Connecting solar panels to Converter

Hi,

My converter has three outputs, each on a separate circuit. So if you put 14 volts from the solar into output #2, while output #1 has the wire going to the battery, then no power would get from output #2 to the battery output wired to terminal#1. The ground side will not matter, the grounds are all connected together, however my outputs are separated by diodes coming off of the converter output triacs.

So my suggestion is to loosen the output of your converter and place the solar output wires inside the same terminals - if there is space. Or if there is not enough space for a additional large wire, check to see if there is a bond between the connections, or else put in one to bond the 2 positive and another to bond the grounds together.

Fred.

With both on, the battery voltage will rise to the higher voltage of the two chargers, which leaves the other charger idle.

Say the converter is at 13.6v so it is there all night, then solar comes on during the day and it is set to 14.3v. Solar will take over and raise the battery above 13.6 to 14.3 then quit at dusk, when better voltage will fall back to 13.6 again.

If you want to keep a steady Float voltage of 13.6 then just turn off the solar when at home and plugged in.

EDIT: to turn off the solar, put your on /off switch on the array side of the controller on one of the wires. The sequence for connected a controller is battery first then array. So the controller stays on battery, but the array is disconnected and connected by the switch.

Thanks for the help. Not to be cheap but I'm trying to keep wire runs to a minimum.

I was going to connect the solar controller output to the same terminals as the output from the converter to the batteries just in case. I just wasn't sure if running them in parallel was ok or not. When my RV is parked at home I have it plugged into the house and was wondering if it would matter that both the solar and the convereter were providing power. I'm assuming that the solar controller would see the voltage from the converter and not push additional power to the battieries.

Yes you can connect the output of your solar controller to the output of the converter, so they are in parallel on the battery.

EDIT per above-- Be sure the second set of terminals is connected to the first set or else just use one set of converter output terminals for both controller and converter

I'm going to retract my 'yes' after seeing that you said you were using the other terminals. Now I'm not so sure.

I'd not hesitate to connect to the existing wiring however.