Uh...yeah....it was a long.....long day. Sorry. Boy did I blow that one.
Trying to program rtr's (real rtr's, not consumer gear AP's) that you're
not familiar with really strains the brain.

That is what I meant...TX is much more DC power than RX....DOH !!!!!

You can never go by what the PS says. The PS should always be over-rated
for the device....by 50% of the actual current draw, IMO. We've got a
900mhz DSSS radio that comes with a 1.5A 12v PS and is rated @ 700mA
(which is ~100% over-rated) @ 12V for a full 1W output.

Well I measured it, and in diag keyed mode, as in constant TX, it only
uses ~ 400ma @ 12v.

Well, to be fair, the recommended discharge cuttoff point is all over
the map.  Conservative solar electric installers, that have to
warranty what they sell, will suggest no more than 25% discharge.  AT
that point, the batteries will last almost forever.  Battery vendors,
that want to sell lots of replacement batteries will go so far as to
suggest a 75% discharge.  I won't mention UPS vendors recommendation
as my blood pressure is allready too high.  For a solar electric
system, batteries are probably the 2nd most expensive part of the
puzzle if they have to be replaced every 5 years or so.  

The idea is to extend the battery lifetime, which means you try to
pull down the battery as little as possible.  I know of one system
that has two battery banks.  A small one that gets run down to about
50% and has to be replaced every few years, but is cheap.  Behind
that, a big pile of Trojan cells, that only gets used in the winter
after several consecutive days of darkness.  I think the Trojan cells
are about 20 years old and show no capacity loss.  The junk batteries
are now about 2 years old and probably have anywhere between a few
days and a year to go before they die.

It's also the same with electric hybrids.  Toyota has to warranty
their battery pack for 5+ years, so they don't let it discharge more
than 60%.  Note the LiIon cells can be safely discharged more than
lead-acid cells.

I've built 3 solar powered repeaters and one solar AP.  Two are still
on the air.  It helps to do the calcs first, and then build.

Yep.  There are several construction articles on solar powered
wireless AP's and repeaters.  I'm too lazy to look right now.  If you
look at the photos, the cost of the box, mounting, panels, controller,
wiring, and antennas, far exceeds the cost of the access point. You'll
also run into environmental issues you probably don't want to know
about.  Condensation will rot out the boards.  Outgassing of the
battery acid will really make a mess.  Thieves are everywhere.

There are also ready to play outdoor boxes:
<http://www.hyperlinktech.com/productcenter.aspx?id=14>

I hate single channel repeaters.  Details if you want (later).  All of
the repeaters that I've built, that actually worked use TWO radios,
back to back, on different channels.  The mesh mob is starting to get
the clue as even the most reactionary vendors are now supplying
multiple radio mesh nodes (repeaters).

Do a quick test and setup your proposed system inside a small room
along with a client radio and a simulated internet server plugged into
the router.  Try it first with just the server, one router or AP, and
a client radio.  No repeaters.  Use JPerf or IPerf for benchmarking.
Then, turn on a repeater or two and watch what happens to the thruput.
The moral is that repeaters work if the end points can't hear each
other.  If they can, the repeater is no better than an interference
source.

So some reading on Home Power Magazine about solar arrays, controls,
sizing, and prices.  I suggest Morningstar controllers.