I don't think we've covered this before. OK, the basic setup for a solar system is, Solar Panel Array connected to Charge Controller, connected to Battery Bank, connected to DC to AC Inverter. Hmmmm.... Well, Hell, that's simple enough. Whoa... Not so fast. You absolutely must connect the charge controller to the Battery Bank "BEFORE" connecting the Solar Panel Array to the Charge Controller. Here's why. If the solar panels are supplying power to the Charge Controller and there is ZERO LOAD on the Charge Controller, then the Charge Controller will try to supply an infinite amount of power into nothing. That will blow up the Charge Controller. It's almost the same as Transmitting on a radio with no antenna. That's right, I said almost. Anyway, it's the same basic principle. OK, OK, if its midnight and there is no light shining on the solar panels then you might get away with it. If you are afraid that you might forget exactly how to hook things up, then just hook everything up thinking backwards. Hook up the Inverter to the battery bank. Then hook up the Charge controller to the Battery Bank. Then hook up the Solar Panel Array last. Here is another tidbit that I picked up a few months back. If you have your batteries all wired in parallel, most people will just pick out one battery to connect the positive and negative cables to. Well, that will work but the system will only try to charge that one battery. Yes, the other batteries will get some charge but the one with the cables connected to it will be doing all the work. The proper connection would be to connect the Positive cable to the first Battery and the Negative Cable to the last Battery. When you do that, you will be charging all of the batteries at the same rate and drawing power from all the batteries at the same rate. Doing it wrong will work but that battery with all the load on it will be the first one to die on you. If you are a newbie and thinking about going Solar, you probably should write this down.
