Best Battery Type for a Small Off-Grid Homestead?

[lyrawinslow]

Hey Everyone,

I am attempting to completely go off the grid with my little homestead and chicken house since my local power regularly cuts off even to do the smallest things.

I already installed the solar panels, but now I am even stuck with the right kind of batteries. Sellers continue to market AGM batteries, but these are expensive and I doubt they will make a good long-term purchase.

What I actually need to run:
– coop lighting and some fans at night.
– a little water pump to the birds in the daytime.
– a fridge that stays on 24/7
– and sometimes some little furnishings.

Any cheaper and still good alternatives?

 

[Debbie292d]

What we currently use to run our camper furnace, lights, and small DC fridge, etc., is two deep-cycle marine batteries. We got ours at Walmart. They supposedly last 10 years, but we've had them for two.

As for how many you'd need, there's a calculator we found to figure it out, but I'd think two would work for you, too, provided you get ample sun.