We ended up with D8 batteries at the Diaxaris project. When you get to batteries that big they tend to do both starting tasks and deep cycle tasks pretty well.

A cargo trailer I bought a while back came with a set of Trojan 6v deep cycle batteries which were only three or four years old and were costly to the previous owner. They were the cause of me al'ost givng up on solar power for any off grid projects of any scale to run power tools.

I found that deep cycle batteries just don't have the poop to fart start electric motors, and in that triggers the safety cutout circuits on inverters. You pull the trigger on a 10-15 amp power saw, it starts, dies, and the inverter goes buzzing the low voltage alarm. Dual purpose batteries though it will work, even a fairly small one, but the sun has to be out and making enough amperage on your system to keep things running.

Also, everything about "wattage" on solar panels is our shit hustle when it co e sto sales talk. The power number you want to be looking at is vAmp, or amperage. It's the one question they have trouble answering too. You want the nominal voltage, which is not the same as the actual voltage...., and amperage.

You figure in terms of car and truck alternators. A 30 amp alternator runs everything in a vehicle. That's around 500 watts of 12v power.

The shit hustler tells you he has 225 watt panels, thats because they are high voltage panels, which makes you think "oh that's better". Eh kind of. Look at your basic flea market taser knockoff, and they call it a "40,000 volt" stun gun. It typically runs on a 9volt battery and will buzz you pretty bad compared to sticking your finger in a light socket. However, no matter how you add stuff up and play the power flow numbers, it's all coming from that little .2 amp battery. No way no how can you run your house on that stun gun.