There are many types of solar batteries out there, with different chemical makeups, features, sizes, and more. If you’re building a battery bank for your solar power system, you should seriously consider opting for deep-cycle batteries. Of course, there are still many options available in this category, but deep-cycle batteries provide many benefits that other types of batteries don’t. Keep reading to learn what they are.
More Usable Power
If you’ve done much research into solar battery banks, you’ve probably learned that the total amount of energy stored in a battery is not actually the amount of power you can pull from it. All batteries must retain a certain level of charge, which means you can only dispel a certain percentage of their stored energy. This is reflected using a metric known as depth of discharge, or DoD.
Deep-cycle batteries have a much higher DoD than standard batteries, which means you get more usable power from every single battery in your bank. For example, let’s say you have a battery that’s rated at a capacity of 220 Ah (ampere-hours). If the DoD on that battery is only 50%, you’ll actually only get 110 Ah from the battery. However, if you have a deep-cycle battery, the DoD is likely to be closer to 90%, which will give you 198 Ah from a battery of the same size.
Reduced Likelihood of Damage
The reason that batteries can’t be discharged below their recommended DoD is that over-discharging them will actually damage the battery and shorten its usable lifespan. If you have a battery with a low DoD, you’re much more likely to dip below that recommended discharge level, potentially damaging your batteries. A deeper DoD gives you more power to use before you hit that “danger zone,” which makes it a lot less likely to happen. By avoiding damage to your batteries, you’ll get more usable life out of them, saving you money in the long run.
Use Fewer Batteries
Because every deep-cycle battery you use provides you with more usable power, you can build a battery bank with fewer batteries while still meeting your energy storage needs. Again, let’s say you’re using batteries rated for 220 Ah, and you need 500 Ah for your system. If those batteries only have 50% DoD (110 Ah of usable power per battery), then you’ll need five batteries in your bank. If, however, they have 90% DoD, you can build a bank with only three deep-cycle batteries and have extra storage to boot.
So, if you’re building a battery bank, be sure to look into using an AGM deep-cycle battery if you want to reap these benefits.
