Disconnecting solar panel

[Jonesz]

May be a dumb question but is there anything I should be aware of when disconnecting my panel set-up from the battery. Will put electrical tape over the connectors when they are removed. Battery is toast and will need replaced. The fiver is currently stored. I want to take the battery out today before it freezes and possibly breaks. High today 0 deg C to drop to -35 C tonight!

[Jonesz]

I will crawl into the storage bay before rehooking the battery. It may well be that the company that installed the setup a couple of years ago in Yuma may have put a fuse in. The wind chill here is currently -44C with no hope of an upside for several days! Thanx for all the responses.
Jonesz

[Johnny_G1]

Just put a 30 amp auto fuse between panel and controller and pull that first.

[BFL13]

If your switch is between controller and battery, you need to be able to disconnect the array somehow before turning the controller back on.

[Jonesz]

KD4UPL- yes I guess that was my concern. I have already removed the battery but really wasn't expecting any harm. Mostly cause there is about 8 inches of snow on the panel tight now!
Bobmacc- It would likely be the ideal time to put a breaker in. Was sort of wondering about putting the breaker before the controller tho. The controller is in an ackward location and I must climb into the storage bay to do any work on it. That and unpack all the******that is stored in there. I am also assuming that the breaker would preferably go on the positive lead?
Thanx all for the help

[bobmacc]

You should consider installing a switchable circuit breaker between your controller and your batteries while you have it disconnected. That will give you the ability to safely disconnect the battery terminals whenever necessary. Best bet is to get a DC circuit breaker from a marine store such as West Marine and install it yourself. They are compact and have screw terminals so installation is simple.

Bob

[KD4UPL]

It probably won't matter, just unhook it. However, I have seen controllers that say they will be damaged if you have the panels hooked up but no battery.
The safest approach is to unhook the panels from the controller before disconnecting the battery.

[Jonesz]

Thanx both. Heading out to remove the battery right now before the "big cool down" starts,
Jonesz

[BFL13]

Connecting sequence is batteries first then array, so IMO disconnecting should be array first then battery. (might not matter disconnecting though) The controller programs run off the battery and it needs to power up first such as to know if it is on a 12v or 24v battery before the array is attached.

[mikebreeze]

Most solar panels are attached to a controller, which is attached to the RV house battery. If that is the case, you should be OK.