All in One Solar Battery System

All in one solar battery systems combine the inverter, batteries and charger into a single compact cabinet. They work best with monocrystalline and polycrystalline PV panels.

Adding home storage to your solar system can help keep lights and appliances running during an outage. It can also help reduce your utility bill by practicing peak shaving.

All-in-One Inverter

All in one solar battery systems combine an inverter and charger controller into a single unit, reducing the number of components and simplifying installation. They are also much cheaper than buying individual parts and can be programmed to your specific needs. They come in 12v, 24v and 48v sizes to suit your solar input voltage and battery wattage. Some also include a built in UPS function, which means you can run your household appliances from both the batteries and the mains power at the same time without any interference.

Unlike traditional grid-tied inverters, all in one systems are designed to manage power to and from your PV array, battery bank, the utility grid, a backup generator and loads. They are ideal for people who want to switch to a solar PV or battery backup system but do not have the time, money or inclination to install separate components.

The all in one hybrid inverter controller from Sol-Ark has a high efficiency MPPT charge controller, which allows the system to operate at the maximum power point of the solar panel. This enables the system to generate more power than conventional PV inverters, even with lower quality panels. It also features parallel stacking and DC/AC coupling, which increases the capacity of your system to a maximum of 13kW. The all in one solar system can also be expanded with additional units, allowing you to add more solar panels and batteries.

Charge Controller

Sunlight contacts the solar panels that convert the irradiance into DC electrical power that is delivered to the charge controller. The charge controller regulates the amperage and voltage that is sent to the battery system so the batteries are charged without overcharging.

The standard, low-cost type of solar charge controller is a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) charge controller. It operates a transistor switch to rapidly open and close, allowing it to regulate the current that is going into your all in one solar battery system battery. However, it only allows the output voltage of your solar panels to be matched up to what your battery needs. This can lead to wasted energy in your system.

To make sure your solar array is properly sized, it’s recommended to always oversize your charge controller by 25%. This protects you from a rare event where the solar panels might exceed their rated current under especially bright conditions. The best way to do this is by purchasing a controller with a higher input rating than what you think you need, like Morningstar’s LV6548 or Victron Energy’s Mpp15-24A.

MPPT solar charge controllers are more expensive than PWM solar chargers, but they allow you to harvest a lot more of the sun’s energy that would otherwise be lost. They operate by continuously tracking the PV panel’s voltage and finding the optimum point (Vmp) to generate the most power. This dramatically improves efficiency and can deliver up to 30% more energy to your battery than a standard PWM controller.

Battery Charger

The battery charger is the component that recharges solar batteries. The charger is connected to the batteries and has sense wires that measure the voltage on the positive all in one solar battery system and negative terminals of the batteries. This compensates for the voltage loss that occurs in the charge cables, ensuring that the batteries are fully charged and that there is no overcharging.

The batteries used in solar storage systems are either lead-acid or lithium. Many solar panel companies use lithium-ion solar batteries because they can hold more energy, perform more cycles, and have a higher Depth of Discharge (the amount of time that the battery can retain its full power before it needs to be recharged).

A good quality battery charger is essential for an effective and safe solar storage system. Poor-quality battery chargers don’t know when a battery is fully charged and will continue to supply electricity to the battery, resulting in an overcharge that shortens the battery life.

Some of the best solar batteries on the market are made by LG. Green Home Systems, one of our top-recommended solar providers, installs LG’s RESU Gen2 and RESU Prime solar batteries. LG’s batteries are available in 9.8 kWh and 16 kWh capacities. Both of these models come with a 10-year warranty and a 60% capacity guarantee after 10 years. To learn more about these batteries and to find a local LG solar installation specialist, visit their website.

Control Unit

Depending on the type of batteries you choose (lead acid or lithium), there are a number of different options for the charge controller. MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controllers are much better at capturing the maximum possible energy from your solar panels, compared to PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) charge controllers.

Some battery systems disable the solar panels when the grid goes down – this is not ideal, because your battery system may not get charged during a blackout. Better battery systems will throttle the solar down if they are generating more power than the system loads use, and this keeps your solar array charging the batteries even when the grid is down.

This type of energy storage system is a great way to reduce your dependence on utility power by practicing peak shaving. By storing excess energy from your PV solar panel array during peak demand times you can avoid paying high utility rates and earn credits from your local electric company.

The battery and inverter charger are combined into one unit which can be installed on the roof next to your solar panels or inside your garage, workshop or utility room. These units are designed for offgrid use and can be used as a backup system in the event of a blackout, or to provide additional solar charging capability to your existing PV solar system.