What is the best battery to use for solar power?

As the need for clean energy increases, the solar power as a high-power load leveling is evidently more common than the wave and wind power. When considering installing the solar power system, there comes the question of the best battery to use for solar power. What is your answer? Let’s check the common battery types first.

Flooded Lead Acid Battery

As one of the most common used battery types for off-grid setups, flooded lead acid batteries are wet cell batteries, in need of upright placement and well-ventilated environment to prevent leaking.

Pros: Inexpensive upfront cost, safe, and reliable

Cons: Rather large, prone to suffer from corrosion, regular maintenance, and monitoring

AGM (Sealed Lead Acid) Battery

AGM is short for Absorbent Glass Matt, which is also a kind of lead acid battery with electrolytes absorbed into a glass matt instead.

Pros: Lightweight, lower internal resistance than flood lead batteries, extreme temperature resistance, long static charge durations, and non-hazardous

Cons: Expensive

Gel Batteries

Compared with the other battery types, Gel Battery is not a preferable choice because this is made up of fumed silica making the cells sturdier.

Pros: No leaking when damaged, durable, excellent life cycles, shock resistance, vibration resistance, extreme temperature resistance

Cons: Narrow charging profiles, prone to damage when charged improperly, high price with medium amp-hour capacity.

Lithium-Ion Batteries

Although lithium-ion or LiFePO4 battery is up to 4 times as expensive as the other batteries for solar system, it has superior performance for the price. Check the performance comparisons of different battery chemistries below for more details.

Pros: high capacity, long life cycles, small cell packages, lightweight design, safe and stable, nearly no maintenance

Cons: High price, safety vents are required to prevent uncontrolled explosion in case of short circuit or abuse

Since the greater the battery capacity, the more energy it can hold, lithium lifepo4 battery is a better choice for users who want to get the household off-grid or power as many home appliances as possible. In addition, the charge and discharge of the lithium solar battery is very efficient so that the power generated from the solar panels is optimized, retain power for longer periods of time. If you are looking for the best value for your money when invest in the solar battery, then lithium-ion solar battery is your ideal choice.