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| Lifepo4 batteries |
Inverter batteries are very formidable pieces of equipment that are ruggedly built and assembled all in a bid to last the test of time, they are designed to maximize every inch of the components used in assembling them, so it is little wonder they look and weigh so bulky when it comes to the physical side of things. As a solartrician with a considerable number of onfield experience under my belt, I have come to lay more emphasis on battery quality as the main catalyst with any solar project that I'm saddled with, to this regards I like to highlight the importance of battery bank capacity and quality to customers or client and solartricians alike every now and then. " Please I beg you biko, do not compromise with the quality of batteries when setting up or maintaining a solar and inverter system because doing so is a recipe for disaster"
Hello, guys welcome to our blog where we talk about everything solar, inverter and renewable energy as a whole, in this post we will be discussing a few costly mistakes that can damage your very priced inverter batteries without you knowing and put a big hole in your pocket, we all know that buying components for solar and inverter systems are way too pricey these days not thanks to the currrent economic woes so its best to preserve and maintain what we currrently have. So sit tight and read on to know those avoidable mistakes that can ruin your inverter batteries before you say JACK!
Inverter Batteries
Batteries play an important role in a solar and inverter system, they are designed for storage, to store energy generated by the PV array ( solar panels) by the day, and to preserve them for night use when there is no sunlight. Aside from these batteries act as resistors or better still balancers for solar and inverter systems, especially off-grid systems. Without delving too deep here let us uncover these mistakes that can easily ruin our prized assets without us knowing and how best these can be prevented from happening, Read On!
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| Tubular batteries |
Costly Mistakes that Can Damage Your Inverter Batteries
Over Charging:
One terrible mistake or error as the case may be that can lead to your inverter battery damage is overcharging, overcharging is simply when the battery is charged beyond its capacity and then gets its cells to take much more than it can actually handle. Overcharging might not immediately damage the battery but if repeated regularly would have a very negative impact on battery performance, this usually happens when proper changing parameters are not properly set before commencing, these parameters would include battery charging voltage, current, and other sub-settings like the float charge, bulk charge, and absorb as well. All of these can be preset either when charging with a grid source through the inverter or via PV through the charge controller.
Avoiding overcharging is one sure way of keeping your inverter battery going for many years, to do this always ensure that the charging parameters are always set to the right figures using your user guide, if you cannot do this please refer to a trained solartrician for assistance.
Under Charging:
There's always a counter-reaction to everything and motion and so we also talk about undercharging and how damaging it is to your inverter batteries Undercharging your batteries has an overwhelming effect on their performance, but not getting enough charge would not only deprive you of the estimated back up time and also allow your battery to shut down completely. Undercharging also means that the batteries while shutting down quickly complete their cycle which in turn means that the overall lifespan is shorter. Undercharging simply occurs when batteries are not allowed to charge for the stipulated amount of time before use, for example, an average flooded lead acid battery or what you popularly know as tubular batteries should be allowed to charge for up to 6 to 8 hours before being discharged failing to achieve this would be easily termed as undercharging with its consequences to follow suit. Aside from this, setting the wrong charging parameters would also impact the charging process and leave your batteries undercharged, you can simply prevent undercharging by setting the right parameters on your charging apparatus, using the right charging device, and charging for the stipulated period.
Over Discharging:
Now this one is the very genesis of battery damage as every battery manufacturer has its specifications of battery dept of discharge (dod) but often more than not these requirements are not followed by end users. Over discharging simply is when you discharge your inverter battery beyond its designed discharge capacity this means that you use your battery till it gets to a point where it urgently needs to be recharged to keep running, The majority of inverter batteries are not designed to function that way except for lithium batteries with a dod of 90% every other kind of battery are not designed to be discharged that way. Discharging your batteries within the stipulated depth of discharge (dod) not only preserves their life span but gives them that needed longevity. One way to prevent battery over-discharge is by setting the right cut-off parameter to prevent it from discharging way too low for its specification. The average depth of discharge (dod) for your regular gel and flooded batteries are 50 and 60% respectively. Yessss if you own this kind of batteries you must not discharge them beyond these capacities before recharging, You heard me right!
Faulty Connection:
This could be one very rapid killer of your inverter battery, this will happen when there's a faulty load or connection on your inverter or perhaps when there's a poorly done load separation at the initial stage, this can greatly impact the performance of your battery and shorten its lifespan without you knowing it. In this regard seeking the services of a qualified solartrician is the only assured remedy to correct this anomaly.