How Does a Solar Battery Bank Work?
Solar batteries can be a great way to keep you charged, your recreational vehicles moving, and your devices powered. But you don’t want to send energy collected from your solar panels straight to your device. Instead, you need to direct that energy into a battery bank to allow for storage and use. But how do these solar battery banks work?
First, all solar battery and energy systems should be customized to fit your specific needs. Each part of the system is dependent on each other and dependent on your application. The battery bank is going to be most dependent on the load and the time the load is used. Our solar calculator can be a great tool to help you figure out the number of needed solar panels and batteries in your bank to run your specific application.
Now, let’s assume you’ve got your solar panels set up. The next step is to add a solar controller. Why is this important to a battery bank? The solar charge controller helps prevent the batteries in your bank from overcharging and prolongs the life of your batteries.
Next, it’s time to set up the battery bank. A battery bank is simply the result of joining two or more batteries together for a single application. In theory, you can connect as many batteries together as you want, but when you start to construct a tangled mess of batteries and cables, it can quickly get confusing. And that confusion can turn dangerous. Make sure you keep in mind the requirements for your application and stick to them. And for safety, avoid mixing and matching batteries of different sizes that you had in your garage or hand-me-downs from Uncle Bob. Consistency in your battery size will keep your solar battery bank safe and running smoothly.
Depending on the number of batteries you need in your bank, you may find it helpful to draw a simple diagram first of how the batteries will be connected to each other with input and output.
There are two ways to successfully connect two or more batteries to each other to form the battery bank for your solar system. These are a series join or a parallel join. We’ve created a simple tutorial video which will help you better understand these two methods for joining batteries to form your bank. Take a look.
Finally, to be able to use the energy stored in the battery bank you’ve set up, you’ll need to connect it to an inverter. This allows you to plug in your application and get moving.
For those of you who don’t deal with this every day, we know it can be confusing trying to determine the exact needs to create a solar-powered battery bank system for your application. Don’t fret, give us a call. We can help you determine the number of solar panels and batteries you’ll need, along with the best configuration for creating your system. Contact our helpful staff by email or call us at 1-800-362-5397.
