Recommendations for solar charge/controller

Suggestion
Get a DC marine type circuit breaker, 50 amp is good 100 amp would be better, place in circuit between the panels and the solar charger controller, then whenever you need to switch battery Banks, or any kind of battery service , you can easily open the circuit , safely disconnecting the panels, preventing damage to the controller, I also installed a DC breaker between my batteries and my 2000w psw inverter, that one is rated at 250 amps

Plugs are indeed pretty fool proof. I use them on the 120 side of my system.
One female outlet the generator, one for shore power and another for a 30 amp connection at the front of the RV (30 amp male).

My charge controller tolerates have no "load" from the batteries. I don't make a practise of doing so. I pretty much have the batteries connected 24/7/365 to the charge controller.

Several battery disconnects are set up with a battery 1, 2, 1+2, and off positions. If used to seperate battery banks, a pre controller panel disconnect switch should be added to use while shifting battery banks.
My hillbilly engineering degree method is that I have an SAE/Zamp style side connection from the panels and another similar inside from that jack that I can easily disconnect. The interior one is handy if I want to connect the stand alone charger. Switches are great but unplugging works just as easy.

Since the batteries need to stay connected to the charge controller the correct way to do so is to turn on the 2nd bank, and then turn off the first bank.

Some controllers don't care about this. Other controllers may fail if the panels are connected but the batteries are not.

I much prefer having a voltage sensitive solenoid to "add" the 2nd bank.

I added additional switches so I can charge one bank while using the other.

jodeb720 wrote:


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?


Thanks so much!!

it can and yes.

add a switch between the panels and charge controller also, that is handy to have anyways and should be on every installation so you can just turn off the panels if you want to work on something. I used manual resettable breakers for mine, so they act as a proper breaker also but I can manulay trip them when I want the panels off.

If going to the effort of having switch to switch between battery banks, adding another between the panels and controller shouldn’t be a big deal.
Every controller manual emphasizes connecting the batteries first and disconnecting them last. They imply damage may occur but not stated clearly how. IMO, there is concern about the battery not powering the control circuitry and the panel power not being limited.
You could always shift banks at night ;)

jodeb720,

Manual switching is possible.

There are alternatives such as a voltage sensitive solenoid that would 'add' the second bank when voltage reaches 13.5.

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!!

Don't buy a controller for just the two panels. You may want, some time in the future to increase the harvest.

Victron MPPT