Whole Home Solar and Battery

What you need to know about Whole Home Solar and Battery.

Introduction

The use of solar in homes has come to stay. In 2022, solar energy accounts for 4.94% of US electrical output. Around 3.2% of U.S. single-family detached homes have installed solar panels. This shows the growing acceptance of the use of house solar.

In this article, we will consider the house solar, the solar battery, and the quantity of battery your solar needs to power your house.

Follow closely.

Whole Home Solar: How it works

Solar panels can power the entire house. Solar panels are multiple photovoltaic (PV) panels. These panels are made up of many solar cells, typically within a string of 60-72 cells. The cells are made of silicon.

 Multiple solar panels, usually around 15-25 panels, are wired together into a solar array. The array can be installed anywhere around the house, so far there is no obstruction to sunlight.

 The sun always releases tiny packets of energy known as photons. Photons are released in bulk quantities such that they can meet the world’s energy needs.

When sunlight hits the panels, the solar cells convert the sun’s photons into electricity. When the photons (from the sun) hits the silicon (in the solar cell), the photons transfer energy to loose silicon electrons. These loose electrons are then channeled into an electric current.

However, the PV panel only generates Direct Current (DC) which is suitable to power very small devices. The DC is also costly to transmit over long distances. Home appliances are generally designed to use Alternating Current (AC).

So, to make solar panels’ DC electricity usable for home appliances, an inverter is used to convert the DC to AC. The inverter feeds AC power to your home’s circuit board at the appropriate voltage. This makes power available to serve electrical loads in your house.

 The inverter can be a large central box where all the solar panels feed into. It can also be a small micro-inverter attached to each solar panel to perform the AC-DC conversion.

Note that when you generate excess solar power than your total electrical loads, you can store the excess energy to the electric grid via your utility meter.

The Solar battery

Without a mechanism to store your solar energy, your solar panels can only function when the sun is shining. Your home appliances would stop working when there is no sunlight.

However, using the solar battery, you can store the energy generated by your solar panels. You can use the energy at any time, even when there is no sunlight. This increases the efficiency of your solar.

There are four different types of batteries you can use with your solar. These are:

• Lithium-ion batteries: These batteries are lightweight, smaller, and efficient. They don’t need to be fully charged before using them. These batteries have a round-trip energy efficiency of 95-98%. They have a low charging cycle, which could be as low as two hours. Also, they have a low self-discharge rate.

However, if not properly installed, Lithium-ion batteries are highly inflammable. This is due to their thermal runaway. They are also relatively costly.

• Lead-Acid batteries: These are the oldest rechargeable batteries. They can only hold minimal energy per kg of weight. They are quite cost-effective and a popular choice for solar batteries.

However, Lead-Acid batteries have a short cycle life of 200-300 discharge charge cycles. They only last about half of how Lithium-ion batteries would last. They are so quite heavy and charge slowly.

• The Nickel-Cadium batteries: The Nickel-Cadium batteries are made of nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium. They are not commonly used for whole house solar. They can tolerate extreme temperatures of 50°C-70°C. They can function at extreme temperatures; so, they are mostly used in the industrial and airline sectors.

The Nickel-Cadium betteries require minimal maintenance and have a long life cycle (2000-2500 cycles). Also, they have a high energy density of around 50-75 Wh/kg.

• Flow batteries: They rely on chemical reactions. The flowing of liquid-containing electrolytes between two chambers within the battery reproduces energy.

To store a large quantity of energy, the tanks containing the electrolyte liquid must be large. So, flow batteries are quite costly.

How many solar batteries do you need for your solar?

This depends on why you are using the solar and how much energy you use. Generally, most solar batteries are 10 kilowatt-hours in size. If you intend to go off-grid, you would need a higher storage capacity of 9-11 solar batteries. If you only want to use solar when the grid is down, one or two solar batteries are enough.

If you intend to use your solar to power energy-consuming gadgets, you need a highly durable battery. For example, if you consume around 0.75-1KW energy per hour, you can use a 13 kwh battery for 13-16 hours. A 10 kwh battery would last for only 10-12 hours in this instance.

Conclusion

To maximize the use of your solar panels, you need to get a quality solar panel. With or without the sunlight, the solar battery keeps your solar up and running all-day.

Contact Sunfuse Solar for a FREE Whole Home Solar quote.