Do you like outspanning? Use solar panels to make it real. Solar energy is the best supply of renewable power to consider. It is very clean, easy to use, and becomes very useful for your own power sources in a house or a cottage. 200 watts? That can power a ton of things. Down here, we will talk about exactly what a 200 watt solar panel can do, how it functions, what it costs, and if you can prefer it for camping. Ready? Let's start!
How Do 200 Watt Solar Panels Work?
This system captures the rays from the daylight and turns them into energy. This happens owing to the photovoltaic effect. The panels comprise many solar cells, normally made of silicon. When the sun shines on the collectors, the electrons in the cells get excited and create an electric field.
This energizes the electrons, which causes them to move and then form an electric current. The solar cells are strung together in the panel so that as the number of electrons joining the flow increases, so does the force of the current.
The current that comes out of the panel, however, is direct current (DC), which is not what most homes use. It needs to be changed into alternating current (AC), which is what most appliances need. This change is done by inverters.
The panel will be able to power your devices directly from AC current then. However, note that the amount of power that is available to you, in this case, can indeed be location-dependant and weather-sensitive.
So, a 200-watt solar panel basically just turns sunlight into electricity and runs your household appliances and, obviously, helps our planet.
What Can You Run off a 200 Watt Solar Panel?
Picture yourself waking up in the morning in this snug cabin embraced by the bosom of nature, where electricity has already been quietly streaming in by virtue of that 200-watt solar panel. You power up your radio, make yourself a cup of coffee, power up your laptop; all of it smoothly running off that solar panel.
But what about those larger appliances? For a larger appliance like an electric blanket, a vacuum cleaner, or even a 65-inch LED TV, this 200-watt panel could cater to these. Going camping? Your 200W panel is up for that as well. It can power a PlayStation, a small energy-efficient refrigerator, and several chargers, making your camping trip a luxurious experience.
However, to harness the full capacity of your solar panel, you’ll need a battery to store the captured solar energy. A couple of 200-watt panels will probably suit your tiny house well if you're conservative in your energy consumption. Remember, though, if you have further plans to go completely off-grid, maybe you would want more panels.
But remember, if you are going for renewable energy while remaining on the grid, at 200W you can face some challenges. On the other hand, a 200-watt panel would allow you to work with many solar developers and installation companies, since it's a standard residential-size panel.
The time that you can run your home appliances and other gadgets is only purely dependent on the quantity of energy stored in your battery, once you are through with the setting up of the system. Your battery stores excess solar energy for later use, and if weather conditions allow your panel to generate about 800 watt-hours of energy, you’d be able to run appliances with a collective wattage of 200W for about four hours.
So, what would you run on a 200-watt solar panel? So much, actually. The collector runs from small to big appliances, giving a wider range on what one can energize.
How Much Power Will a 200 Watt Solar Panel Produce?
What if you could have one daylight collector worth 200 wattage of energy per single hour? That would be fantastic, isn't it? Well, in a perfect world where the beams are shining every time and the temperature is always just perfect, it will be real. In reality, however, the conditions are not that perfect. The weather could have changed, the temperature risen or fallen, the panel could be adjusted or not, and sun exposure can be influenced by your location or the season.
A 200-watt solar panel is going to give close to 800 watt hours of electricity on a sunny day in the case when it has four complete hours of the sun hitting it. Not bad. But how about if it were to get eight full hours of sun? Then it can produce up to 1.6kWh of energy. That's twice as much!
Watts tells you how much power a solar panel can make from the sun. The more sun it gets, the more power it makes. A 200-watt solar panel can generate, at the most, 200 watts of power, but in real-time, it's for sure less. Some 200 wattage collectors would produce enough energy for your small home, hut, or tent.
What Is the Cost of a 200 Watt Solar Panel?
If you want a daylight collector that is cheap and small, consider a fixed, non-foldable one. But if you care for a panel that will be easy to handle and store, then you should care to spend a bit more for a foldable, portable one. A great choice of a panel would be a 200-watt panel in case you are after saving on space but at the same time do not want to miss on enough power.
But take note that you are not only going to expend money for the price of the 200-watt solar panels or kits. You should also factor in the installation cost. Diying it, that's hard and risky unless you really know what you're doing. You can get a professional to do it, and it would save you time, work, and maybe money. Basically, in average terms, the installation will cost you about 10% of your total cost for the solar system.
Now, let us let you in on one of the best 200 watts collectors you can get—the BLUETTI PV200 Solar Panel. It costs C$599.00 and has monocrystalline sunlight cells with the capability to convert up to 23.4% of the sunshine's energy into power. It is of a tough ETFE coating that increases its life as well. It has a foldable and portable design to is perfect for traveling. Works with most solar generators having MC4 connectors, so you can use it with different devices. It also comes with a twelve months warranty hence there is nothing you have to worry about. This equipment is a reliable, robust, and versatile way to get current.
Can I Use a 200 Watt Solar Panel for Camping?
Planning a Caravanning journey? Definitely, you must be asking, "Is a 200 wattage sunlight collector enough?" Nice, it depends.
A 200-watt panel will serve a small van or RV, but it doesn't give you a lot of room for making errors. Some folks say that 200 watts is the lowest you can go for an RV setup. What's most important is how much energy your devices and appliances consume.
On average, a small 12-volt fridge takes between 30 to 55 Ah (amp hours) in a day, which is quite remarkable even for a small one. The refrigerator is always a big challenge in cases of small solar systems. Since you have to keep the fridge on all the time, this doesn't leave much power for anything else.
You may get by with 200 watts, in case the RV or van is a small one and you have no use for too much energy. Still, it may be something you would want if you were running more watts or had more batteries to recharge when required.
There are various sizes that RVs come in, and the size of the RV will definitely affect the wattage of the generator chosen and the appliances within the RV. A big RV, with a TV, big fridge, air-conditioner, etc., probably needs at least four 200-watt solar panels just to solarize it. And even that is likely pushing it.
On the other hand, a single 200-watt panel could be right for a small van with just a couple of appliances, but it would be a bit tight. Hence, having made these considerations, you will need to carefully look at your energy requirements if you are to determine whether a 200-watt solar panel is the right fit for your camping trip.
Final Thoughts
After all, one cannot say that a 200-watt solar panel is the most powerful, but it's smaller size and greater usability flexibility when it comes to using make it a pretty good choice if you need to run smaller devices or, let's say, save some money on electricity. You may want to consider more outside factors that can affect how much energy the solar panel can make and see if the 200-watt solar panel would be a good fit for you. These collectors are so popular because they benefit both people and the planet. Going solar has an initial outlay and in a way, maintenance later on, but in a sense, the benefits of no or low electricity bills and a smaller environmental impact make it absolutely worth it.
