My Solar Usage Strategy
When I first got my solar system setup, I would just use electricity normally, without considering the time of day. My major electrical appliances:
- stove/oven range
- hot water heater
- dryer
- dish washer
After seeing how my battery wore down from running appliances at night, I immediately changed my usage strategy.
I shifted as much usage to the day as possible. Why?
When I use electricity at night, I am drawing from the solar system’s battery.
When I use electricity during the day, I am drawing from the sun OR the battery, depending on the weather conditions.
In either case, when there’s too much load on the system (like the water heater and stove running at the same time), the power grid supplies the rest. At night, this can happen easily. During the day, a lot less!
Basically, using appliances during the day is beneficial because energy sources would be:
- solar
- battery
- grid
At night, #1 is non-existent, so changing usage to the day gives me access to #1.
One thing I also noticed - the solar energy generation varies through the day. It’s almost a bell curve. The system starts to generate about an hour after sunrise, peaks around noon, and drops dramatically about an hour before sunset.
I shift my high energy appliance usage to noon - when solar energy generation is at its greatest during the day.
I also prioritize the battery charge too, because that would give my home energy after sunset.
Having energy generation at home really makes me conscious of our usage. How much each appliance uses, when we use the appliance, when energy generation is abundant.2