Solar panels and their batteries are becoming increasingly popular in regions with abundant sunshine. But homeowners are also aware these have limited lifespans, and are keen to know more about extending their value. Today we’ll explain how to stretch your home solar battery life by adapting how you charge it. Although the time will still come when you need a replacement.
Stretch Your Income With Your Home Solar
Statisticians report that more than 35% of households fret about losing their electricity during power outages. Many of them are adopting battery back-up, often teamed with solar as their solution. This can be a big-ticket purchase for many, although nowadays they can turn their cost to an income.
Utilities are turning to home battery systems as partners now, as they replace gas turbines with renewable energy to meet peak demand. Smart homeowners have two income-generating opportunities:
- Buy electricity from their utility when prices are low, and store it in batteries. Sell it back when peak prices are high.
- Add solar panels to charge their home batteries. Sell surplus energy to the utility when peak prices are high and they earn more.
In both cases, householders need to offset the cost of their batteries. It stands to reason the longer these last, the more money they could earn.
How to Make Home Solar Batteries Last Longer
Household storage battery suppliers compete to promise the longest lifespans. Although you may have to visit their websites to discover how to stretch your home solar battery you purchased from them. The bottom line is every time you recharge a battery, it loses a small amount of the energy it can store.
However, we can radically accelerate that process by overcharging a battery, or pushing too much power into it. This is why it pays to purchase a quality battery charger or inverter. With that in place there are two more scenarios to keep your eye on:
- Trickle charging a battery continuously means it flicks between 99% and 100% full. These events add up, and reduce battery capacity and life.
- All batteries gradually degrade to the point their energy-carrying ions cannot hold decent charge. This happens at a faster rate if the battery is hot.
Those are our tips for stretching your home solar battery life span today. Thank you for using renewable energy when you can. Your kids and grand kids will be happy you did. Take care and have a wonderful day!
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