DAY 19:BATTERIES,SOME MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW (pt 2)

 Day 19 of #100daysofsolarnuggets

Hello everyone,
So today we are going to continue from where we stopped yesterday.

FACTORS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING BATTERIES FOR YOUR SOLAR INSTALLATION

.3) Capacity
Batteries store electricity, they do not generate electricity, so how much electricity they can store is a very important factor you must look out for. Your current electrical usage should form the basis for the capacity of the battery bank you need.

Generally you add up two or more batteries in series or in parallel, most times you do a combination of both series and parallel connections of your batteries to get a battery bank. This is because more often than not, a single battery may not be sufficient for your energy needs.

Batteries are usually rated in this format “12V  150AH”.
(AH = ampHours), 150AH means that ideally this battery can give you a current of 15amps for 10 hours (15amp x 10hours = 150AmpHours) or a current of 30amps for 5 hours (30amps x 5hours = 150AH).Note the amount of current you draw from your battery depends on the appliances you have on it. If your devices/appliances require a lot of power, your battery drains faster and if your appliances do not require much power, it does not drain as fast. Therefore the more appliances you have the higher the capacity of batteries you would need.

Please do note it is very important to use similar batteries in your solar installation.(would explain more about this when I discuss about battery sizing)








.4) Cycle life
This is simply how many times the battery can be discharge and charged before it fails or it can no longer be charged to its full capacity. A cycle occurs when a battery has discharged (electrical energy has been used) and then it is charged to its full capacity. Typical lead acid batteries if properly used have life cycles in the range of 300 – 500cycles, Lithium batteries can go a lot higher as much as 1500cycles.

A very critical factor that affects the Life cycle of any battery is the Depth of Discharge (DOD).

The recommended Depth of discharge value for a deep cycle battery is 50%, Please note it is very important not to discharge your deep cycle batteries below 50%, discharging your batteries below 50% considerable reduces its overall lifespan.

Also ensure your batteries are charged fully after discharge, this would ensure your batteries last long.





Tomorrow we would be looking at How to maintain your batteries

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Day 19 of #100daysofsolarnuggets