The Best Batteries For A Home Solar Power System

Posted by writer on December 3rd, 2009 at 06:39pm

If you’re wondering what type of battery is the best to use with a solar power system, this article will give you the answer. If you are planning to install a solar power system and you want to use electricity when the sun isn’t shining, you’ll require a way to store the power generated when the sun is shining. Batteries, when used together with a solar charge controller, will store electricity while it is being produced by the solar panels and then let you make use of the stored energy later. But, what is the best kind of battery to use?

The first question you might have is about the newer battery technologies used in hybrid cars or laptops or ipods. Those battery types are great for these devices, but aren’t a very good fit for solar as you’ll see.

Size and weight is the biggest advantage these types of batteries have. The biggest drawback to these batteries is price versus the older batteries. These newer types of batteries make devices like cell phones more expensive, but they allow the devices to me much smaller and lighter and in these applications size and weight are more important than cost.

Your solar power installation, though, is going to stay in one place. Capacity, in contrast, is going to be very important. So, price per watt/hour of capacity is going to be much more important than size and weight.

If you want the best value for a given battery capacity, you can’t beat regular sealed lead acid. The battery in your car is sealed lead acid. Sealed lead acid batteries will be 50-25% the cost of the newer battery types for similar capacity. For toughness, low cost and safety, you can’t bead sealed lead acid batteries.

In most solar power systems you will find 12v sealed lead acid batteries. 12, 24 or 48 volts are the most common voltages for solar systems. Any of these voltages can be conveniently generated by tying together the right quantity of 12 volt batteries in series. You then take these groups of batteries tied together in series and wire the groups in parallel to increase the amount of power you can store and then later release from the batteries.

Since you are using 12 volt batteries, a 12 volt solar charger will be perfect. The charge controller lowers the amount of power applied to the batteries as they get more charged to prevent overcharging.

A power inverter will allow you to supply power to appliances you would normally plug into the wall . To mix power from your batteries and from the power company, or to sell excess electricity back to the power company, you will need a grid tie inverter. If not, a standard power inverter will be cheaper and work fine for your standard appliances.

That’s the whole story. While the newer, high efficiency technology is best for solar panels, old fashioned technology is best when it comes to batteries for a home solar power system. If you’re planning a home solar power system, you should use sealed lead acid batteries.

Tags: 12 volt solar charger, grid tie inverter, solar charge controller, solar power batteries

Under Uncategorized