DIY Solar Panel System

[mayam]

I plan to create my own solar panel to connect to a power strip to charge phones and laptops. I understand that my panel will need to be connected to a charge controller, which will need to be connected to a battery, then an inverter, then the power strip. My question is if I can have all of these connected and still use the power strip? Do I have to fully charge the battery and unplug it to use it, or can I use it while it's charging from the panel?
Also, how will I connect each of these? What sort of connections will the wires need? This is my first time doing something like this, so I'll take all the help I can get.

[Logan5]

charging a phone is one thing, charging a laptop is another thing all together. Neither of which needs an inverter to charge. Inverters are inefficient and many allow way to low battery before Low voltage disconnect, therefore damaging your heavy expensive battery. Depending on what products are available in your location. try to procure a nice lead acid deep cycle battery. This battery will have an Amp Hour AH rating and have bolt down terminals. Do not use batteries with CCA rating as they are not designed for cyclical use and will fail in less than a year. You will want fuses and a quality charge controllers, PWM or MPPT, you will have to make price comparison and decide for your small system PWM could work well. You can obtain a cigarette lighter adaptor for you laptop and a small USB adaptor for your phones. No inverter allows a smaller system and less loss due to power conversion. 100+ watt panel for a small 12v battery, bigger battery more panels. Depending on where you want to end up, you may consider a 24 volt system for more useful power, using cheap step down converter for your 12 and 5 volt devices. If grid type panels are avail 200+ watt panels and an MPPT can be much cheaper than the typical 12v panels.

[Mike90250]

And before you spend $ on the wrong type of stuff, check out the difference between
Pure sine wave inverters and Mod Square wave inverters

http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/sp_pure_true_modified_sine.htm

[mayam]

I've been told I need an inverter to convert the energy from DC to AC, so will the cigarette lighter adapter and USB adapter do that also? And are there any specific batteries you can recommend?

[Logan5]

None of the items you mentioned run on AC. your phone runs on 5 volts DC and your laptop runs on 19 volts DC. a cigarette lighter adapter converts 12 volts to 5 volts USB and a similar laptop adaptor converts 12 volts step up, to 19volts. If you run a 24 volt battery, your 19 volt load would use a step down converter from your 24 volt battery.