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RICH807's avatar
RICH807
Explorer
Aug 06, 2019

12/24v Solar Controller --> 6v Batteries

Background: Purchased a used coach, came with a solar panel/controller setup that's connected to Two 6-volt house batteries. I got no paperwork for any of it but scouring the interwebs I at least found out what kind of controller is in place (a Chinese brand w/little info in the online manual). Literature describes it as a 12/24v unit.

I'm FAR from an electrical expert but it seems like the batteries are getting heavily charged during the day (boiling or near boiling the fluid... can audibly hear them peculating louder than what I'd expect. Seems like something's not right with the system but again, I'm not an electrical guy & never had any solar home or RV equipment before now.

Question: Can using a 12/24v solar controller lashed up to a solar panel send too much voltage to 6v batteries effectively killing them prematurely?

Pretty sure I need to replace these 2 house batteries but I don't know if I should go back to the OEM setup of Group-24 12v types or stay with 2 6v types.

Thanks much for any assistance you guys can offer!

22 Replies

  • RICH807 wrote:
    I at least found out what kind of controller is in place (a Chinese brand w/little info in the online manual). Literature describes it as a 12/24v unit.


    can you share that info? What voltage at battery = boiling?
  • Your solar is working and two 6s has some advantages over two 12s as the house battery bank.

    The 6v in there now may be older and bubble "early", so it is not the solar's fault. (older batts with their reduced capacity from being old means they get to their fulls quite soon)

    The batteries are bubbling because they are "full" and need to have the voltage dropped to 13.x vs the 14.x they need to get to full. It is a matter of timing how long it takes to get to full and how much sunlight you get in any day for how long you want that 14.x to last.

    Try it with your new 6s and see how that goes before changing the solar.