How does a self-consumption solar battery work?

La solar battery It is a storage device that accumulates the energy produced by solar panels. this allows you to use accumulated energy when needed in the home, making it a key tool to make your photovoltaic installation more profitable. But how do self-consumption solar batteries work?

Solar battery operation

Its function is basically to store energy generated by photovoltaic panels. This is achieved by connecting the solar battery to the self-consumption installation, which allows the excess energy to be stored in this device.

For example, during the day, solar panels generate energy, which is consumed by the household. The one that is not consumed goes to the conventional grid, unless your installation has a solar battery. In this case, that Surplus energy would be stored in your home and it could be used at times when solar panels don't produce, such as at night.

In our article Everything you need to know about solar batteries, we explain in more detail the characteristics of this storage device.

Types of solar batteries

There are several factors that affect when choosing the type of solar battery to complete a photovoltaic installation. These factors are: production capacity, daily consumption or the electricity consumption that you want to take advantage of.

There are different ways to classify batteries, however, the most common thing is to differentiate them by the type of cycle. In this case, we find two types of solar batteries, low-cycle and deep-cycle. Below, we explain the details.

• Low-cycle battery: This type of solar battery provides energy when there is high demand. However, a negative point of this device is that it cannot be completely discharged, as it could become damaged. For proper operation and long years of life, it is necessary to avoid discharging them below 20% of their total capacity.

• Deep cycle battery: This other type of device is much more resistant, since it can be completely discharged, without this negatively affecting its efficiency and performance. These batteries are the most used in homes due to their characteristics. At Eltex we also work with deep cycle batteries for maximum performance.

Technical explanation of the operation

The solar battery is composed of chemical cells that have a negative and a positive pole, together with electrolytes, which allow electrical flow to the outside of the device. In these cells, the chemical reaction necessary to convert energy into electricity takes place.

This reaction is based on the Principle of oxidation-reduction of the chemical elements in its components. How is it produced? Well, the process is possible because, when one of the substances oxidizes and loses electrons, the other adds electrons and is reduced.

In this illustration, we represent the oxidation-reduction chemical reaction that occurs inside the solar battery, and which makes it possible to store and use energy at another time.