Solar panel for christmas lights. Please help.

[toconnell]

Im new at this but im trying to power my outdoor christmas lights with this set up. please let me know if it will work, if not, what do i need?
solar panel- 18w per hr.
charge controller- 7A
12v car batttery
350w (700w max) inverter
I have 5 strands of icicle lights that are 72w each, so 360w total. and i would like to have them on approx 4hrs a night.

[SunEagle]

Im new at this but im trying to power my outdoor christmas lights with this set up. please let me know if it will work, if not, what do i need?
solar panel- 18w per hr.
charge controller- 7A
12v car batttery
350w (700w max) inverter
I have 5 strands of icicle lights that are 72w each, so 360w total. and i would like to have them on approx 4hrs a night.

I am sorry to say it will not work. You have too much wattage with those lights that you will quickly drain your battery. Also the 18 watt solar panel is too small to recharge even the right size battery bank in one day.

With your load being 360watts for 4 hours that gets you 1440 watt hours a day. To run that much you will need a 480 Ah deep cycle 12 volt battery system.

And depending on where you live during the winter you will have very little in the amount of useful sunlight so even with 3 to 4 hours of good sunlight you will need over 500 watts of solar panels and a very good MPPT 45 amp charge controller.

Between the batteries, charge controller and solar panels alone the cost will be over $1500.

[toconnell]

WOW. Thanks for the input but at that price, i think ill just pay the higher electric bill.