Batteries play a vital role in solar photovoltaic refrigeration systems. Despite breakthroughs in operational characteristics of various components of such systems, lead acid batteries continue to be the only viable electrical energy storage devices as of date. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of characterization of a lead acid battery system as a component of a small capacity uninterrupted refrigeration system. The charging characteristics on solar energy, mains and a generator set powered by an internal combustion engine are presented. It is shown that through a judicious choice of capacity and load matching, the maximum power point tracker can be eliminated. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.