zlacker

>>bookof+(OP)
So living on a narrowboat in the UK this is something I have experience with. We have a 335 W panel with an MPPT connected to a 200 Ah 12 V flooded lead acid battery. The battery in reality has a capacity of half that and in the 6 years of seasonality it has probably halved.

A few things :

* you don't need a fridge in winter so you can just turn it off. * charging battery banks / laptops in sunny periods results in the battery bank being useful in times when the weather isn't so kind. * no amount of solar is enough in the deep of winter. * any amount of solar is too much in the height of summer. * pubs are great for charging devices. * lead acid batteries last substantially longer if you only let them drop to half their true capacity and regularly charge them. Yes alternatives exist but there's something to be said for making what you have work for as long as possible.

>>marksb+ll
> no amount of solar is enough in the deep of winter

> any amount of solar is too much in the height of summer

I totally agree. I can't understand how it why solar is promoted, when the winter is when you need more energy as you're in more, heating your house, etc. You can't store your summer's energy till the winter.

>>verisi+Co
I think isolated solar (off-grid) is probably not great unless you're close to the equator, but when you're on the grid every carbon atom displaced from somewhere is valid.

It depends what latitude you are whether the (societywide) heating load in winter or the AC load in summer is greatest. And that breakpoint is moving north all the time.