Solar panels create a DC current.
There are two ways to use a solar panel, on the house to reduce bills at home and also when camping.
There is a difference in the setup of these two uses, I will concentrate on the camping as others have covered the home situation adequately.
The solar panels used for camping are mainly portable, and smaller in size than those on the roof of your house.
Of course there are several ways to setup for a camping weekend but as most people would like to be able to run a fridge, some lights, charge laptops and phones without using a generator (assumption here) there is a need to use batteries.
I currently use two 135 Amp Hr batteries charged by a DC to DC charger and a solar panel. I also run two fridges, lights and charge batteries and phones.
With this setup I can stay camping in the one spot for a long time, can’t say how long because I have not run out of battery power, but after two weeks we left on our maiden long term camping adventure.
No need to run it all through an inverter as everything we camp with is 12 volt!
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