Well, both kinds of electric power, AC utility vs DC homemade have a 
set of hassles for the rural homeowner.  The rural power in my neck 
of the woods goes out couple times a month, anywhere from 30 min to 5 
hours.  Saw an ice storm take it out for 3 days a few winters back. 
 
My solar was often very limiting, sometimes making me wait for full 
sun before running some electric motor, or fire up the standby gen/ 
motor, and my last installation (a peltier fridge) really pushed the 
power system to the limit. ... but then what you paid the electric 
company every month I amortized into my system.  I had less power at 
any one time, but it *never* was knoked out with lightning... 
 
In my neck of the woods they love to use these high towers and hang 
powerlines 1200 feet across a canyon... boy does that stuff suck the 
lightning outta the sky... 
 
And, when I added up the cost of the linework to get to my home- $650, 
the meter, weatherhead, and 3 wire wiring system vs the 2 wire 12 VDC, 
and added that to the cost of the surge/suppression needed to protect 
a computer, a VCR, TV, Stereo,... I figured I could invest the money 
in a small solar system instead. and get by. I done a lotta gettin by. 
 
Now, there's one other thing some folks might to know in my next post.
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