Solar energy systems are reasonably robust and long-lasting, and given that the equipment used including solar panels, solar inverters and batteries are all of high quality and manufactured to a higher standard, you can expect to get much life out of them. The average life of a solar energy system exceeds two decades or twenty years, but sometimes, with good care and maintenance, you can extend the lifespan of your solar energy equipment considerably. Here are some tips to extend the life of your solar battery to get more use out of it.

Solar batteries, much like the rest of the batteries including those in your phones, laptops and even cars, are rechargeable, and therefore, have a limited efficiency lifespan. This means that after the passage of a certain amount of time, the battery will lose its usability, and its efficiency will be a lot less than the advertised metrics. But you can always extend the life of your battery; here are some tips that can help you do that.

Extending the life of your solar battery: Important tips

It is important to note here that in a solar energy system, numerous batteries are connected in a bank in a string-like configuration to help maximise the storage capability and allow for the maximum utilization of solar energy. With this in mind, let us look at the best tips that can help us extend the life of solar batteries.

i. Keep the number of batteries low

For high-yield systems, many people use multiple batteries at one time to increase storage capacity. While this is good, from the battery standpoint, this increases resistance per connection to each battery, and this resistance contributes to uneven charging. Uneven charging degrades the performance and the lifetime of the battery over time, so keeping the number of batteries in a system low will help extend the lifespan of the battery.

ii. Ensure optimal charging consistently

Batteries are designed to store charge in for extended periods of time. Doing the exact opposite of leaving them uncharged for extended periods of time can cause their lifespan to shorten and may reduce the efficiency of the internal components of the solar battery. Therefore, always keep your batteries adequately charged at all times.

iii. Ensure optimal maintenance at all times

Cleaning the battery terminals, giving the batteries a wipe down every now and then and ensuring the batteries go through the overhaul process with each solar energy system maintenance are important parts of the tips to increase the life of your solar battery. Doing so can extend the solar battery’s lifespan and allow you to get more use out of it.

iv. Let the batteries get rid of excessive hydrogen gas

The solar battery has a chemical makeup that requires chemical reactions inside it to store electricity. This means that after a full charging cycle, the batteries will need to release all the built-up hydrogen gas, which usually happens around the 14Vdc mark. This is to ensure that this harmful build up of gasses within the battery does not downgrade the performance of the battery or affect the storage capacity in any way. This may also be a way to prevent un towards accidents, since hydrogen gas can be dangerous in a charged environment like battery.

Allow the batteries to vent this gas and also ensure that ample ventilation is around the system so that excess hydrogen gas may be able to escape.

v. Battery equalization

Equalisation, also known as controlled overcharging of the solar battery, is an important process that can help you get the most out of the battery and also extend its life longer. You see, in a solar battery, individual cells exist that hold the charge, and since there are numerous batteries in a string configuration, not all the cells of a battery are charged ideally and to the full capacity. This means that these cells don’t reach their full- charge capacity regularly, and this can lead to sulfation within the plates of the battery, which can downgrade the storage capacity of the battery.

By overcharging the batteries, you can ensure that cells not reaching their maximum charge capability will be charged adequately, which in turn helps the battery maintain constant charge levels throughout its life, allowing for its life to be extended.

The best solar batteries in UAE with Beacon Energy

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