12 Volt Solar panel for 4 6v batteries in series parallel

magnusson wrote:
No not disregarding at all. Just have a 3 day boondock coming up soon and don't have big cash to spend on a nice solar system yet.

So.....you are going to waste cash now because you can't afford to do it right ??

To upgrade later, you will pretty much have to replace the whole system. When you replace the panels and controller, the only thing left is a few wires.

It sounds to me like you are in over your head, budget wise and maybe you can't afford to run your fridge on a trip like that right now.
It is possible to camp for 3 days without a fridge.

But......if you insist on doing it anyway, for making the connection at the battery you find the cables LEAVING the battery bank and connect there. Under no circumstances, with 4-6 volt batteries, would you connect both charging leads to the same battery.

I don't understand why people ask for advice and then ignore what comes back. Why bother ??

P.S. Can someone provide a link to the 12 V tutorial ? I didn't save it. You NEED TO READ THAT. And get an inexpensive multi-meter.
Just because you know little to nothing about batteries now doesn't mean that it needs to stay that way.

Remaining ignorant can be disastrous.

Not using a controller may be penny wise and pound foolish.

The Grape 40 amp controller is quite inexpensive and extremely flexible for use.

For my detailed thoughts on solar, surf here: lhttps://freecampsites.net/adding-solar/

Connect at 12v potential same as the RV main connection.
Disconnect at night if no controller.

Ok copy. So if I put the positive from the solar panel to the positive on one battery and the negative from the solar panel to the negative on the same battery it will charge all 4 batteries. Thanks

Wire it? Through a controller and direct to the battery.
Not going to power the fridge but will certainly add some power.

The controller will have a positive and a negative from the panel and a positive and a negative to the battery. Keep the controller near the batteries but not right by them where it may be damaged. I wouldn't necessarily use alligator clips. A rubber covered connector whole be better. It would use ring terminals on the battery studs.

No not disregarding at all. Just have a 3 day boondock coming up soon and don't have big cash to spend on a nice solar system yet. I'm not going to mount on the roof yet, just place on top upon arrival. The renogy solar kits look to come with alligator clips or O rings to attach to battery terminals. Just wondering which terminals of the 4 batteries that I would attach too and if its ok.

Magnusson, seems to me you are disregarding rjxj's sound advice...100 to 150 solar watts per 100 amps of battery. Why?

"In the long run if I do a nice system like yours (1000W solar) all i would have to replace is the controller and buy more panels correct?" And the alligator clips!

Do a 400 watt solar system and do it right...including no alligator clips.

Thanks. So which battery terminal would I hook up the alligator clips? I think I'm going to go with 200 watts solar and a 30a controller. it says it can handle up to 400 if we need more power. In the long run if I do a nice system like yours (1000W solar) all i would have to replace is the controller and buy more panels correct?

It will help but a residential frig uses a lot of energy. If I was mounting a panel I would buy 160 watts or so. It takes the same number of holes in the roof as a 100 w. You wire the panel to the controller and the controller to the batteries. Fuse or use re settable breakers so you can disconnect the panel before disconnecting the battery cables. Some controllers dont want solar power coming in while the battery is disconnected.

If you were sizing the solar bank to the battery you would want about 100 to 150 watts to each 100 ah of battery capacity. You have about 400 amp hours of battery. I started out with four 6 volts and 520 watts of panel. It worked well and we use a lot of power for furnace, led television etc. When I installed our residential frig I added 2 more batteries and 480 watts. So about 600 AH of battery and 1000 watts of solar.

If you want to add more panels later you may want to consider that now. It is very common to add more.