Do solar panels work at night?
During the day, the sun shines brightly and solar panels absorb the rays and produce electricity. But what happens when the sun goes down? Can solar panels work at night?
Well the short answer is no! Solar panels need sunlight to provide electricity to your home (or in rare cases the moon is bright enough).
So if you have solar, how are all your appliances still working at night? There are two options for powering your appliances at night if you have solar panels installed. The first is that you buy your electricity from the electricity grid at night. This means that when the sun sets your solar panels ‘take a nap’ and you pay your electricity company to keep your lights on.
Unfortunately this forces you to pay high rates for electricity. You may have produced electricity during the day but because there was no way to store what you produced you have to buy electricity at night.
The second option has been growing in popularity in the past several years, there is a way you can store the solar power your panels generate during the day to use at night with a solar battery.
Not sure how it works or how that’s possible? Let’s break this down!
How to cut your night bill with a solar battery
During the day your solar panels soak up the sun, generating ‘free’ electricity that you can use to power your home. Needless to say, using your power hungry appliances when your panels are generating electricity will reduce your bill. But if you’re not home during the day, instead of selling this power you can store it for when your household needs it.
By adding a solar battery the energy your solar setup produces can be stored.
Instead of sending all the energy your solar panels are generating during the day back to the electricity grid, with a solar battery you can store the energy your solar panels generate for use at night.
There have been some great technology improvements that make a battery setup cheaper so they can now potentially pay for themselves. This gives you more independence from the big electricity companies, shrinks your bills and leaves extra cash in your pocket to spend on yourself and your family
How does a solar battery setup work?
In its simplest form:
- Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity
- During the day your house will use the electricity produced from your solar panels
- Any excess electricity produced will be stored in your solar battery
- When it’s dark you can use the electricity stored in your solar battery so you don’t have to buy electricity from the grid.
- If your battery runs out of electricity you automatically buy electricity from the grid to meet your needs.
Having a solar battery will help to reduce your power bill at night, but not all solar batteries are created equal.
Squeeze every last cent out of your solar and battery setup, without lifting a finger.
The Reposit Box is like a drill sergeant for your solar and battery setup. It learns when and how your household uses electricity – and haggles with the electricity companies to sell any excess energy in your battery for the highest possible price.
What is a battery without Reposit?
Without smart control, your battery is basically a brainless vessel, incapable of thinking on its own. It would never consider recharging 24 hours before cloud cover hits, or learning when and how your household uses electricity.
Let Reposit Power whip your solar setup into shape! Get Reposit.
