Solar Battery Charger

Solar power is an area of interest to many people who are concerned about the environment we live in and the dwindling supply of resources available to us. When searching for alternatives to fossil fuels the topic that comes up most often is solar energy.

Solar battery charger is one of these devices that became a necessity once we have all these electric devices that we use on a daily basis. Ipod, laptop, mobile phone, PDA, GPS etc' just name it. The more we use these battery based gadgets, the more our lives in the 21st century depend on. These battery-based portable electric devices need to be recharged pretty often which hook us to the grid outlet and reduce our mobility and portability. If we do not charge them they become useless. At this point the solar powered battery charger gives us back the freedom and releases us from being chained to outlet grid in order to charge our batteries. When you purchase a solar home installation with battery backup, one of the components you will need to select is a solar Charge Controller. What is this object and why is it necessary?

Solar panels are made up of a collection of semiconductor materials that absorb photons. The most common type of semiconductor material used is silicone, which is very plentiful on earth. Solar panels produce direct current, meaning the electricity from the panels flows in only one direction. They must do, as they cannot produce any other form of current. This current is passed to both the charge controller to top up the batteries and operate household items or to the inverter, to pump electricity into the grid if there is excess.

The quality of the charge controller will directly affect the life of the backup batteries. This is due to the particular chemistry involved in the depletion and recharging of the Lead Acid Accumulator batteries. When the battery is depleted of charge, the lead plates inside the battery are corroded. It is this corrosion that provides the electricity. When the battery is recharged, the plates are rebuilt, the opposite of the depleting reaction.

Sufficient charge delivered in the right volumes at the right time will allow the terminal plates inside the battery to be restored to as close to their previous condition as possible. This happens through growth of metal crystals on the surface of the plate. If this crystal growth does not happen at the optimum rate to generate large stable crystals, chunks of the metal will drop off the plate and build up at the base of the battery. This is the cause of the slow degeneration of car and other types of lead acid batteries.

Lead Acid Accumulator batteries are expensive and also contain a great deal of material and so have a high manufacturing energy. Selecting a good quality charge controller will maximize the life of these batteries in a solar home system. Buying a cheaper controller will result in shorter battery life and a greater long term cost as you will need to replace the batteries sooner than you should. Then, unless you want the same thing to happen, you will also need to replace the charge controller.

Purchasing a good quality charge controller will give you peace of mind and greater savings in the long term.

Solar battery chargers are not a matter of fashion, they are gaining popularity with very good reasons. Solar charger is simple to use on the go, where ever you are, all it takes is some sunlight. There are bagpacks with solar cells on them, so they charge your batteries while you are on your daily activity without any need of your attention. There are portable flexible solar panels that you can place in your small bag and use them to charge your electrical devices' batteries when you need to without being attached to any electrical grid outlet. Most solar chargers are equipped with plug kits which match to variety of electric devices. The variety of solar chargers' sizes, shapes and uses continue to grow rapidly.

There is no usage cost when using a solar battery charger as opposed to the utility electricity charger. No pollution is released to the atmosphere when using portable solar charger and no chemicals are being leached into our ground water when discarded since we are using rechargeable batteries, so you contribute to keep environment clean, not to mention that you save money when you use a solar powered charger.