How Does A Whole Home Battery Work?

Whether you are looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle or safeguard your home from the consequences of a power outage, solar batteries can help you store electricity in excess and power your home around the clock. 

In this guide by Generator Supercenter, we’ll look at how whole-home solar batteries work and how they can benefit your lifestyle. Let’s get started. 

What Are Solar Batteries?

If you have installed a solar panel system in your home, solar batteries are an essential component you should consider adding to your electrical infrastructure. But to understand the benefits of solar batteries, let’s start by clarifying what they are and how they work. 

So, what are solar batteries?

Solar batteries are a device that can be connected to your solar panel system to store electricity in excess. This electricity can then be used by your home at nighttime, on cloudy days, during a power outage, or, simply, when your solar panels don’t produce enough electricity.

The purpose of these devices is to help you utilize more of the solar energy you are producing. If you don’t have battery storage, any extra energy generated by solar panels is sent to the grid or wasted, which means you’re not utilizing the electricity to its fullest potential. 

How a Solar Battery Works: What You Need To Know

There are several types of batteries that you could consider installing, including lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, and each of these can offer AC or DC power storage. In this guide, we’ll focus on the most common type of photovoltaic battery available today: lithium-ion batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries function by storing energy through a chemical reaction and then transforming it into electricity. In this type of battery, lithium ions liberate free electrons, which move from the negatively charged anode to the positively charged cathode.

This movement is triggered by the battery’s lithium-salt electrolyte, which is a liquid inside that regulates the reaction by supplying positive ions. The resulting flow of electrons creates electricity that can be used to power your home’s devices. 

Whole home solar batteries that use this technology employ several ion battery cells and advanced technologies to ensure efficiency and safety. 

Solar Batteries and Your Solar Panel System

Whole home lithium-ion batteries work best when connected to your home’s solar panel system. The way the stored energy is delivered to your home changes depending on whether you are using an AC or DC-coupled storage system. Here’s an overview of the two systems:

• DC Coupled Storage: When the solar panels receive solar energy they transform it into DC power. In turn, the DC power is then stored in the connected lithium-ion battery. From here, the DC energy flows into the converter, which transforms it into AC energy that can be used by the devices in your house. 
• AC Coupled Storage: Solar panels receive solar energy, which is then transformed into DC power. The DC power flows into the converter, which transforms it into usable AC electricity. The energy in excess is converted back to DC electricity by another conversion and then stored in the battery. The stored AC power can then be used as needed after being converted back to DC power by the inverter. 

The Benefits of Using a Solar Battery as a Backup Generator

In 2020, the US reported over 1.33 billion outage hours and, according to statistics, America has more power outages than any other developed country. So, when it comes down to safeguarding your home from a lack of electricity, it is important to be prepared and have the right type of system in place – starting with a whole home solar battery. 

Here are the benefits of installing these systems in your home:

Storying Power in Excess

On sunny days or when nobody is home, your solar panel system can generate more energy than you require. If you don’t have battery storage, this excess energy is sent to the grid, leading to financial losses and a waste of electrical resources. 

Instead of sending excess energy to the grid, battery storage allows you to store it in your battery for later use. 

Dealing With Power Outages

If your home uses a hybrid system of solar panels and connections to the local grid, you should be aware of what happens during power outages. Naturally, you might be able to still benefit from the energy produced by your solar panels if the outage happens on a sunny day. However, power outages are more frequently caused by storms and other natural events, which will impair the functioning of the solar panel system too. 

That’s where having a solar battery in place can help. The power storage device gives your house access to electricity during blackouts and other times when the grid is down.

Accessing Electricity at Any Time

If you don’t have any battery storage, you will become more dependent on the grid at times when electricity is most needed, usually at nighttime or during bad weather events. However, simply installing a whole home solar battery can help you take advantage of the stored solar energy that you have not used during the day. 

A Noise-Free Solution To Power Your Home

One of the downsides of gas-powered generators is that these devices can be extremely noisy. That’s where having a solar battery solution can help. Solar batteries are completely silent and deliver energy to your home reliably without causing interference with your daily life.

An Eco-Friendly Way To Live Comfortably Off-Grid

If you have chosen to live sustainably off-grid by installing solar panels, you have certainly taken a step in the right direction. However, this choice can turn out to be burdensome at nighttime, during storms, or when a blackout happens. That’s where an energy storage solution becomes an essential piece of the puzzle! With the right solar battery in place, you can enjoy your off-grid lifestyle in total comfort and safety. 

Installing a Whole-Home Solar Battery: Start Here

When it comes down to choosing the right energy storage solution for your needs, there are several factors to take into consideration – so, it is normal to feel overwhelmed when making a choice! At Generator Supercenter, our goal is to help you choose the best system for your home and deliver premium installation services at an honest price. Get in touch with us to discover your whole home solar battery options.