ideas for solar bank

[bountyhunter69]

ok folks,,all of u who have a solar system i got few ?s..first are all solar panels created equal? ive seen big price differences in these panels,same watts,but big price diff..also,how many watt panels will i need to keep a battery bank 6 6v deepcycle golf cart batteries charged? and 8 6v deep cycly gc batteries..im planning on using 400 w invertor i will try to built a Faraday Cage around the panels to try to ward off that deadly EMP.. any and all help/info appreciated,tks to all in advance

[EX121]

The way your question is phrased it's hard to answer, because it depends on how much drain/use there is on the system while it is trying to charge. To be very simple & I hope not insulting, 1 panel will charge the system given enough time & no use.
One of the first things you need to do is determine how many amp hours of use/storage you need. I suggest you go to http://www.backwoodssolar.com and read some of their how to articles. They explain it much better than I can.

[eeyore]

Some on the site have first hand experience with solar panels and set ups, might be good to check them out also. Here is a six part series, lees thesn an hour would probably help you with a lot of your questions.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/24/AJE6pvWAyVw

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/23/FWnBRYgf7EA

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/22/jW74xYKs048

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/21/5mrXEwTG_pI

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/19/3DlqIleQr4w

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/20/o9yTunbHD-M

[610Alpha]

Good stuff!! I added a couple of tags to help facilitate better search results so people don't have to repeat themselves.