Electrical - smoked up the cabin
I need a starting point. A couple weeks ago we were camping - battery went low so hooked up the generator. Ran for some time then I got a wife of hot wires. Turned off the generator - finished our ...
Forum Discussion
BFL13 wrote:
Forget the 18v! Your controller will pass "12v" battery voltage to the array once it is connected to the battery. With no battery you are just seeing array voltage with no battery. You seem to have a 12v array with that 18v. Connect the controller to the battery.
Thing is, I think I noticed the 18v while the battery was hooked up earlier - didn't think much of it since I was buried and baffled in all the other stuff. Should have caught my eye, didn't. But if that's the case - that the battery *was* hooked up and still showing 18v - that'd be not good, right? I really, really don't want to burn anything else up. :|
BFL13 wrote:
Actually, if it is a 12/24 controller, you should first connect it to the battery so the controller knows it is a 12v system or a 24v system and it sets for that, then you connect the solar panel array to the controller. In this case, it might work just connecting. It will not fry. If it doesn't work right, then do it the proper way around, connecting battery first.
I'll keep that in mind for when I do hook everything back up - thanks!!
