How Many Solar Batteries Are Needed To Power Your House?
If you are thinking of setting up a solar energy system, you might not be sure about how many solar batteries you will need. Different homes have different power usage levels and this plays a part in the choice of the solar energy system to install. When it comes to figuring out the number of solar batteries needed in your house, here is what you need to know.
Why Batteries matter
Having solar batteries as part of the solar energy system offers numerous benefits to homeowners. These benefits include the ability to store excess energy for use when solar energy generation slows down. Most homeowners purchase solar batteries in order to have access to solar energy at night. Solar batteries can also serve as a backup power source in case of a blackout. For most homeowners, the idea behind storing solar energy is so that they can have access to solar power at night. This means that solar energy capacity is for powering the house for a few hours at night.
Understand Your Energy Needs
Different homes have different energy usage patterns. What this means is that the first step towards understanding the battery capacity needed is to understand consumption patterns. One of the best ways of going about this is to do an energy audit of your house which will give you a clearer understanding of your energy needs. This is not just about the total energy needed by your household but also usage patterns. When are the spikes and when are the dips in energy consumption levels.
Once this is done, you should then match your energy consumption with the right battery using the following parameters.
Battery Capacity
This refers to the amount of energy that a battery is able to store. Obviously, this will be a key parameter for you. The benefits of an energy audit become clear at this stage. Since energy usage is likely to dip at certain hours, this factors into the choice of battery capacity. if the battery is only meant to store energy for night use, a household will know precisely how much energy they need during the night.
Power Rating
The next parameter to consider is the power rating. This looks at how much energy output the battery can produce at any given time. This helps a homeowner to understand how many lights and how many devices can the battery power at the same time. Depending on user preferences identified during the audit, a homeowner should select a battery with a power rating that corresponds to the home’s energy use.
Depth of Discharge
This parameter looks at the amount of power that is used by the battery. The reason why this matters is that some batteries cannot be entirely emptied of charge. What this implies is that a homeowner should then ensure that the depth of Discharge of any battery purchased is higher than the minimum required energy. This way, there will always be some charge left in the battery.
When mapping out the number of batteries that you will need for your house, it is best to get professional help. A solar energy expert will guide you on the most optimal setup possible.