Solar Battery Amp-Hour

Solar Batteries come in all shapes and sizes. The most common measurement of battery storage capacity is the Amp-Hour or Ah. The size of solar batteries can range from less than 100 Ah, to more than 1,000 amp-hours in single battery.

What is an Amp-Hour?

An Amp-Hour or ampere-hour (Ah) describes battery capacity - how long will it run before it is drained. Suppose you have a 100 amp-hour battery, typically tested over a 20 hour period. 100 amp-hours divided by 20 hours = 5 amps. That means that the manufacturer claims the battery can sustain a 5 amp load for 20 hours until the battery is completely dead.

How Much Power Can A Solar Battery Produce?

Solar batteries do not produce power. They store power generated from solar panels or the utility grid for use when needed. Power, or watt power (Wp), is calculated as Volts x Amps. Therefore a 100 Amp hour battery operating at 6 Volts can store 600 watt hours, or 0.6 kWh, of DC power. With a 50% depth-of-discharge (DOD) rate to extend the battery life, the 100 Ah battery could deliver 0.3 kWh of daily DC power. Compare this to how many kWh you use everyday.