,500 W |
| RV Roof-Top AC (11,000 BTU) | 1,010 W |
| Dehumidifier | 785 W |
| Vacuum | 1,100 W |
| Electric Water Heater (6 Gal.) | 1,440 W |
| Clothes Washer | 1,150 W |
| Fan | 200 W |
| Electric Blanket | 80 W |
| Space Heater | 1,800 W |
| Coffee Maker | 800 W |
| Electric Grill | 1,650 W |
| Toaster | 850 – 1,250 W |
| Dorm Size Refrigerator | 350 W |
| 12″ B&W TV | 30 W |
| 27″ Color TV | 500 W |
| Laptop | 200 W |
| Satellite Dish & Receiver | 30 W |
| Battery Charger (Cell Phone) | 25 W |
| Inflator Pump | 50 W |
Solar Panel Buying Guide
In this section, we want to give you a few tips on buying a 200-watt solar panel.
Should you buy multiple solar panels?
It depends on who you ask. In ideal conditions, having two solar panels of 100-watts would produce the same amount of power as a single 200-watt solar panel.
However, if you had a single large panel that is stuck in the shade, then it would produce less power than 2 panels where one is in the shade and one is in direct sunlight.
Honestly, you will just have to go for the option that you feel is right for you here. The price is not going to be all that different. You will have to wire two smaller solar panels together, but it is not an especially tricky job.
Read the specification for the solar panel
As we said, each solar panel will have a spec from the manufacturer. While we say that the average 200-watt solar panel can produce 10-amps of power an hour, there are some on the market that may produce less, and there are some that may produce a whole lot more than this.
You will need to read through the product guide to find out exactly what you are going to get.
In our opinion, you probably shouldn’t go too cheap on the solar panel. If you have a cheaper solar panel, then it may not produce all the power that you need.
This means that you may, eventually, have to pick up more solar panels and that is just going to get expensive.
Read through product reviews
Read through any product reviews before you stump up your cash for a solar panel. If you don’t, then you may get stuck with something that isn’t too good.
One of the brilliant things about the RV market is that many RV users will be more than happy to point out when a product is good, and they may be more than happy to point out when a product has failures. Lean on this knowledge.
Don’t just buy a solar panel just becomes it comes from a big brand. Companies do have a couple of dud products in their range, after all.
One thing that you will want to be paying special attention to is the lifespan of the solar panel. A good solar panel will last a decade, if not longer. If a lot of people are complaining that their solar panels are dying within a year, then it is probably not going to be a good investment.
Conclusion
In summary, a 200-watt solar panel will produce at least 10-amps of power an hour under ideal conditions. You can use some of this power, and you can store some of this power if you are connected up to a battery.
At the most, you should be getting about 60-amps of power produced by the solar panel each day. This will give you 60-amps of power to play about with over the course of 24-hours.
So, if you consume more than about 3-amps of power an hour, then you may need to purchase more than one 200-watt solar panel.
References
https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-much-solar-power-rv.aspx
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