Solar energy limitations?

I was watching a television program about a couple who lived off the grid, powering their home with solar energy. The program mentioned that they couldn't use a toaster, microwave, or hair dryer but didn't explain why that was the case. Can you explain this to me? I want to convert to all solar eventually but I can't imagine not being able to use the microwave.

Solar energy limitations?

You can power any appliance with solar power, but their setup may not have been able to do so.

At a guess, the people who you saw on TV had a setup which provided DC (direct current) and were using dedicated appliances and were simply unable to buy a DC microwave.

Hairdryers are very energy hungry (they use around 2kW - or enough to power round 75 energy efficient lightbulbs) so it may just not be practical to use a hairdryer.

If you get around to going solar, you can get a system which will run on AC (like most of your existing appliances use), but you will probably end up paying more for it.

Solar energy limitations?

you can always use the old fashion way, take mirrors and put food in the middle and then have the sun reflect the heat onto the food. or at nighttime you can start up a fire and cook a real hearty chicken. and a hair dryer is a unecessary luxury item so you don't need it

Solar energy limitations?

sounds like they were only generating just enough energy to get by and that they could not support the added load of a microwave or hair dryer.

For them i would recommend getting one more solar panel and connecting it to the array.

In general the only limitations to solar power is the amount of available area a person has on their roof or in their yard. with the inverters and step ups and batteries available now, solar can be used pretty much anywhere.

Solar energy limitations?

As others have suggested, it was probably because the couple didn't have enough solar panels to power that level of energy usage. The other thing to consider for off-grid living is certain appliances such as TVs and microwaves draw a very large current for a short period of time when they are first turned on. This current can be more than 10 times the current they normally need to run... Even if the couple's inverter (the device to convert the DC power from the solar panels into AC power for use in the home) seemed big enough to power the wattage of the appliances, it may not have been enough to overcome the big surge they need when starting.

Incidentally, you can now buy DC microwaves, refrigerators and TVs - the RV and boat users have made them popular. They use much less power than their AC equivalents.

Solar energy limitations?

I have a small solar electric system and I use it on the microwave, toaster oven, Large TV, Small TV, desk top computer and laptop. I use it for lighting, making coffee and my girlfriend uses here 1850 watt hair drier on and curling irons as well.

Sounds like the program you was watching was of some off griders that did not want to be modern. People live how they want to live and some just simply feel that a microwave is not like living in the old days. But why should you live hard when you could live easy.

Solar is not made to help you use less. It is made so you can use more and not hurt the planet at the same time. We are not going to go backwards in time.

Solar energy limitations?

Toaster may need a high current supply , which could be a limitation.