Size your whole system
Your daily use and your darkest month decide everything. Put them in and you'll get panels, batteries and an inverter, plus a cost range.
With no location, this assumes a dark winter: about 2.3 hours of strong sun a day in the darkest month.
| 4 | Solar panels, 200 W0.8 kW total — about as many as fit. In winter, top up by driving (a DC-DC charger) or a small generator |
| 2 | ~2 kWh power stations or add-on packs2.4 kWh stored · about 1.8 kWh usable each |
| 1 | Built into the power stationRuns everything you plug in |
In your darkest weeks the sun doesn't quite keep up, so the batteries end each day a little lower. Top it up from the wall when the grid's back, or add a panel.
In summer they're full again by 11am, and the extra sun is yours to use.
Starting full at 6pm, the batteries run the night, drop to their lowest around 8am (71%), then the panels make about 1.4 kWh a day in your darkest month against about 1.6 kWh used. After two days they sit at 90%.
Rough one-time cost: $3,500 – $4,500, parts and wiring.
Go deeper: how this works
Panels: daily use ÷ darkest-month sun hours ÷ 0.77 (wires, heat, dust) × 1.1 (margin).
1.6 ÷ 2.3 ÷ 0.77 × 1.1 = 1.0 kWBatteries: daily use × days without sun ÷ usable storage per battery.
1.6 × 1.5 ÷ 1.8 = 2Want it done for your life?
The guides ask how you live instead of how many kWh, then size everything and show the exact picks.