Longtime lakeside resident Pete Johanson first installed a dozen solar panels on his home some 15 years ago. He continued adding panels in subsequent years, and each solar array was connected to its own inverter and eight large car-battery-sized storage units to back up his solar-generated power.
After about a decade, this backup system no longer worked, and his CFE electric bill had increased substantially.
The lead-acid battery bank was heavy and needed constant maintenance, such as adding water to the battery cells. Other issues included off-gassing and the need to avoid over-discharge and overcharging. The inverters also weren’t converting the energy into anything usable.
To rectify this, Johanson recently updated his solar system with a new high-efficiency hybrid inverter and lithium-ion energy storage for automatic instant backup to everything, including his elevator. This system was configured and installed by STI Solar Technology, a local company that has been serving lakeside for 19 years.
Says Solar Tech’s Ron Magen, “We removed all three of the old inverters and combined the three system sets of panels, feeding solar energy into the one new hybrid inverter, the LXP 12K, that can optimize and control each set of panels individually. The old battery system was removed and replaced by the amazing new technology in the Powerwall-style lithium-ion battery. It has a built-in Battery Management System (BMS), which is an onboard computer that controls charge and discharge, monitors temperature, and communicates fully with the inverter for all functions. It has zero maintenance needs, can be discharged fully without damage, and has a 10-year warranty.”
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