By A Renewable Energy Enthusiast

A home solar power system consists of multiple parts and components. Each individual unit plays a very important role. Among all the parts, the weak link in the entire system is none other than the battery bank.

With today’s modern deep cycle batteries and sophisticated charge controlling devices, total battery bank failure is rare but they do happen.

They following are 6 tips on how you can maintain the lifespan of a residential home solar energy battery bank.

1) Proper sizing.

When designing your home solar power system, make sure you size the battery bank properly. Here’s a rule of thumb, design the batteries to be able to handle at least 5 days of load.

It is always a good idea to size the battery larger than your home power demand. Reason being your power demand will increase after some time and the deep cycle batteries will lose it power output after a few years. Over designing the system will compensate for battery power loss and increased demand.

2) Invest in premium batteries.

The batteries basically supply all the power when the sun is out. If possible, invest in high-quality batteries. It costs more compared to normal grade batteries but it will worth your investment in the long run.

3) Cut down on parallel stringing.

When designing the battery bank, try not to have more than 3 parallel battery strings. Doing so, it system will lose its equalization thus resulting is rapid battery plates failure.

When you have a problem with the battery system, it is hard to pinpoint which faulty plate is stealing power from surrounding cells and the entire system will suffer.

4) Watch out for corrosion.

Corrosion on battery usually occurs on the terminals and cables. This can be a potential hazard and at the same time increases the resistance on the system.

It is not very difficult to prevent corrosion on battery. All you need to do is apply a non hardening sealant on all the metal parts before connecting them together. The sealant will prevent acid from coming into contact with the metal surface therefore preventing corrosion.

5) Controlling surrounding temperature.

A deep cycle battery will lose up to 25% of its charge capacity when kept in a low surrounding temperate of 30 degree Fahrenheit. When the temperature rises, the battery will deteriorate faster. Therefore, it is best to keep the batteries in an ideal temperature.

6) Compensate for temperature changes.

During winter time, the batteries are cold thus require a higher charge voltage limit in order to reach full charge. During summer, warm batteries require a lower voltage limit to prevent overcharging. This is known as temperature compensation.

The temperature compensation process can be done automatically by many charge controllers in the market. When buying a charge controller, get one with the temperature compensation feature.

DIY Home Solar Power System

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If you are planning to build your own home solar power system to reduce your monthly electricity bill, you need to understand the key components of the system.

A residential solar power system consists main of 4 key components which are the solar panels, charge controller, battery bank and power inverter. There are other smaller solar parts that support the entire system such as voltage meter, amperage meter, cut off safety fuses, disconnect switch and copper cables.

For a home solar energy setup, you can’t use the power as when you needed it. Meaning, if you need solar power to run your television at night, you won’t be able to because there is no sunlight. The Photovoltaic (PV) cells can only work when the sun is out.

Therefore, the system has to be setup up to harness all the energy during the day and store it in a battery bank so it can be used later.

DIY Domestic Battery Bank

When you are building the battery bank, the best battery for the job is deep cycle type. This kind of battery is mainly found on electric golf carts. They are very durable and can be discharged to a very low level without damaging its internal plates.

One type of battery that I’ve seen to be suitable for a home solar power system is the 12 volt sealed battery from Advanced Gel Technology.

The battery has 105 amp hour which will run your electrical appliances throughout the night. It is made from Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) meaning it is sealed and would not have any spillage.

Size wise, the battery is 12” x 6.6” x 8.2”. The battery measurement is pretty standard. Durability wise, it will last for 3000 charge cycle if you were to use it at 15% Depth Of Discharge (DOD).

How many 12 volt batteries do you need for your home use?

The actual number will depend on your power requirement. If you have multiple electrical appliances connected to the solar power system, you may need 4 – 6 units wired in parallel to provide you all the juice you’ll need.

Because the Advanced Gel Technology is AGM, it costs more compared to other conventional deep cycle battery but it gives you a good level of convenience.

How much does it cost? The battery is selling at $249.99 per unit from Amazon.com with free shipping. To get your unit of the AGM battery from Amazon.com, click here.

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One of the key components of a home solar power system is the battery bank. All the power generated by the solar panel will go to the charge controller and end up in the battery.

The kind of battery used for a residential solar power system is the deep cycle type or marine boat batteries. The number of battery needed will depend on your energy requirement.

Since you are going to spend substantial amount of money on the battery bank, it makes sense to take good care of them. One way of doing so is to regularly check the fluid in the battery. In order to do this, you will need to learn how to use a battery hydrometer.

How do you use the hydrometer?

The battery hydrometer is a glass tube with a suction bulb that draws the electrolyte from the battery into the tube. When that happens, the float inside the tube begins to rise.

On the float, you will see some markings on it. You can see a long red strip, a narrow white strip and then a little wider green strip.

How do the markings work?

Well, if it floats off and it’s in the green marking, that means the battery is in pretty good shape. When more of the float sticks out of the electrolyte in the glass tube, meaning the stronger the battery is.

If it floats up until the white strip, that means the battery is only in a fair shape. If the electrolyte goes up into the red strip marking, the battery really needs to be reconditioned.

When that happens, the charge controller may not be able to charge the battery to its full potential with the energy from the solar panel. You may have to pull out the battery and send it for servicing and to get a full recharge.

What will happen if you were leave the battery there?

If you were to do so, the battery will reached a critical level of discharge and it may damage the battery permanently. As a good practice, a battery should not be discharged beyond the 50% mark before recharge.

Although a deep cycle battery can handle deep level discharge, doing it too often will reduce its efficiency.

If you are looking for a battery hydrometer for your home solar system

battery bank, check out the Imperial 5991 Battery Test Hydrometer. You can get it cheaply from Amazon.com.

Related web pages:

1) Michael Harvey Earth 4 Energy Review – Reviewing top selling DIY home solar power system guide on the web.