Solar Lattice

Concept

C-rate

ID
concept:c-rate
IRI
https://solarlattice.org/kb/concept/c-rate
Status
active
Also known as
charge rate, continuous vs peak battery power
Category
Storage
Concept kind
technology

C-rate tells you how fast a battery can be charged or discharged. A battery's nominal capacity always comes with the discharge time it was measured at. Stationary batteries are usually rated by their C10 capacity, which is the capacity over a 10-hour discharge. For example, a battery rated C10 = 200 Ah can be discharged for 10 hours at 0.1 × C10, which is a nominal current of 20 A. The capacity you get depends on the discharge time. SMA gives factors to estimate C10 from other ratings: C10 = C100 / 1.25, C10 = C5 / 0.88 and C10 = C1 / 0.61. Battery and inverter spec sheets list continuous power separately from surge (peak) power. Peak power covers short events such as starting large appliances. The Sunny Island 4548-US shows this split: it is rated 4,500 W continuous and 11,000 W for 3 seconds at 25°C. Its continuous charging current is 85 A, and its maximum charging current is 110 A.

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Claims

related_to

c1 drafted · lead Battery energy storage system

C-rate describes how fast a battery is charged or discharged relative to its rated capacity.

c2 drafted · lead Power vs energy

Battery spec sheets separate continuous power from surge (peak) power.

review note: support check: partial - Passages cover continuous vs peak power on spec sheets but never link C-rate to power vs energy.

Data