How do I select a home battery?

There are plenty of home batteries to choose from. If you read the technical data sheets, chances are you’ll get lost in the abundance of information. We’ve put together some tips to help you on your way. 

If you have your eye on a specific type of home battery, be sure to check its capacity, power and number of charging cycles. The capacity of a home battery indicates how much electricity can be stored in the battery at any given time. That amount should correspond to the power output of your solar panel system, your family’s average consumption between sunset and sunrise, and the expected future energy consumption.

The power of a home battery is the speed at which the battery can be charged or discharged, indicating the maximum amount of electricity your battery can provide at any given time. A battery can release the stored amount of energy only gradually. Some batteries can do this faster than others. Also, the household appliances that need the energy from your home battery require a certain power supply intensity. 

If the battery is unable to match that speed, your appliances receive insufficient energy from the battery and must draw from the grid. This means that selecting a home battery with sufficient power is important if you want to be sure that your household appliances can simultaneously receive the electricity they need from the battery. 

After all, the number of charging cycles of a home battery determines how many times a battery can be recharged. Generally speaking, the more charging cycles, the longer the battery life and the longer it takes before you need to replace it, which is also better for the environment because a home battery is manufactured using raw materials that are fairly scarce and can be recycled to a limited extent only.

As there are quite some aspects to consider when choosing a suitable type of home battery, we recommend that you engage the expertise of an experienced installer.