Deep Cycle Batteries

You will need to make a decision to what exactly you are intending to do with the solar power you harvest from your solar panels. The majority of people, when they begin with renewable energy, will probably choose to store the electrical power generated in batteries, for use at a later date, these need to be Deep Cycle Batteries.

There are a number of different types of batteries on the market, and you should really total up exactly how much electrical power you want to store and for how long. If you simply want electrical power for a number of low power room lighting options for your home, then a single small to medium sized battery will in all probability be adequate.

Many people who have recreational vehicles recreational vehicles and boats are acquainted with deep cycle batteries. These batteries are also wide-spread in golf carts and major solar power systems (the sun produces power during the day and the batteries store some of the energy for use overnight).
 
Both car batteries and deep cycle batteries are lead-acid batteries that make use of precisely the same chemistry for their operation. The big difference is in the method that the batteries optimize their design:

A car's battery is specifically created to produce an extremely large amount of current for a brief period of time.. This surge of current is necessary to spin the engine over in the course of starting up. As soon as the engine starts, the alternator supplies all the energy that the car requires, so a car battery may well go through its whole lifetime without ever being drained more than twenty percent of its overall capacity. Implemented in this way, a car battery can keep working for a number of years. To generate a large amount of current, a car battery makes use of thin plates in order to maximize its surface area.

A deep cycle battery is specially designed to produce a regular amount of current over a extended period of time. A deep cycle battery can produce a surge when required, but nothing like the surge a car battery can. A deep cycle battery is also designed to be significantly discharged time and time again. To achieve this, a deep cycle battery makes use of thicker plates.

Characteristically, a deep cycle battery will include two or three times the reserve capacity of a car battery, but will produce one-half or three-quarters the cold cranking amps. Additionally, a deep cycle battery can withstand several hundred total discharge/recharge cycles, whilst a car battery is not designed to be completely discharged.

Ultimately you will get precisely what you pay for with regard to batteries and it is without exception most beneficial to purchase a deep cycle battery, because a typical automobile battery is certainly not designed for the constant charge and discharge cycling that a solar system demands. The majority of batteries employed in renewable energy applications are the lead acid kind.

These are available in dry and wet types. The wet type are readily available as multiple or single cells and extremely large installations will frequently utilize numerous batteries of the same type. It is extremely important not to mix different types and capacities with each other.