What Can you Power With 3kw Solar System?
What can you power with a 3kw solar system? It’s one of the questions that you will ask yourself as part of the process of setting up a solar system for your home or office. A lot of South Africans have been going down this route, spurred on by incessant power cuts.
There are signs that loadshedding will be with us well into the future. When considering the best system for your home or office, you will discover that 3kw is one of the most popular sizes for solar systems in the country. So, what can you power with a 3kva inverter?
What can you power with a 3kva inverter?
The following are some of the appliances that you can power with a 3kw solar system;
- Fridge
- LED TV
- Light bulbs
- Microwave
- Air conditioner (low power)
- 1 LCD television
- 1 Laptop
- Dishwasher
- Wifi router
- Washing machine
Is a 3kw system enough for my home?
Those are some of the appliances that you can power with a 3kw solar system. We noted that this size is very popular among consumers in South Africa and elsewhere. But is it enough to power the average home?
The answer is yes. A 3kw system is enough to maintain the average home completely off-grid. But you are going to have to be careful what you use. You are also going to have to invest in good batteries and in enough solar panels.
We have another article in which we discussed the number of panels that are needed for a 3kw system. You need to have enough panels to be able to get the most out of your 3kva system. Some people skimp on this, and the results are poor performance for their systems.
Another important consideration is battery storage. We have another article in which we discussed the battery size that’s best for a 3kw system.
Our experience with a 3kw system
Now you have a clear view of some of the items that can be powered using a 3kva system. In this section, we are going to give our own personal experience with such a system. We have been using it for over 2 years.
Our system has a 24 volt, 200 AH lithium battery. One mistake that we made earlier on was to have too few solar panels. That was because our system was designed to be hybrid. What it means is that the system uses both the grid and solar.
We do not sell power to the grid, but our batteries get charged by both Eskom and solar. That was the reason why we thought we didn’t need that many panels. However, it has turned out that this was something of a miscalculation.
The ongoing power cuts, that can go for over 5 hours, have made it imperative for us to add solar panels to our system. Currently, we have 4, and we are looking to add another 4. They are 370 watts each.
In any case, this system is good enough for us. We can run most household appliances, including a freezer, lights, two LED TVs, a low power iron and much more. There are days when things are a bit stretched, but we have learnt to cope.
Summary
In this article, we answered the question what can you power with a 3kw solar system. It was noted that such a system is usually enough for a small home. You can use it to power appliances such as a fridge, a microwave and a washing machine. The reason why this system is so popular is because it balances affordability and use.