Good morning Mthwakazi
Today we are going to talk about the heart of the solar system, the batteries and charge controllers

A thread

We all know what a battery is but ill focus on the charge controller first.
A charge controller is a device responsible for charging and maintaining the system batteries with the aid of solar panels of course, it can also supply DC loads ofcourse

Charge controllers are used MOSTLY in offgrid setups. There are 2 types of charge controllers

MPPT. & PWM

1.PWM charge controller
These operate by making a connection directly from the solar array to the battery bank. During bulk charging, when there is a continuous connection from the array to the battery bank, the array output voltage is 'pulled down' to the battery voltage.

They are the cheapest in the market and can go as little $30.
Most of these are the culprits in damaging gel batteries and are not for lithium ion batteries.
They are okay for low end offgrid solar system
Be sure to choose the right size as they can burn inverters.

2. MPPT
Maximum Power Point Tracking is electronic tracking - usually digital. The charge controller looks at the output of the panels and compares it to the battery voltage. It then figures out what is the best power that the panel can put out to charge the battery.

They are highly recommended and start from $100+. They are expensive but keep your batteries in shape. All my clients who use mppt controllers are happy. These are the high end charge controllers & if you have lithium ion batteries this is the charger for you

It can be set to whaever voltage is suitable for the type of battery you have. Its my personal favourite!!!

BATTERIES
First things first i would like to stress that a car battery IS NOT SUITABLE FOR SOLAR SYSTEMS. I have seen some people buy car batteries and expect them to last 4hours.... like tf????

Anyways there are several types of solar batteries and it would take all day to explain so i will focus on

Lead Acid
Gel+
Lithium

Lead Acid
Lead acid batteries are the most common form of solar battery storage currently on the market. They will give you 1000-3000 cycles at about 60% depth of discharge. So if you are discharging 60% every day, they'll last 3-8 years. Cheapest in the market.

Gel+
A modern gel battery is a VRLA battery with a gelified electrolyte; the sulfuric acid is mixed with fumed silica, which makes the resulting mass gel like and immobile. Unlike a flooded wet cell lead—acid battery, these batteries do not need to be kept upright.

Gel battery has a cycle life of approximately 600-800 cycles to 50% Depth of Discharge. So if you are discharging 50% every day, they'll last 3-5 years. They are available in 12v only

Lithium ion
These are the most expensive in the market
The iphones of the solar battery industry Lithium ion solar batteries are deep cycle batteries, so they have DoDs around 95% WHEN BRAND NEW

This means if you discharge 95% or less every day they can last you up to 10 YEARS!!! Talk about value for money they are worth it in the long run.

I have heard many people complain about gel batteries, remember they have a depth of discharge of discharge of 50%, if you are discharging them to a point that they are flat everyday they will not last!!!!! In order to curb that a proper system with gel batteries consists of

A lot gel batteries and if they do not discharge to below 50% , they will last you fir years. With that being said, any questions?

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