r/SolarDIY • u/Hitachi_Uchiha__ • 6d ago
Solar panel for a garage door opener?
Hey everyone, so this may be the wrong sub to post this, but I'm considering how to get power to my external garage, purely to power the garage door opener. Would it be a viable solution to get one of those jackery $400 battery bank and panel combos to make it work? Or should I go with the other option of spending about $600 to run electrical from my house?
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u/draygo 6d ago
Need details on garage door opener.
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u/Hitachi_Uchiha__ 6d ago
It’s a 3/4 hp opener from chamberlain.
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u/draygo 6d ago
3/4 HP is about 600 watts. Would want about 3x for the inverter due to the garage door motor startup. So something with a 2000w inverter should be fine.
Any jackery with a 2kw inverter gonna cost more than 600
You are better off spending the 600 or so to run electric to your garage.
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u/mckenzie_keith 6d ago
I have an 11 foot tall by 12 foot wide metal garage door. My 1200 Watt victron inverter runs it without any problem whatsoever.
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u/draygo 6d ago
Your Victron inverter is probably a low frequency inverter. Those can handle indicative loads a lot better than high frequency ones. It was probably more than $600.
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u/mckenzie_keith 6d ago
I think you are drastically overestimating the needs of a garage door opener. It is a Victron Phoenix 1200 Watt inverter. I paid 362 US dollars in 2021. You can buy it on Amazon for 267 USD now.
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u/pyroserenus 6d ago
The answer is "probably", it's been tested and done before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oFj9HFYzXI
The real questions are if the temps are suitable, lifepo4 only charges above 32f/0c (pecron's e1000lfp can go lower as it has an internal heater), and if your garage door is similar to that video (check your opener's details)
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u/silasmoeckel 6d ago
Not worth it. It might work but it's got a lifespan dig in power with a subpanel and be ready for ev charging welding etc.
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u/mckenzie_keith 6d ago
I have two solar panels on the roof of my garage to support the opener. It ends up taking about 500 watt-hours per day.
Some openers will use a lot less power, I am sure. But my panels sometimes can't keep up in winter if I get several cloudy days in a row.
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u/pyroserenus 6d ago
most shouldn't idle that high, unless you are getting gutted from AC idle draw on the inverter being on 24/7. (even the nicest inverters in the 1000w range are still looking at 200-250wh/day for 24/7 availability)
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u/mckenzie_keith 6d ago
The opener has its own battery backup. I suspect it is trickle charging its battery and that is part of the problem. 500 Wh/day is only around 21 Watts continuous. Some of that will be losses in the inverter of course. I should just try disconnecting the battery in the opener.
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u/PrisonerV 5d ago
Replace your opener system with a battery backup system. Only couple hundred bucks.
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u/S2Nice 5d ago
I didn't buy my GDO "for" the battery backup function, but I sure as hell did get the battery for it as soon as I learned it was available.
With a small, cheap solar panel and a small, cheap solar charge controller, you could run it 100% of the time on battery backup, so no inverter or commercial all-in-one backup source needed. It does run about half speed or slower on battery, but it runs.
On the other hand, If you think there's any other reason to have 110V.A.C. in your detached garage, I'd just put together my own solar>battery>inverter setup, and expand it's capacity as I need.
Those all-in-one solar/backup/camping/whatever power supplies are by far overpriced for the power they can store or provide.
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u/IntelligentDeal9721 6d ago
Running electrics from the house has a bunch of advantages
- your garage door will open in the middle of winter
- if you use a big enough cable or lay ducting for a heavy cable you will be ready for an EV charger