I have built my place from scratch to stand alone in the event of any kind of emergency. Here in Missouri we have at least one ice storm a year that takes out the power lines for a week to ten days. We tried the Aladdin lamps, kerosene has gotten really expensive, plus they don't put out the light that the company advertizes. Next we tried propane lights they put out plenty of light, but propane has gotten expensive also.

As far as wiring 12 volt light fixtures they wire up pretty much the same way as 120 lights do. But do remember that 12 VDC lights are polarity sensitive. I have not been able to find a normal light switch that is rated for DC voltage, so I am using toggle swithches that come from Backwoods Solar. Ihave two 12VDC cieling fans that run constantly. These can be had from Backwoods Solar or Real Goods Trading. 12VDC light bulbs can be had from the same companys. They are more expensive than the 120 volt models.

You will also need a 12VDC rated circuit breaker Box. Simple 6 circuit box works fine.

My system is the most basic of all solars systems. I am running 6 Trojan T-105 6 volt 225 amp hour batterys wired series/parallel to give me 12 volts and 675 amp hours or 8100 watts. I have 8 15 watt Sunforce solar panels wire thru a 30 amp charge controller. I also have a Iota 55 amp battery charger connected to the grid. When the grid is unavailable I have a homemade gas driven battery charger.

In the summer time I am totally solar for my lighting and cieling fans, no back up charging is needed from the grid. in the winter time I have to top off the batterys about every two weeks. Once a month I check my battery water and make sure all battery connections are clean. I check the battery level indicator on the charge controller daily when I do my morning chores. Charge controllers today are pretty much automatic. Set them up at installation and leave them alone.

In the house, living with solar powered lights is the same as grid power, flip the switch and the light comes on. I can run for 7-10 days with no charging whatsoever, but you always get some charging out of the panels even on overcast days.

Be advised that here in Missouri we have no building codes or electric codes. So what I have put together may not pass code where your at. I have grid power too, I like my A/C in the summertime. I eventually hope to build my system big enough to convert my freezers and refidgerators to 12VDC.

When the grid went down last winter we didn't know it. Also, my electric bill hasn't been over 50 bucks in the last year and a half. I plan to add a wind generator and more solar panels as time and money allows. I am hoping with the wind generator that I will become energy independant year round, except for my A/C.

You can build as big a system as your wallet allows, this one is working for me and what I want for right now

On the countryside & small stock journal's website under past issue they have an article call piecing together a spanking new $600 solar electric system, the article can be read on line or printed out, it's written be I think Ed Ewing. It was an excellent article.