[dablack]

Ok guys. I'm still learning about solar. I would like to use solar for a long term food storage solution. I'm building my house right now and here is the plan. I'm going to put an extra plug behind the two fridges and the deep freeze. These "extra" plugs will go to a seperate breaker box that will eventually be powered by solar. I'm thinking to size it correctly, I will need to know how much power each of those things will use in a day. I believe there is a plug in device that I can use to get an actual reading. Then with that info I can figure out how many watts of panels I will need as well as battery capacity.

1. To save on battery wear, can't I just flip the breaker off at night. If I do it before I go to bed and then turn the breaker back on when the sun is shining, as long as the doors aren't openned too many times, the stuff in the fridges and freezer should stay very cool/frozen. Basically, they wouldn't have power for maybe 12 hours.

2. Just a very rough estimate on cost. From another older post I've figured out that to split the difference between summer and winter that I should have the panels mounted at 30 degrees. I'm putting on a 7/12 roof so that will give me that. My house faces dirrectly solar south and is a two story. I shouldn't have much of a problem with shading. I have NO idea how much a typical fridge or deep freezer uses. These are fridges and freezer that are 2008 or newer. What is your best guess on cost with me doing the install? I'm in east TX.

thoughts?

thanks
Austin