Can a Solar Generator Power a Whole House? (Complete Info!)

A solar generator can absolutely power a whole house! In fact, many people are now choosing to go completely off the grid and use solar generators as their sole source of energy. Solar generators are becoming increasingly efficient and more affordable, making them a great option for powering a home.

A solar generator is a great way to reduce your reliance on the power grid and cut down on your electricity costs. But can a solar generator really provide enough power to run an entire house? The answer may surprise you!

In this blog post, we will answer the question: how does a solar generator work? and we will also discuss whether or not they can be used to power an entire home. Let’s get started!

Can a Solar Generator Power a Whole House?

A solar generator is an electric generator, which uses solar panels to produce power that can be used in your home. Most people use a solar generator as a backup option.

However, a lot of people might still wonder whether or not a solar generator could be used to power an entire house. There are several solar generators that have enough capacity to power small appliances such as phone chargers in the home.

The short answer is a bit complicated. For you to use a solar generator to power a whole house, a few factors will need to be considered. The first is how many appliances need to be powered.

The second one is the capacity of the solar generator. The capacity of the solar generator refers to how much power the solar generator can produce in a given day.

Other factors to consider are the storage capacity of the solar batteries as well as the amount of cloud cover an area receives.

To decide if solar batteries are worth it for your home, you will need to do some research on how much power your appliances use.

You should also think about how many solar panels it takes to charge the solar generator.

How Does a Solar Powered Generator Work?

Solar generators work by converting sunlight into electrical energy and work differently at night (read our guide on how solar generators work at night). The sun’s rays strike the solar panels and are converted into direct current (DC) electricity. The DC electricity is then stored in batteries.

When the sun is not shining, the stored electricity can be used to power electric devices. Solar generators are a clean and renewable source of energy, and they can be used to power homes, businesses, and even vehicles.

How Do You Connect a Solar Generator to Your Home?

Solar generators can be connected to your home’s electric panel. However, it is important that when connecting solar generators to the home, everything is done the right way. If you fail to do it the right way, it could damage your electric panel as well as the generator.

You will need to acquire the right tools and devices, such as the right power cords, and transfer switches. Since solar generators come with an in-built charge controller and inverter, you will not need to buy them.

Connecting the solar system to your home’s power supply is very easy if you already have grid-tied solar installed. In such an instance, you will already have a grid-tied inverter that feeds solar power to the grid.

As a result, you could simply connect the solar generator via that inverter. If your solar system is independent of the home’s electric system, that will be harder but not impossible.

If you are unsure what size inverter you need or how to go about connecting the solar generator to your home’s electric panel, you should read our guide or consult a professional.

To connect the solar generator, you will need to use a transfer switch. This small device is installed in the electric panel to act as a go-between for the solar generator and electric panel.

A transfer switch is connected to all the circuits in the panel, which means the homeowner can choose which circuits will receive power. They come with safety features that prevent back-feed.

A transfer switch alternates power between the grid and the solar generators. These switches make it easy to manage the power supplied to a home.

For instance, if the grid has failed, you could just want to power the lights and refrigerator, instead of the whole home.

In general, you will have three options when picking which transfer switches to use with your solar generators.

Automatic Transfer Switch

These switches recognize a power outage automatically, and they begin drawing power from the solar generator. They can shut down the solar generator and switch to utility power as soon as the grid comes back online.

These automatic transfer switches usually cost more. If you often experience power outages and need to keep the power running, they might be a great option. We also have a good guide on how to survive a power outage using solar power.

However, you would need to have connected several solar generators to justify such an expensive undertaking.

Manual Transfer Sub-Panel Switch

This option is affordable compared to the automatic option. However, it needs to be manually turned on.

If you are looking for a way to supply solar generator power to the whole house during occasional outages, this is a great option.

Breaker Interlock Connector

This is one of the most popular options. It costs the least and offers great flexibility. With this option, you can pick which appliances the solar generators will power.

It often comes with an in-built amp meter, which prevents overloading.

What Size of A Solar Power Station Do You Need to Power the Whole House?

Understanding how much power your home consumes on an average, year, month, or day, is important for you to estimate the size of the solar power generator.

Energy usage varies depending on the number of people in the whole house, as well as the number of appliances and how often you use them.

You will also need to consider how much solar generator power the solar panels can generate. This is often dependent on the conditions of your area, including how much sunlight you get, and how much shade covers the roof.

This number is known as the power rating, and it is measured in watts. A typical solar panel will generate 250 watts of solar power.

Once you know the wattage, you need to multiply it by the number of hours it will receive sunlight to understand how much solar generator power it can generate.

If you do not have a lot of space, you should invest in solar panels with a higher power rating, since they will generate power per panel with limited space. However, they cost more, which is something you will think about if you are on a tight budget.

What Is the Best Battery Type for A Solar Generator?

When picking a solar generator to power your whole house, you should opt for one that uses a lithium-ion battery. A major reason for this is that lithium ion batteries can experience deep discharge without any impact on the battery life.

This is not the same with lead-acid batteries, which tend to lose their capacity if they are discharged below 50%.  However, there is also the option to buy one that uses a sealed lead acid battery.

With whole house solar power stations, you must be able to utilize all the power backup in the generator when the grid goes down for extended periods.

Besides that, lithium-ion batteries use up less space, which means that you will not need a huge space to store the solar generator.

FAQ

Final Thoughts

Switching to green energy is an excellent idea, and solar generator power stations offer a great way to access renewable energy.

If you plan to install solar panels, consider installing a solar generator to help you move away from gas-powered backup generators.

While running an entire home using a small power station can be challenging, it is not impossible.

One way to do this is to purchase larger solar generators or multiple solar generators with enough capacity to power your most essential appliances during a grid outage.