ᐅ Can I power an air conditioner with a small solar panel system installed on a balcony?

Hello,
I want to install an air conditioning system for heating and a small photovoltaic system on the balcony for my house.
I would like to know if it is possible to operate the heating system at a lower power than it usually consumes.
For example:
The air conditioner normally consumes 800 W when heating.
The balcony photovoltaic system might supply around 200 W.
Can I run the air conditioner using only that 200 W, so that it operates at reduced power?
Or what would happen in such a case?

frankmehlhop schrieb:

Actually, the air conditioner uses about 800 W for heating.
The balcony solar panel system might currently provide around 200 W.
Can I run the air conditioner on that power (200 W) so that it operates at low capacity?
Or what would happen in such a case?

This would only work if you have a variable load air conditioner (usually labeled with terms like "Inverter" or similar). Most high-end split systems from the last five years are capable of this. Cheaper or older models cannot and simply switch fully on or off ("hysteresis"). In that case, the balcony solar panel system would not help much.
However, I doubt your air conditioner can reduce its power consumption down to 200 W. Also, how would you control it to stay at 200 W?
You should measure its actual power consumption first.

frankmehlhop schrieb:

Hello,
I want to install an air conditioning system for heating and a small photovoltaic system (balcony solar panel) on my house.
I would like to know if I can operate this heating system at a lower power than it normally consumes.

Your balcony solar panel will produce around 800W in summer, which can supply all your devices, and the rest will come from the grid.
In winter, when heating, the panel might only generate 50 to 100W, with the remainder again drawn from the grid.
This small system provides about 5-20% of your electricity needs, so don’t expect too much.
For heating and cooling, you will need a much larger photovoltaic system.

I believe there is a misunderstanding here:

The original poster (OP) is trying, as I understand it, to connect an air conditioner almost directly to a balcony solar power system without supplying it from the grid.

Based on my response: yes, this is possible, but only with an inverter-type device that can be properly regulated down, and a battery connected in between to buffer the power (which needs to be strong enough to maintain the maximum output). Also, the air conditioner overall must not be too large, since you only have a balcony solar power system.

Otherwise, the device will constantly switch on and off with every small cloud...

Still, an interesting idea in principle...

However, if the usual operation of a balcony solar power system is planned, this is irrelevant — the air conditioner will simply draw power from the grid as needed...

Thank you for the feedback! I would like to clarify something, as I didn’t make it clear before. As @Jesse Custer correctly pointed out, I want to operate the heating off-grid at times. It’s a weekend house, and I think it would be great if it could warm up the interior a little using “free” (self-generated) electricity, so that it stays dry inside and possibly already preheated before I arrive for the weekend (provided the indoor temperature is not already 20°C (68°F)).

Alright – so I wasn’t completely off.

However, I can’t imagine that would work, because in that case the system would basically have to "know" when to switch on, like “Ah! There’s enough power now, I’ll turn on!”

Because:

- The entire house needs internet with Wi-Fi – otherwise it won’t work.
- The inverter of the balcony system must have Wi-Fi (available, and now almost standard).
- The system’s battery switches automatically, so no specific switching is needed (should be possible).
- The air conditioner can be turned on via Wi-Fi – and here’s the catch: it must not be negatively affected by the “hot” shutdown (i.e., stopping due to power loss).

That’s tricky.

Personally, I’d keep it simpler: I would get an Anker Solix – it handles more than 800 watts, communicates quite extensively, and can store much more based on its size.

The catch based on your idea: the system isn’t 100% “pure” solar-powered – it can’t automatically shut down, so you’d have to manage that yourself. On the other hand, you simply have so much energy that you can easily run a “real” air conditioner… the system communicates via Wi-Fi, and then you just need a controllable air conditioner… should be doable…