This is a request we get daily. The range is so huge that we wonder if 5 kva and 10 kva are nothing but numbers that have no real measurement to the individual making the request.
5 kva is 4 Kw and 10 kva is 8 kw.
Let is do actual measurements for you to get an actual idea of how much power you consume.
I currently have a 3000 watt inverter, two 30 amp mppt charge controllers, 480 AH in flooded batteries and 2000 watts in panels.
Connected to my 3000 watt inverter from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru Friday are:
1. refrigerator
2. A freezer
3. A ceiling fan
4, 2 walls fans
5. 1 standing fan
6. 5 laptops
7. 1 laser printer
All these pull between 550 and 600 watts.
I also have a pumping machine, an electric iron that I use when I want to iron, a 32 inch TV, another wall fan, a microwave and my lights at night.
The pumping machine is over sized for the house 2 hp, it pulls 1500 watts. The microwave is defective it pulls over 1300 watts. The iron is an iron it pulls over 1200 watts. My TV, fan and lights are negligible next to the others.
The question that you will ask is; what is on at the same time?
Number 1 to 7 are on during the day. We turn off number 1 if we want to pump water. We do the same if we are ironing.
At night the freezer, 2 fans, lights and on some evenings the TV (for a few hours) are on till the morning.
On sunny days I average 6000 to 8000 watt hours in production which is more than enough to handle my consumption and put something back into my batteries. In the morning I wake up to batteries that have over 75% left. Some mornings I wake up to batteries that are over 90% full.
My 3 kw is equivalent to 3.6 kva. In January we will add additional panels so that we can power a 1 hp AC on a sunny day.
So when someone asks for a 5 kva and or a 10 kva, I ask myself what are they thinking about? Do they really need a machine that big or could something smaller do the job?
So when next you want to purchase solar or an inverter ask for a calculation of your loads. Don’t assume the size that you want.
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