Reviving the old solar thread. I have a tiny cabin (ok, a tuffshed) on a mining claim in the mountains. I just finished putting in an equally tiny solar power system to run multiple 12V LED lights, a fan, and a charging station for portable devices. Two marine batteries in parallel, a 30W solar panel, cheap charge controller, automotive fuse block, and a homemade switch panel. Seems to be working just fine so far for my needs, time will tell if it holds up. I really know nothing about this stuff, just winging it, so I'm sure I did some things wrong. Fun project, either way.