# Solar power swamp cooler



## Rowena (Feb 7, 2008)

Okay I have a swamp cooler, small pump and motor and a 45 watt three panel set-up and an inverter, but it wont' turn over even when hooked up to a fully charged battery? Anyone do this before that can lend a hand, total novice here. I am using it for the greenhouse so it only has to run an hour a day now, but in the Spring I would like to use it to keep the greenhouse cooler for extending my "greens" season. Any ideas?


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

How many watts is your inverter rated at?


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Many motors, especially old ones, draw nearly double the amperage at start than when once running. A squirrel cage fan of any size to accommodate a house would take a lot of pull.

Can you get to the motor to read the rating plate? 

Do you have any grid power at all? If you do you might run it on grid power and use a Kill-a-watt meter to see how much the motor uses. Could you perhaps haul it to a friends house for such a test--if you have or can get a Kill-a-watt meter?


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

As others have suggested at, most likely the inverter is too small. Also motors do not like cheap squarewave or modified sine wave inverters.

I have a feeling that swamp cooler will use in less than 1/2 hour what those 45 watts worth of panels will produce in a day.


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