Presented for discussion purposes, a Size the inverter to fit your prospective

prospective solar “starter” set up using
components from Harbor Freight
$189.99 100 watt solar panels, free standing.
Kit includes charge controller.
https://www.harborfreight.com/100-watt-
solar-panel-kit-63585.html
$59.99 12 v 35 amp/hr (420 watt/hr)
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-35-
amp-hour-universal-battery-68680.html
The web claims these batteries can be
discharged to 50%.
emergency load. Note that the larger the
inverter the more power it draws from your
batteries even when the inverter does not have
a load connected.
$189.99 100 watt solar panels
$359.94 Six batteries
$29.99 400 watt inverter
$879.92
At Harbor Freight, make the purchases on
eight separate days to get their 20% off
coupon on each item. $703.94 plus tax.

$24.99 400 watt inverter (picked for numbers

purposes only)
https://www.harborfreight.com/400-Watt-
Continuous800-Watt-Peak-Power-Inverter-
61479.html

At the site:
http://solardat.uoregon.edu/SunChartProgram.
html

You can download an annual sun path / time

in the sky chart for your area. Assume at the
winter solstice you may have six hours of
useful sun. If your system was working 100%
efficient (it won’t) and you use none of the
generated electricity during the day you would
have 600 watt/hr of electricity generated to be
stored. If you use up your 600 watt/hr each
night you would want four batteries to avoid
lowering any battery below 50%.

You could operate up to a 400 watt load for

1.5 hours.

Assume at the summer solstice you may have

ten hours of useful sun. If your system was
working 100% efficient (it won’t) and you use
none of the generated electricity during the
day you would have 1,000 watt/hr of
electricity generated to be stored. You would
want five, probably six batteries.

You could operate up to a 400 watt load for

2.5 hours.