Which Switch

[Warren Wilson]

My charge controller seems fussy. It specifies the order in which to connect and disconnect it from the system. To connect: battery first, then solar panel, then the load. To disconnect: reverse.

Sometimes I have disconnected my solar panel only without disconnecting the load. Sometimes that is OK -- other times, it results in loss of power.

(My panel is not permanently affixed to the old 17' Boler, so when we travel I put it inside).

I am thinking of putting an interrupt switch on the load wire that runs out of the controller so that I can just toggle a switch to remove the load from the controller without pulling any wires. Then I can disconnect the panel. And do the reverse when firing it back up.

Would a 30 Amp rocker switch be able to handle the job? I was planning to put it on the negative wire.

[gordon2]

You neglected to give any specifics about the controller or the loads, and that information might be helpful.

But even without that information we can talk about your use of the load terminals on the controller. It generally seems to be best to ignore them and instead attach all loads to the battery. The load terminals on many controllers are rather limited in capacity, much more then the battery. So that might be one reason for what you are seeing. Another suggestion is to remember to cover the panels when connecting or disconnecting them. A blanket works well. If nothing else, that helps to prevent acing on the connectors which can cause poor connections with higher resistance.

[Warren Wilson]

Thanks for your thoughts on that, Gordon. I'll have to look at the names and numbers on the equipment -- dig out some more information.