As I said, it depends. There are inverters made specifically to be connected to PV panels, and there are inverters made for a fixed input voltage that you connect to a battery (the DIY store kind are usually the latter).
Though if you want to build a self-contained PV system without having to think about it too much, you’re probably best off with an all-in-one device where you can just plug in your panels, your battery and your devices and let it worry about the rest.
There’s another aspect, and I sadly lack the technical vocabulary here, but basically what you want to do for optimum efficiency is to convert the voltage as few times as possible. So: panels–>inverter–>load resp. panels–>charger–>battery, but not panels–>charger–>inverter–>load. The latter decreases your general efficiency and introduces roughly twice the losses.
The charger may also reduce its power output to much less than what the panels could deliver once it thinks the battery is full.
But then again, it all depends on your use case: where you use the system, what the environmental conditions are, and of course what your budget is. There simply is no one-size-fits-all PV system. You may not even need an inverter if all you want to do is charge your phone and laptop.
As I said, it depends. There are inverters made specifically to be connected to PV panels, and there are inverters made for a fixed input voltage that you connect to a battery (the DIY store kind are usually the latter).
Though if you want to build a self-contained PV system without having to think about it too much, you’re probably best off with an all-in-one device where you can just plug in your panels, your battery and your devices and let it worry about the rest.
There’s another aspect, and I sadly lack the technical vocabulary here, but basically what you want to do for optimum efficiency is to convert the voltage as few times as possible. So: panels–>inverter–>load resp. panels–>charger–>battery, but not panels–>charger–>inverter–>load. The latter decreases your general efficiency and introduces roughly twice the losses.
The charger may also reduce its power output to much less than what the panels could deliver once it thinks the battery is full.
But then again, it all depends on your use case: where you use the system, what the environmental conditions are, and of course what your budget is. There simply is no one-size-fits-all PV system. You may not even need an inverter if all you want to do is charge your phone and laptop.