This article is one that came about from questions of one of our readers. He asked what is the ideal battery for a solar system?
This is not a simple answer, that the answer depends on the setting. For the most part the answer I present what would be ideal in most cases.
Most solar setups with a 12-volt DC setup. This is ideal for performing low-voltage lights, as you might have in an RV or cabin or even something like a solar-powered electic fence for cattle. For a system that is more hybrid, you will probably want a battery bank and an inverter to the 12 volt (or more) DC system, in a 120-volt AC system that gives you much more flexibility that it runs most of the items plugged convert that you might use in a household.
The battery in a hybrid setup solar power setup often leads to confusion when it comes to beginners.
Let us start with the types of batteries. There are a variety of batteries, such as a wet cell battery (often used in golf carts) or sealed and gel batteries. Each type will have different requirements for temperature, assembly and how it ventilated. The type is not as important as whether or not it is a deep cycle battery.
One of the most important factors for a solar setup is that the battery is a deep cycle battery. For the beginner, this only means a battery that is designed to charge and often and be able to be run on a very low point load. Most batteries lose life when discharged to very low levels regularly. This makes them a poor candidate for a solar power setup.
So you need to look for deep cycle batteries such as those for golf carts, boating, RVs, etc. The lowest price segment is the 6 volt batteries you will find in golf carts. 12 volts will be those expensive and often run as much as $ 200 dollars or more. The difference is how much of a charge it will hold, but that's for another article.
With these deep cycle batteries you can have multiple batteries to connect to the power and storage capacity that greatly increase the amount of energy to your system for hours, if you do not store the electricity from your solar panels to increase.
Hopefully now you know to look for what kind of battery to hook your solar system.
