Storage Shed Off-Grid Lighting

I have been interested in Solar Power for many years and especially an off-grid system to better understand the workings and components associated with said system.   

Several years ago, my wife and I installed 48 solar panels on the ground in the back yard of our house in Alpine, CA.  Not because we had bought into global warming / cooling / weather, because that is not us.  We believe this is a farce based on all the research we have done on this topic. If you disagree, please read Hot Talk, Cold Science with S.Fred Singer (click link) for alternative views on this subject  

After installing the system, we were surprised when we had no power (during the day) the first time the power went out (which happens reguraly in California).  We talked to our installer and he explained the need for batteries, etc. for storing energy that could be used in an outage.  He did not recommend a battery solution because he explained they were not quite ready for prime time. 

So we purchased a generator using the $300.00 promotion offered by the electric company and adding as much out of pocket.  We purchased the components from Amazon and had an Electrician wire the new box into our current electrical system. One plug and our generator (10k) was running the home essentials. 

I have since retired and moved to Kansas and I now have more time to research things of interest.  Recently I had 12 Solar Panels installed on the south facing roof of my grarage to help off-set the electric bills.  I am still researching the best solution for electrical outages using either batteries or a whole house generator that runs on natural gas. 

I completed this storage shed off-grid project in 2022 in order to learn a lot more about solar energy and storage using DC batteries.   It was very interesting and rewarding!