Perhaps I should have made it a goal this year to become handier around the house. Thankfully the Internet makes do-it-yourself projects simpler than ever because more often than not, another brave soul somewhere out there has attempted your targeted project and can offer helpful tips and advice. Or in this case, a step-by-step tutorial to guide you through the process.

Today's project is building your own solar power system. Now I'm not entirely sure what an AWG cable or a mechanical lug actually is, but luckily I'm fairly certain someone else in my household does. In fact, you can pretty much guarantee that particular individual will likely build this entire thing themself while I supervise (read: while I sip a glass of wine and call off instructions and the necessary tools for a given step). I do love some good teamwork.

This instructable will show you everything you need to put together a pretty good sized electric solar panel system. Things you will need:

Supplies:
Solar panels
Charge controller
Battery charger
2 AWG cable
At least one 12 Volt marine deep cycle battery
Mechanical lugs
1 power inverter
1 Rubbermaid tote or other container
1 battery charger

Tools:
Cable cutters
Red electrical tape
Screwdriver
Drill
Crescent Wrench

Step One: Preparing the batteries 
The first thing you want to do is charge your batteries with a charger. This will insure they are charged to capacity and ready to go at set up. I purchased my batteries new and were only at about 60%.

While the batteries are charging, you can set up the solar panels and get them wired up and ready to go.

Hit the jump to see the rest of the instructions for this project so you can get started!

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