The Role of a Battery Charger in a Solar Power System

• Posted by The Power Store Inc March 10, 2023 Filed in Business #Home solar battery charger  53 views
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  If you hear the term “battery charger,” you can probably figure out that piece of equipment’s job based on your intuition alone. A battery charger charges batteries, and that’s all there is to it, right? While that may be true in some contexts, a battery charger in a solar power system can be a bit more complex. What role does a solar battery charger play in this kind of system? Keep reading to find out more.

   

  Controlling the Charge

  Battery chargers are also often called charge controllers. This is because their job is to do more than just funnel electricity to your solar batteries. Their job is to control the amount of charge that is sent to the battery at any given time. This helps to avoid overcharging your batteries or charging them unevenly, which can cause them to wear out more quickly. By controlling the charge, a solar battery charger can actually help your batteries last longer and save you money in the long run.

   

  Cycling through Stages

  Some people think that batteries are either actively charging or not charging at all, but the truth is more complicated than that. Because batteries lose a tiny amount of power when storing energy, they must go through various charging stages in order to effectively maintain a charge. Charging stages for solar batteries include the following:

   

  1. Bulk charging – This phase initiates when the battery charge is below 80%, so it makes up the majority of charging a solar battery. At this stage, the battery absorbs as much energy as possible, and the voltage rises gradually until it hits the next stage.
  2. Absorb charging – Once the battery hits 80% charge, it switches to the absorb stage. This slows down the rate of charging, much like you might coast to slow down your vehicle before you start to hit the brakes. This stage lasts until the battery hits a 90% charge.
  3. Float charging – Immediately after the absorb stage, the charge controller lowers the voltage to a pre-set value, allowing only a trickle of energy into the battery until it reaches 100% charge. This helps to avoid overcharging the battery. Also known as “trickle” charging, this stage continues for as long as the battery is storing energy, helping it to maintain a full charge despite the energy that may be lost during storage.

   

  As you can see, a home solar battery chargerdoes a bit more than just switch on and off in order to charge a battery bank. It’s important that you have a battery charger in your system to protect your batteries and ensure they have a full charge when you need them most.