Controller to battery connection

[Toadster]

I am mounting three 100w mono's over the davits, in parallel, married in a combiner with 10a breakers, feeding a Blue Sky SB2000E 25A controller via 6ga(28' run), to our house bank consisting of four 6v lead acid, 12v 450AH. Is it acceptable to split the charge from controller to the two 12v house source? They are located in seperate compartments, port & star.

[jseas]

If you are saying you have two separate house banks, then no. I think the controller would get confused and under charge or over charge one of the banks. Best to have two small controllers from each solar segment going to each bank. An alternative would be to use the Morningstar 25A duo sunsaver that will charge two banks. But if your 4 batteries are all tied together then no problem.

[jseas]

You must have some big davits! I just put two 110w panels on mine and there is no more room.

[jseas]

And before someone replies that my solar setup interferes with access to my dinghy, take a look. I made them adjustable.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Toadster

I am mounting three 100w mono's over the davits, in parallel, married in a combiner with 10a breakers, feeding a Blue Sky SB2000E 25A controller via 6ga(28' run), to our house bank consisting of four 6v lead acid, 12v 450AH. Is it acceptable to split the charge from controller to the two 12v house source? They are located in seperate compartments, port & star.

Is it one house bank or 2? I have 4 6V batteries that are in two banks, but I always run both banks together so they are at the same state. I ran my controller output to the main DC panel with its' own breaker and it charges whatever battery bank is in service.

I don't think you can charge 2 different house banks that are split. Unless your had a selector switch all you will have done is connect the 2 banks together.

[Toadster]

The house consists of 4 six volt, 2 series + 2 series in parallel, wired as one bank, total 450 ah. Due to different locations I plan to split from controller to each 12v in the bank. All draws for the house are fed from a single point that both 12v are connected.

[Toadster]

sailorboy1
What size breaker is being used to ? amps. From breaker to selector switch?

[jseas]

Then there is no need to split. Just do as sailorboy said and connect the output from charger to your dc main from the house bank. ...or at the selector switch.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Toadster

sailorboy1
What size breaker is being used to ? amps. From breaker to selector switch?

I have a 50 amp breaker in my panel between the main DC panel and the solar controller, this really has to do with the rating of your controller.

I don't have a selector switch as far as the main DC panel is concerned. What I have is a another 50 amp breaker from each house bank to the main panel.

Sounds that you have all your house batteries always wired together and that is 1 bank (doesn't matter how many batteries). In that case you only need 1 connection to the system from your solar controller and it should be at the same location as where the cable that supplies the main DC is,; either at the battery itself, in the DC main panel, or at the cable that supplies charge from the charger or alternator.

[CAELESTIS]

Minor hijack here . .

Do you also need a breaker on the neg side between the controller and the battery?

Any benefit to having one, or not having one?

[Toadster]

Breaker before positive battery should be enough to stop electrical flow. Is there a sound reason for the neg. side to be interupted I'm missing?

[S/V Alchemy]

Have I missed any mention of a fuse?