What we have here is a Marine Battery, hooked to 4 small solar panels. The inverter is then connected to the Marine Battery. I was able to purchase all of the items as an emergency power outage packet. One thing that is missing from the picture is the charge controller which a very unobtrusive 2 by 4 inch panel that the solar panels hook directly into.

Solar batteries store the energy that is collected from your solar panels. The higher your battery’s capacity, the more solar energy it can store. In order to use batteries as part of your solar installation, you need the following components: solar panels, a charge controller, and an inverter.

Your solar panels will first need to be connected to a charge controller which will help monitor how much energy is stored in the batteries to prevent overcharging. Charge controllers will also shut down a system if the batteries become too depleted. Before powering your appliances, your batteries will need to be connected to an inverter to convert the DC energy collected from solar panels and converted to AC energy.

I have used this set-up for as long as 4 overcast days when we had a power outage. I was able to charge my POC batteries, charge my cell phone, and run my laptop to play games.