Hello World! Welcome Friends! A solar battery can help you get the most out of your solar energy system. With the right battery, you can get a steady power source after sunset or during periods of outages.
That said, shopping for a solar battery can be quite overwhelming–it’s a relatively new concept for most homeowners, and you have a variety of options available. So, to help you choose the best battery for your solar energy system, read this comprehensive solar battery buying guide.
1. Consult a Solar Energy Expert
As mentioned before, most homeowners may have little to no idea about solar energy storage systems. So, trying to find a battery for your solar system on your own may open you to the risk of choosing an unreliable product.
In this case, consider consulting a solar energy expert. Preferably, you should consult the contractor who installed your solar system. However, most solar companies don’t offer solar energy storage systems, so they may not be able to help you. Thus, you want to find a specialized solar company that focuses more on energy storage solutions. Companies like RedEarth can help you find the right storage solution for your solar system, allowing you to power your home, day and night.
2. Understand Different Battery Types
The type of battery is determined by the chemicals used to store energy. While there are several types of solar batteries available, only two types of batteries are competing in the market.
Lead-Acid Batteries
As the oldest form of battery technology, lead-acid batteries are the most reliable option in terms of storage. It’s further categorized into two types: sealed lead-acid batteries (maintenance-free and leak-proof) and flooded lead-acid (requires regular maintenance to operate properly).
Lead-acid batteries are cheaper than other types of batteries. However, these have a shorter lifespan and offer a lower depth of discharge. In addition, their battery capacity is also lower than others.
Lithium-Ion Batteries
While lead-acid batteries offer the best reliability, lithium-ion is recently becoming a favorite for solar storage systems. While relatively new, lithium-ion comes with advanced technology. It’s lightweight, compact, and efficient, making it a preferable option for manufacturers.
Lithium-ion is currently used in most portable devices such as laptops and mobile phones and is now dominating the solar industry. That said, lithium-ion also has its drawbacks. For one, if the battery isn’t properly installed, it could cause thermal runaway and catch fire.
3. Determine Power and Capacity Rating
A battery’s power, which is measured in kilowatts (kW), represents how much electricity it can provide at once. It tells you which and how many appliances you can run at the same time. In general, solar batteries have two power ratings:
Continuous Power Rating
It represents how much electricity the battery can deliver continuously for appliances that require a constant power supply, such as your fridge.
Peak Power Rating
This represents the maximum amount of power a battery can release for a short period, allowing you to keep appliances that need a burst power, such as an air conditioner.
In general, most solar batteries have a 5kW continuous power rating and a 7kW peak power rating. At the very least, look for batteries with these power ratings. However, if you need to power several appliances at once, then look for batteries with higher power ratings.
Other than power ratings, you should also check the capacity. A battery’s capacity rating represents how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power it can store. In short, it tells you how long the battery can power parts of your home.
In general, you should look for batteries with a usable capacity of, at least, 10kWh, which should be enough for most home energy needs while providing a good amount of backup power during a blackout.
4. Check the Round-Trip Efficiency
Round-trip efficiency refers to the amount of energy you can use from the battery versus the amount of energy used by the battery to store that energy. For instance, your solar panels generated 15kWh, but only 12kWh of that electricity was actually stored in your battery. This means that the battery’s system used 5kWh to store and release the energy. This makes the battery’s round-trip efficiency rating 80%, which is the recommended number to look for.
Higher efficiency batteries can help save more money in the long-term as you use more of the energy produced by your panels, instead of being lost to the battery’s operating system.
Takeaway
As more people switch to sustainable living, solar energy systems are becoming more popular and commonplace. If you have an existing solar system that’s only used during the day, consider investing in a reliable solar battery. It helps maximize the benefits of your solar energy system, storing excess solar power during the day and powering your home at night.
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Toodles,
Excellent post!