The four panels on the west end of the steep roofed section of the house are Kyocera photovoltaic (PV) panels with an output of 835 W on a sunny day.  The PV panels work great most seasons, fall can be difficult when the leaves are still on the trees and the sun is low.
The solar cells require no maintenance.  

The cells are linked via a Trace Engineering Charge Controller to the battery bank. 
The charge controller is metered so charging can be monitored.

Our energy is stored in 18 2 V Surette lead-acid batteries wired as 3 parallel 12 V batteries with a total capacity of 3500 amp-hours. These require regular minimal maintenance (keeping the fluid levels up). They were replaced in 1998 when the original bank gave up the ghost after 15 years.  The batteries have output to a 12V DC fuse box and via an inverter to a 120V AC fuse box.

The entire house is wired both 12V DC and 120V AC. The battery DC output to the house is via a 12V fuse box. Output to the 120V AC fuse box passes from the batteries through the Trace inverter sitting on the top shelf of batteries. it has a continuous output of l500 W. This inverter is designed to act as both inverter and battery charger but we do not use the charging capability.