Page list

1. Watts, Amps and Watt-Hours in Plain English What watts, amps and watt-hours mean, how they connect, and which one you add up when you plan a small off-grid power setup.
2. How to Build a Daily Energy Budget, Step by Step List every appliance, multiply watts by hours, add the results, and get a daily watt-hour total you can use to size a small off-grid system.
3. Measuring What an Appliance Really Uses How to check an appliance's true power draw with a plug-in meter, instead of trusting the label, and what to watch for.
4. Typical Power Use of Common Cabin and Camp Loads Rough wattages for lights, laptops, fans, TVs, fridges and heaters, and how to turn them into a first-draft watt-hour budget before you measure.
5. Inverter Losses and Standby Draw Why the energy your battery gives up is higher than the appliance numbers add up to, and how inverter losses and standby draw feed into that gap.
6. From Your Budget to Battery and Panel Size Turn a daily watt-hour total into a rough battery size and a rough solar panel size, with lead-acid and lithium compared side by side.