The Basics Of Solar Battery Storage And Winter Weather

If you converted your home to a solar power system this summer, it's important to prepare your solar battery bank for the winter weather. Solar batteries are not made to be exposed to extreme cold. That means that you need to make sure that those batteries are ready for the winter weather before it hits. Here are a few things that you need to know about your solar battery bank and the upcoming cold season.

What Happens To Solar Batteries In The Winter?

When the weather starts to get cold, your solar panel battery bank will start to be affected by it. The cold temperatures will cause your batteries to discharge more rapidly, resist building a charge, and reduce the overall storage capacity. 

This can lead to a loss of power, especially on those days when your solar panels don't receive much sunlight. During the winter, the shorter days make sunlight a hot commodity, and having batteries that don't store efficiently can render your solar panels ineffective and inefficient while the weather is cold.

What Can You Do To Protect Your Solar Battery Storage Bank?

Understanding how the winter weather affects your solar battery is one thing, but that's only a start. You need to take steps to protect your battery bank from those cold temperatures. Many traditional battery bank structures don't offer enough protection against the outside temperatures, which can pose problems both in the winter months and in the extreme heat of the summer. 

Before the weather starts to get cold, you should take the time to create an insulated enclosure for your battery bank. You'll want to create an enclosure that has enough thermal mass to block heat accumulation, and you also need to make sure that it can block sunlight from directly hitting the batteries. 

Alternatively, you may be able to have your battery bank relocated into your home or into a heated garage or shed. You'll need to opt for low-maintenance or no-maintenance batteries if you're going to put them in your home, though.

What Other Alternatives Are There?

If you don't have a way to insulate or relocate your battery bank, you need to find another way to account for the capacity and storage loss. The most effective way that most homeowners compensate for this is by investing in more batteries. A larger battery bank can increase your storage capacity even through the winter.

Talk with your local energy storage supplier about the best options for dealing with the cold weather. They can help you choose the right solution and restore your solar panel's peak operation even throughout the winter.

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