Thanks for the great information. I have looked over the many ideas presented.

The Cabela's Shed Light is a good option for KISS - and I may use one of their outdoor motion sensor lights.

The Harbor Freight kit seems a bit under powered for my needs (there is a great thread at www.homesteadingtoday.com covering the Harbor Freight kit from earlier this year).

I went into one of our local Solar Sales and Installation businesses. One of their system designers greeted me, shook my hand, and after I told him of my simple needs he immediately roughed out numbers well up and over $1,000 with 2 panels, high end equipment, the works! Kinda the 'Tim the Tool Man' approach - "What we need here is MORE POWER!" Yeah...I won't be contacting them again.

One avenue I am persuing further is another local company (that does ship across the country) called Pacific Renewables. They primarily sell used solar panels at about 1/3 the cost of new. I am looking at purchasing from them a used 80W panel, decent quality new charge controler, mounting rack, and wiring from panel to charge controler for about $350.00. That's pretty close to Harbor Freight's retail price for their kit with a far stronger panel and a superior charge controler. The rest of the set up will be the same using either system - battery, interior wiring, and light fixtures.

To get the quantity of lights I need from Cabela's I would have to spend about $400, including shipping.

To go the hard-wire route from the house, I would easliy be up to $1,000 building to code (with or without a permit) - so that is not an option.

Any more thoughts or ideas on this project would be more than welcomed!