These batteries play a crucial role in harnessing and storing solar energy for use during cloudy periods or nighttime. But how long does a solar battery last at night? We will try to answer this question as well as what happens when a solar battery is empty.
How Long Does a Solar Battery Last at Night?
Solar batteries are crucial in powering homes during nighttime hours when solar panels aren’t producing electricity. The duration of a solar battery’s nighttime performance depends on factors like battery capacity, energy usage, and the efficiency of your solar system. To accurately estimate how long your solar battery will last, consider your energy needs, solar system capacity, and the type of solar setup you have. Installing multiple batteries may be necessary for high-energy usage households. Additionally, accounting for peak sunlight hours and preparing for cloudy days ensures an uninterrupted power supply and optimal performance of your solar system.
Without running an electric heater or an AC, a 10 kWh battery can independently sustain essential household functions for a minimum of 24 hours, and even longer with prudent energy management. This gives a general idea of how long a solar battery lasts at night. After this, let’s see what happens when a solar battery is empty.
What Happens When Solar Battery is Empty?
When a solar battery is empty, it means it has either exhausted its stored energy or is only partially charged. In such a case, you’ll need to use the National Grid for electricity. The effects of a low solar battery depend on the system design and its applications. Here are some typical outcomes:
1. Power Loss
Once the solar battery is empty, any electrical systems or devices that were being powered by the battery would stop working. A power outage will affect the linked equipment.
2. Disconnected Solar Energy System
If a solar battery is part of a bigger solar system for a house or business, it may work or not depending on the circumstances. This may occur if a safety feature is activated when the battery’s charge level falls below a predetermined threshold.
3. Limited Energy Availability
In systems with energy management features, the availability of stored energy may be limited until an empty solar battery is recharged. While some systems may run in a reduced power mode or without electricity until the battery is recharged, others may prioritize allocating energy to vital loads.
4. Reduced Self-Consumption
Solar batteries are frequently employed to store extra solar energy produced throughout the day for future usage. When the battery is empty, the system will only rely on the energy produced by the sun immediately because no stored energy is left for self-consumption.
Also Read: Exploring the Pros and Cons of Solar Battery Storage
How Do I Know When My Solar Battery is Fully Charged?
Just learning how long a solar battery lasts at night isn’t enough, to efficiently utilize this battery you must learn how to know when your solar battery is fully charged.
1. Charge Controllers
Voltage flowing into the battery is managed by the solar charge controller. When a charge is required, the battery enters a bulk-charging phase when the voltage rises to 14.4–14.6 volts before absorbing the supplied current. The voltage drops to a float level between 13.4 and 13.7 volts after the battery has absorbed the remainder of the charge it requires.
Charge controllers with displays indicate the voltage being supplied to the battery and whether it’s fully charged or not. These controllers are of high quality. The battery will be fully charged if it has attained the float level. Many charge controllers without screens contain a light display that lets you know if the charge is in the bulk, absorption, or float phases, which also lets you know when the battery is full. While having a charge controller attached to your system should prevent the panels from overcharging the battery, it is still crucial to check the batteries’ charge if you don’t.
2. Inverters
You will need an inverter to convert the battery’s DC power if you’re using it to power AC-powered machinery. The amount of information you can obtain about your battery depends on the features of your inverter. You can immediately determine if a battery is full or charging thanks to some inverters’ display screens that show information about the battery’s charge state. Other inverters without a display screen might feature a noise/light system that alerts you when the battery is running too low and/or that indicates when the battery is either full or charging.
3. Meters
A large number of meters can be used to check your battery, the most common ones include a voltmeter, millimeter, or hydrometer.
a) Voltmeters
The electric potential between two points is measured by a voltmeter. You must attach a voltmeter to the battery’s black and red ports in order to check the charge of the battery. For an accurate reading, the battery needs to be rested and should not have been charged or supplied a charge for a few hours. A 12-volt battery should register between 11 and 13 volts when measured. When the reading is 13 volts, the battery is fully charged; when it is 11 volts, the battery is essentially dead. Voltmeters come in both analog and digital varieties, and both can provide you with an accurate reading.
b) Multimeters
Multimeters are versatile tools that can measure various parameters like voltage, current, resistance, and more, providing crucial information about your battery’s condition. It functions and connects to the battery similarly to a voltmeter.
c) Hydrometers
This particular meter is exclusively suitable for flooded lead-acid batteries since it requires measurements from the liquid inside the battery. Furthermore, the battery can only be measured using this method once it has undergone a cycle of charging and discharging after adding new water to the battery.
With these options, you can easily know when your solar battery is fully charged. Now, for information regarding the factors that can damage solar batteries, read below.
Also See: How Long Do Solar Batteries Take To Charge?
What Can Damage a Solar Battery?
These are 4 things that can damage a solar battery-
1. Electrolyte Loss
High temperatures, rapid charging rates, and overcharging can cause the electrolyte, which is sulfuric acid, to leak out of flooded or unsealed batteries. Parts of the plates may end up being above the electrolyte level as a result, which may limit the battery’s performance. High charging currents and overcharging will raise the temperature and pressure inside sealed batteries, which may eventually cause valves to leak gas (and possibly electrolyte). Even irreparable harm can happen. The sealed (or maintenance-free) batteries are thus especially susceptible to the effects of temperature and overcharging.
2. Sulphation
Lead sulfate crystals are produced on the plates during lead acid battery discharge as a natural electrochemical reaction. The chemical process is reversed during charging, turning the lead sulfate crystals back into the lead on the negative electrode and lead oxide on the positive electrode. However, if the battery is used for an extended period of time while still being partially charged, the lead sulfate crystals may solidify and cease to convert back to lead or lead oxide during charging. The battery’s capacity is decreased as a result.
At higher temperatures, this impact will happen more quickly. Therefore, it is crucial to design a PV system that minimizes the duration of the partial state of charge and facilitates a swift return to a full state of charge for the battery.
3. Electrolyte Stratification
The performance of lead acid batteries relies on the electrolyte, which is a solution of sulfuric acid in water. Ideally, the electrolyte should be evenly distributed and consistent across all battery cells or compartments. However, due to the disparity in density between sulfuric acid and water, a condition called stratification can occur, leading to higher acid concentration at the battery’s bottom compared to the top. This stratification negatively impacts the battery’s overall performance.
Also Read: Do AGM Batteries Need to be Vented?
4. Very Deep Discharge
While deep cycle batteries have the capability to tolerate discharge levels of up to 80%, it is advisable to limit the maximum discharge to 50% and reserve 30% for emergency situations. The longevity of these batteries increases when they are cycled less deeply. Thus, for optimal battery lifespan, it is recommended to shallow cycle deep cycle batteries. For instance, EXIDE’s TORR range of solar Tubular batteries offers the following cycle lives:
- 1500 cycles at 80% depth of discharge (DoD)
- 3000 cycles at 50% DoD
- 5000 cycles at 20% DoD
As mentioned earlier, allowing a battery to remain in a state of incomplete or insufficient charging can lead to sulphation issues. Additionally, discharging beyond 80% carries the risk of irreversible changes to the battery’s chemistry and can potentially cause significant permanent damage.
While it is challenging to provide a precise estimate of how long a solar battery will last at night, it typically ranges from a few hours to several days. Battery capacity is a primary factor, with larger capacity batteries providing longer backup power. Weather conditions and geographical location also influence nighttime battery performance. For more informative solar battery content, you can keep exploring our website or click here.
