Pick the devices you need running when the grid goes down — lights, phone charger, fridge, whatever — adjust the hours per day, and we'll calculate exactly how much battery and solar you need for your location. Drop in your ZIP code and we factor in your region's actual sun hours, not some national average.
Bottom line: size essentials first (fridge, lights, phones, medical gear). Whole-home offset is a different project.
Match daily watt-hours to peak sun hours where you live. Essentials for a family often land in 400–800W of panel with a power station as the overnight buffer — not a 25-panel roof array.
A 12V compressor fridge is 400–800Wh per day. A 200W panel in decent sun plus a power station can cover one fridge. A household 120V fridge needs more battery than people guess.
A quiet power station handles lights, phones, CPAP, and a 12V fridge. A generator is for well pumps, window AC, and multi-day charging when sun is poor. Many households want both.
Peak sun hours in New Jersey are not Phoenix. The calculator uses regional sun, not a brochure 5-hour average, so you do not buy a system that dies in November.