"Martin Eastburn" wrote in message
...
Good old Harbor Freight has a panel and sells the electronics to
make
?12V? - have to check the site. Might have a 120v a.c. driven from
a battery and an inverter. Likely need a charger from the panel.

Martin

The HF kit is a good start with everything you need except extension
wire but don't count on 45 Watts from it with the included PWM
controller. System losses and the mismatch between the 17V maximum
power point of the panels and the 12V of the battery reduced the net
power from mine to about 30W initially in 2011 and barely 20W now,
1.5A at 14V. It puts closer to 2A into a partly discharged battery.
The short circuit current nearly pegged the 3A meter I tested and
aimed it with.

Part of the wattage loss is the inescapable difference between a
battery's 14V charging and 12.6V discharge voltage.

If aimed due South it produces close to full power for about 4 hours,
in my case intermittently limited by tree shadows so I can't predict
the amp-hours someone else with a better site might get.

-jsw