ChrisB wrote:Buy a decent full sinewave invertor though, not a cheapy chinese one
I already have one feeding my emergency lights and sockets in the house. What a difference compared to the Chinese ones, they're OK for lights but only the pure sine wave one fires up mu other half's hair straighteners

ChrisB wrote:Personally I'd buy one of these little 2 stroke gennys that output about 900watts
It's looking like the more sensible approach, The sparky wired up the solar backup system so I have the option to switch to a genny for longer periods which happens about around once a year.
ChrisB wrote:Doubt you'll get a decent invertor for less than £150 ???
I've a 600W pure sine wave inverter like the ones in
this eBay shop which works pretty well and has a built in solar charge controller.
The next step, once I figure out how, is to connect a wind generator. Does anyone else here have a solar/wind mix? Can you use a different charge controller for each input or is there a decent combined system? Also what's the best way to measure battery bank state of charge (without thinking too much

) and is there any decent data logging equipment out there so I can see what I'm generating and using?
Thanks,
Floydster
I know I'm in my own world - it's OK, they know me here.