What Should You Look For In A Solar Battery?
There are a few factors that you should consider when it comes to choosing the right solar battery for your home. While a couple of these are common sense there is also a technical contributor called “depth of discharge” that we will go over so you can understand what makes a solar battery right for your new or existing solar power system.
Depth of discharge (DoD) is the capacity that is discharged from a fully charged battery compared to its normal capacity. While it might seem strange, not all batteries are able to release all of the power they have stored. In general batteries should not be discharged completely as this cuts their lifespans significantly and the amount of times a battery is charged and then discharged will determine its lifespan.
So if we take this into consideration it becomes clear that a higher DoD will give us a longer lasting battery as we can draw more from each cycle, using more of our stored energy to get the most savings possible. Technological improvements have seen solar batteries attain higher and higher DoD ratings over the past few years with modern lithium ion batteries advertising a DoD of 100%.
Aside from the batteries DoD rating we also need to look at its power capacity. In order to work out the right capacity for your needs you will need to work out what your expected power draw is during the evening and what the goal for your battery is. Are you looking to be completely self-sustainable or are you happy enough to still draw from the grid if needed? Talking with a solar consultant can be very helpful in working this out.
The last factor we should be considering is on the consumer end with promised lifespans and warranties. Protection against failures, malfunctions and the ability to get support is vital when undertaking any part of a solar power installation. Typically a warranty for a solar battery will be measured in years or cycles, whatever comes first.
