Keep your home powered when the grid goes down
South East Queensland storm season brings regular outages. A properly designed battery backup system keeps your essentials running — and with solar, it can recharge during the day while the grid is still down.
Storm-season ready
Backup for the outages that come with SEQ summer storms.
Essentials or whole home
Choose which circuits stay on, from the fridge and lights up to the whole house.
Recharges from solar
With the right inverter, your panels keep charging the battery during a blackout.
Not every battery is a backup battery
When the grid fails, a grid-connected system must disconnect from the network for safety. A battery system with backup capability then isolates your home and supplies power from the battery. Without that capability — or without the switchboard wired for it — a battery will switch off in a blackout like everything else.
With a backup-capable hybrid inverter, your solar panels can keep running during the outage and recharge the battery during the day, so a multi-day outage doesn't leave you without power.
Essential circuits or whole-home backup
Essential-circuit backup keeps selected circuits running — typically lights, the fridge, internet, some power points and medical equipment. It's simpler and stretches your battery further.
Whole-home backup keeps everything connected, but large loads such as air-conditioning, ovens and pool pumps can drain a battery quickly or exceed what the system can supply. We'll talk through what you actually need running and design the switchboard accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
Will my solar panels work during a blackout?
Standard grid-connected solar systems shut down during a blackout for safety. Solar only keeps working in an outage if it is paired with a backup-capable battery or inverter that can safely isolate your home from the grid.
How long will a battery power my home in a blackout?
It depends on battery capacity and what's running. Essential circuits such as lights, the fridge and internet use far less than air-conditioning or cooking. With solar recharging the battery during the day, essential loads can often be covered through extended outages.
Can I add backup to my existing battery?
Sometimes. It depends on whether your battery and inverter support backup and how your switchboard is wired. We can assess your current system and tell you what's possible.
Design a backup system for your home
Tell us what you need running during an outage and we'll design a system around it.
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