The longer answer? As usual, it depends, this time, on the chemistry of the battery. While lithium-ion battery technologies –the most common type of solar battery installed in homes and businesses–require very little or no maintenance, other types of batteries may require a trained technician to perform an annual check-up.
In a standalone photovoltaic system battery as an electrical energy storage medium plays a very significant and crucial part. It is because in the absence of sunlight the solar PV system won’t be able to store and deliver energy to the load.
In a solar PV system, a standalone system, in particular, requires energy storage as compared to the grid-connected PV system. During the non-sunshine hours, the standalone system does not have any energy storage.
Here are some tactics that can go a long way in ensuring optimal performance and longevity. Cleaning your solar battery prevents dust and dirt from reducing its performance. A mixture of baking soda and distilled water can be used to clean the battery case and terminals.
Such rechargeable batteries with many cycles are widely applicable in solar PV applications as they ensure the continuity of the power to the load in the presence of low or even no sunlight, without which the implementation of a standalone solar PV system would be very unreliable and difficult.
The charge storage capacity of the battery is reflected by its physical size. Small size batteries have small storage of charge while large size batteries have high storage of charge. One of the most commonly used batteries in the solar PV system is the lead-acid battery.