And most renewable energy systems have batteries which store between ten and hundreds of times more energy than a car battery. There are many brands and types of batteries available for RE systems. It is important to find the right battery for your situation and wallet. The two most common batteries are the L-16 and golf cart sizes. With proper care, RE system batteries have a lifetime of five to ten years, but there are more expensive batteries that are warranted to last ten to twenty years.
Battery capacity is rated in amp-hours.
1 amp-hour is the equivalent of drawing 1 amp steadily for one hour, or 2 amps steadily for half an hour. A typical 12 volt system may have 800 amp-hours of battery capacity. This battery can draw 100 Amps for 8 hours if fully discharged and starting from a fully charged state. However, completely discharging your battery decreases its longevity, and can ruin it in short order. Most home power users will only tap into a portion of available capacity to keep their batteries alive longer.