Let’s be 100% honest people. No one ‘really’ wants to drive with a carload full of people for hours and hours and hours. It’s a budget thing more than a bonding thing. If you do, all the power to ya! Enjoy!! But for the rest of us non halo adorned mortals, it’s a budget thing because we’d ‘really’ have preferred to fly.

One of the most commonly asked question we get when quoting solar systems is “should I get a battery now or wait.” This question is very easy to answer. If it’s in your budget go for it. If not, then don’t. Simple. A well-planned road trip can be fun, I get it. It’s a very cost-effective way to enjoy family time. However, you will definitely be ‘losing’ a lot of time driving and how important is time when you’re on a holiday. Very!

Solar systems are also time sensitive because they of course only generate power in daytime hours. A high-quality solar system without a battery will still generate loads of power during bright sunny days, which is great if you consume all that energy during that time, but what if you don’t? Where does all that excess power go? Oh yes of course, you ‘sell it’ back to the Grid. Ha, yeah right!

For those who’ve decided flying is more their thing than driving, you’ll need to understand a little more about your flight path. Below are some key points to consider before heading to the airport.

It’s not just about the Brand.

There are far far far and in case you missed it FAR too many solar manufacturers around today, so choose yours wisely! Don’t just choose a battery based on the battery itself, look at the company behind the brand. How long have they been around? What other products do they make? Where are they designed and made? Do they have Australian based after sales service?

Size is important.

Choosing the correct battery size is determined by how much power you need. The average working Australian household uses between 16-20kWh over a 24hr period and atleast 60% of this usage happens in the evenings just after sunset; a battery with 10kWh of storage capacity would be the minimum size required to keep your home running efficiently.

Warranty

Warranties can be tricky and very misleading. A little like the ‘cheap flights’ you snapped up at 11pm because you got a notification on your phone that was short and sweet and so easy to read…yep then you get to the airport with check in luggage and get slugged because you only paid for carry on. Read the fine print people.

Batteries have warranties that are offered in Years and Cycles. Cycle is the term used to describe the process of a battery going from fully charged to discharged or used then recharged again. It is important to note that just because you get a 10year warranty, it doesn’t mean you actually get 10 years. Some companies have restrictions on how many times you can cycle your battery within that 10 year period. Good quality companies will offer 10yrs, and 3000-4000 cycles within that time. To avoid any scary unbudgeted surprises, check if the warranty is replacement only or covers labour as well. Fine print people fine print….or pack lightly!

Monitoring

With all this fancy shmancy technology integrated into our homes, it’s no wonder there is a huge demand for monitoring gadgets. We want information that’s clear and easy to understand and we want it fast and at our fingertips. Monitoring your solar system especially your battery performance is not only fun (it is I promise!) it’s also a great way to shave even more off your energy expenses.

The Technical Stuff

Scalable- what does this mean?

Batteries are expensive there’s no other way to say it. Well, there is but I’d have to drop an expressive f bomb and apparently that’s not appropriate, whatevs. If you choose a battery that is scalable it means you can start off with a small one that meets your needs (and budget) in the present and then add to it as your lifestyle changes.

Depth of discharge or DoD– DoD is used to measure how much power the battery can hold before it needs to be recharged and it’s measured in percentages. For example your mobile phone may give you a low battery warning when it’s got 10% charge left, that means your phone’s DoD is 90%. Batteries that have a higher DoD are considered a higher quality product. Look for a DoD of 95% or higher.

Round Trip Efficiency (RTE)

RTE often gets confused with DoD

RTE is a term used to measure how much power your battery can give you (not hold like DoD) compared to how much power it can store (not how much is required to complete a charge cycle like DoD). Agan, let’s use your mobile phone as an example; the more you charge, discharge (or use) then re-charge, overtime decreases the quality of your battery meaning it doesn’t hold its charge as long. The higher RTE the more savings you’ll get over the lifespan of your battery. Look for an RTE of 90% or higher.

Ok so now you’ve got some key points to look for, but it doesn’t really mean much unless you can get some comparisons right? All good, we get it!

Here are our top 3 picks in no particular order.