Solar Battery

Solar battery, power wall, and energy storage system are all terms used for a battery pack. BUT they may not all be the same.
Solar hardware manufactures build inverters and battery systems that may not be standard, this means that when you pick your inverter you could be locked in to expensive upgrades. At RenewSolar we’re here to help.

Many manufactures use standard voltages which are multiples of 12V, this being derived from lead acid batteries standards. However battery tech has come along in the last 200 years or so and there are various batteries on the market, as in tech, not brands…

Solar Rack batteries are popular, you can buy a rack and install the battery, keeping then in a case with wheels on… and trust me they can have a lot of weight so moving them is much more easier.
Solar Wall mount batteries or “power walls” are the same thing, but can be hung on the wall. this is often a choice where space is a issue. The Wall mounted batteries can take up space also. Towers as in a battery case on wheels is becoming popular as they do not hang on a wall, go in a larger foot print rack and do not require the extra case cost.

Truck type battery is like a car battery but bigger, they come in ABS cases or metal and may have battery terminals the same as a battery you would see in a car.
Then there are EV batteries, and this covers new, used, and V2G and remakes (custom) batteries.

Battery Tech.

There are a few battery techs that you will know about, Lithium is well known but there are a few types of these. LFP ( lifepo4), Li-ion, Li-Po, LTO….
There are lead acid, FLA, GEL, AGM. VRLA.
There is also NA (sodium), NMIH, Nicad (though rare).
And water and gravity batteries.. I know I miss out many others, but we will look at the “main stream”. Battery tech is moving along fairly quickly and they are always changing.

LFP – Lifepo4.

What I call the rust battery for good reason the LFP battery is one of the safer lithium battery types and has been around for a reasonable time, it became well known about 5 years ago and is in the heart of most solar installations today. its fairly good but has a lot of myths about them. They are not always suitable to use.

One of the issues is UK weather. below 10oC and you start to lose capacity below 0 you cannot charge them.. so a hard winter in the UK will render these batteries fairly useless unless you add or have provisions to keep them warm – Ask about heated batteries.
There is another thing… they don’t like to be too warm either, 45oC+ and you start to have issues, so the summer sun could be a issue for some installations as well as loft installations where lofts will see 55+oC in summer.
How much cold capacity loss? just under 30% on a 48V 100ah battery. a lead acid stand by may help as these are fairly good to -20oC or LTO.

Battery buying is hard work, as there are thousands of suppliers world wide, there are trust worthy and well others you may want to avoid with a long stick. Don’t be fooled by media hypes and follow others, as we know of a very popular brand used in homes which we would class as “not fit for purpose” and you will go down a costly route to make things work.

We test our batteries to make sure we don’t sell rubbish, so everything on our shop is going to work for you.

The inverter choice is key to the battery ( system voltage), we can offer higher voltage inverters (96v) which lowers the current requirements of the battery. – lowering current usually mean longer battery life.

We make custom batteries, we supply DIY battery cells and kits, and we sell our own battery and others too. Our hardest issue with battery is stock, we order batteries and they are sold before they arrive, so you may have to wait a week or two for them as its now just a order or group buy process.

Quality batteries.
At RenewSolar we offer a wide range of batteries that will suit all budgets.
We have a budget battery, which works. it may not have heating, Bluetooth and such like, but will be your standard battery.

We have our standard batteries. These will usually have some form of wireless and app, heating, and will have more cycles (designed to last longer) They cut costs not corners, these usually have a 5 year warranty.

Premium Batteries. If you like the bells and whistles, then these batteries are usually over spec, you would be looking at a 80% capacity 15 years later. high quality cells and a nice warranty of around 10+ years.

Pay less get more.
If you are thinking that our battery prices are really low, so to good to be true? think again, our standard batteries are the premium batteries made but other for a lot more. we are not for profit, and we are direct build and supply, so we can lower our prices. you will find that we use the same hardware in most cases, but we do have access to “extra” due to our international business partners.