Batteries can be very confusing?

Solar storage Batteries can be very confusing?

There are so many different types and brands of batteries on the market today; it’s no wondering the general public get confused. What is a Gel battery? What is an AGM battery? What is a free flow lead acid battery, the list goes on and on. Manufacturers of batteries are always bringing out a new product, confusing things even more. Consumers who are now building banks of batteries to store solar power are probably amongst the most confused at the moment, not knowing and understanding which batteries are the best to use at a

Typical bank of solar storage batteries

reasonable price.

In my opinion one of the best batteries for use in solar power storage is the Trojan battery from the USA. These batteries are awesome, and not too much more expensive than normal lead acid batteries. Trojan have developed batteries to be used in heavy industry ensuring a maximum battery life, All that is required is that you add distilled water to the battery cells at regular periods and do not let the levels dip below the battery cell tops.

Trojan are true deep cycle batteries, which is what you want in solar battery storage. The Trojan batteries are designed to give you 1.500 cycles at an 80% depth of discharge. These batteries also stand up to high and low temperatures and therefore are suitable for remote locations and wilderness conditions. These batteries are designed to optimum performance in conditions where they may operate in a partial state of charge, given the fluctuations that occur when pursuing storage from renewable energy applications in different levels of sun light that may be available to the user.

In many solar battery banks Trojan recommend that you use deep cycle flooded batteries rather than AGM batteries, primarily because of the price. Also because Trojan use wide plates in the battery construction, then the period that the batteries have to be topped up is much further apart, with minimum battery servicing required.

Trojan batteries have duel container protection

The industrial line of Trojan batteries can be purchased in the UK from www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk. They are made up of 2 volt cells that are bundled together or stand alone and contained in a second container to supply high capacity in 2 volt, 4 volt or 6 volt solutions. The battery casings are made from very tough polyethylene material and are extremely tough protecting the battery against most type of damage and acid leaks..

One thing to remember though is that these batteries are extremely heavy and information about them for solar storage use can be found on their website…http://www.trojanbatteryre.com/Markets/Renewable_Energy_Residential.html  

There are many different brands of this type of battery on the market and the best advice I can give is to have a look at the products and the price and come to your own conclusion. All in can say is that Trojan batteries are a world leader and have a great deal of experience in setting up different sizes of solar power banks of storage batteries all over the world. This information can be seen on their website and goes into great detail of the requirements of the individual communities, including whole island situations and smaller village situations in countries as far away as Africa and South America.

A typical trojan battery

Other company’s products can use AGM batteries. These batteries also come in to the deep discharge category and are also suitable for the job of solar energy storage, but a trend that is slightly worrying me, is the use of so called leisure batteries for the electricity storage purpose.

These batteries have been developed for leisure vehicle usage. These batteries are usually 110 amp leisure batteries and are very popular. I do know that some of my customers are buying these batteries for the purpose of solar storage, but in my opinion they are not the best batteries for the job. You should be looking at deep cycle batteries in free flow lead acid or AGM batteries. These will give you a better battery life span and although the cost of these batteries is much higher they will pay for themselves in the long run by perhaps doubling their life span when compared to the 110 amp leisure battery.

Disclaimer

Please note these are the words and opinion of the author (Eric Roberts) only. Neither the author nor the website can be held responsible for any errors or omissions. You should seek professional assistance if in doubt about your choice of battery. The article contains a link to Batteriesontheweb where you can buy all of the products mentioned.