Battery Backup Systems
When the grid goes down, a battery backup system keeps the lights on. It stores the energy your solar panels make during the day and lets you draw on it after the sun sets or when the power goes out — quietly and without a generator. For homes across San Luis Obispo County, from the oak-studded hills of North County to the coastal stretches where wind and fog can take lines down, that peace of mind is worth understanding in detail before you install.
Adding a Battery to New or Existing Solar
A battery can be installed alongside a brand-new solar array or added to a system that is already on your roof. When storage is part of a new installation, the inverter, electrical panel, and battery are sized and wired together from the start, so the whole system works as one. When a battery is added later, the first question is whether your existing inverter can accept storage or whether the battery needs its own dedicated AC-coupled inverter that runs alongside what is already there. The right path depends on the equipment already on your home, and we figure that out before you buy anything — not after the equipment arrives.
What a Battery Can and Can't Power
Every battery has two limits that matter: a power rating, which is how much electricity it can deliver at one moment, and a capacity, which is how much energy it holds in total. Most residential batteries can comfortably run essentials like lights, refrigeration, household outlets, a garage door, and a well pump. Large or power-hungry loads — a whole-house air conditioner, an electric water heater, or an EV charger — may draw more at once than a single battery can deliver, so they typically are not on backup. During an outage, the battery powers only the circuits wired to its backup load panel, not the whole house automatically. We help you choose the loads that matter most to you so the battery does what you actually need it to do, rather than sitting there underused.
Why a Proper Electrical Setup Matters
A battery is a real electrical addition to your home — not an accessory that bolts on. It needs a correctly rated breaker, a properly installed backup load panel, and a transfer setup that safely disconnects from the grid during an outage so your battery doesn't try to power the whole neighborhood. An undersized battery installed without the right panel work can leave you with a system that looks fine on paper but trips offline the first time a big load kicks on. The electrical work is the whole job, and it is where being a state certified electrician makes the difference between a battery that performs and one that just exists.
Inspections Stay Honest
California law (Business and Professions Code section 7197) bars a home inspector from doing repair work on a home they inspected within the past 12 months. We never use an inspection to sell you work. Our inspection findings stay objective, and our installations and battery systems stand on their own.
What's Included
A battery backup planned for your home and the loads you actually care about:
Who This Is For
Homeowners who lose power
Outages are a fact of life where you live, and you want the essentials to stay on without running a generator.
Homes adding solar now
You are installing solar and want to size the inverter and panel for storage from the start, so a battery is easy to add.
Existing solar owners
You already have panels and want to know whether your system can take a battery or what it would take to add one.
Owners of older electrical panels
Your panel may need work before a battery can connect safely, and you want to know that before you commit.
How It Works
Book
Schedule by phone or form. We talk through what you want backed up, your solar setup, and your electrical panel.
Assess
An on-site look at your panel, your solar inverter, the loads you want on backup, and the path for any new wiring.
Plan
We size the battery, lay out the backup load panel, and confirm the integration path — new system or existing.
Install
Clean, code-compliant electrical work with the battery, backup panel, and transfer setup installed correctly the first time.
Battery Backup FAQs
What does a battery backup system actually do?
A battery stores electricity — either from your solar panels or from the grid — and releases it when you need it. When the grid goes down, a properly installed battery automatically powers the circuits wired to its backup load panel, so the essentials stay on without a generator. When the grid is up, it can also shift your solar energy to the evening so you draw less from the utility after the sun sets. What it can't do is power your entire house at once — every battery has a power rating that limits how many large loads it can run at the same time.
Can I add a battery to the solar I already have?
Often, yes. If your existing inverter is battery-ready or hybrid, storage can integrate directly. If it isn't, a battery can still be added with a dedicated AC-coupled battery inverter that works alongside your existing system. The right path depends on the equipment already on your roof and your electrical panel's capacity. We look at what you have and tell you plainly whether it integrates or needs a separate path — before you buy anything.
What can a battery power during an outage, and what can't it?
Most residential batteries can run essentials like lights, refrigeration, outlets, a garage door, and a well pump — the loads wired to the backup panel. Large or power-hungry equipment like a whole-house air conditioner, an electric water heater, or an EV charger may exceed the battery's power rating at once, so they typically are not on backup. The key is choosing which circuits matter to you and sizing the system for those, rather than assuming the whole house will run. We walk through your priorities so the battery backs up the things you actually care about.
Why does the electrical setup matter so much for a battery?
A battery is a real electrical addition to your home — not an accessory. It needs a correctly rated breaker, a properly installed backup load panel, and a transfer setup that safely disconnects from the grid during an outage. If the panel work is wrong or undersized, the battery may look fine on paper but won't actually back up the loads you bought it for, or it may trip offline when you need it most. Because this is genuine electrical work, doing it right — with a state certified electrician on the job — is what separates a system that performs from one that just exists.
How many batteries do I need?
That depends on what you want to keep running and for how long. A single battery may cover the essentials through a short outage; longer outages or more loads call for more capacity. We size to your actual priorities — the circuits and the runtime you want — instead of quoting a fixed number. The honest answer is that the right size is the one that backs up what matters to you, and we figure that out together before you spend.
Do you serve my part of San Luis Obispo County for battery backup?
All of it — Paso Robles, Atascadero, Templeton, San Miguel, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Cambria, Los Osos, Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, and Nipomo. Whether you are inland where the heat drives heavy air conditioning loads or on the coast where the outages and salt air are the concern, we plan the battery for where you actually live.
Financing Available for Qualified Buyers
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Serving Paso Robles and All of San Luis Obispo County
Interactive Google Map centered on Paso Robles, our home base. We install battery backup throughout San Luis Obispo County. No residential street addresses are shown.
Owner operated • Open 7 days, 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM • Serving San Luis Obispo County and surrounding cities.
Inquire About a Battery Backup System
Owner operated across San Luis Obispo County. Honest sizing for the loads that matter to you.
Keep the Lights On When the Grid Goes Down
Speak directly with your installer and plan a battery backup sized for your home and your priorities, anywhere in San Luis Obispo County.