Recommendations for solar charge/controller
It appears a buddy of mind is going to donate two used 300 watt panels. They are rated at 30 volts with about 8 amps open voltage (he got them for a song - used I should say) We’ve been out in t...
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this is all excellent advice -
One question though. Can I manually switch the controller from bank 1 to bank 2?
As I stated, I run my batteries through a marine switch - which feeds from bank 1 or bank 2 or both. I have them separated because of the age difference of the batteries and use. Bank 1 serves the RV House needs (water pump, fans, lights) and Bank 2 serves my Inverter. I currently have two separate chargers which I run off my generator to bounce them back to 80% or more.
If I have my solar setup, will I be able to focus all the amps on Bank1 until it reaches 80% and then switch it to bank 2?
If so, I can use a mechanical switch (as I have for the source of power in the trailer), but what impact will a mechanical switch have for designating the destination of the charging on the controller?
Will a sudden disconnect and reconnect from bank to bank cause a failure?
Do I need to disconnect the feed from the Panels first to the controller, then switch over, then reconnect the feed from the panels?
i know this would be a lot easier if I just had one battery bank of 420 amps. Hence, I'm asking the questions before I let the blue magic smoke out of charge controller prematurely! :)
Thanks so much!!
One question though. Can I manually switch the controller from bank 1 to bank 2?
As I stated, I run my batteries through a marine switch - which feeds from bank 1 or bank 2 or both. I have them separated because of the age difference of the batteries and use. Bank 1 serves the RV House needs (water pump, fans, lights) and Bank 2 serves my Inverter. I currently have two separate chargers which I run off my generator to bounce them back to 80% or more.
If I have my solar setup, will I be able to focus all the amps on Bank1 until it reaches 80% and then switch it to bank 2?
If so, I can use a mechanical switch (as I have for the source of power in the trailer), but what impact will a mechanical switch have for designating the destination of the charging on the controller?
Will a sudden disconnect and reconnect from bank to bank cause a failure?
Do I need to disconnect the feed from the Panels first to the controller, then switch over, then reconnect the feed from the panels?
i know this would be a lot easier if I just had one battery bank of 420 amps. Hence, I'm asking the questions before I let the blue magic smoke out of charge controller prematurely! :)
Thanks so much!!
