Help with confirming proper hookup

I am a newcomer to this, including the diy solar in general. Current setup is 12-100 watt HQST panels. I have a 100amp charge controller from oocycoo. Or maybe it's spelled ooycyoo. Anyways, I have this hooked to 3-100ah redodo batteries, with a 2000 watt inverter. I just need help with the proper and best wiring solution. I currently have the panels in 4 series 3 parallel. I sized the wire based on distance, and rated power, and believe I have done all that properly. However, I don't feel I'm getting the most from my panels, and wonder if perhaps I should wire them differently? Also, I have my batteries in parallel. Is this all the correct way? Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Can you post the specs of the panels? My guess is 4s3p is prob the most ideal.

Do you have fusing on the 3p stings?

Do you have any shade that covers any of the panels?

Do you have any type of smart shunt?

Remember 1200w of panels should get around 800w-1000w of charging due to real world limitations of panels.

Even if you have 800w of generation, that will take only a couple hours to bring a dead 300ah 12v battery from zero to full.

ExceedSolar said:

currently have the panels in 4 series 3 parallel

Click to expand...

The maximum voltage Input for the controller is 100 volts. The panel Voc is 24.3 at 25 deg C. At lower temperatures the Voc will rise.
Three panels in series is the safe limit , thus 3S4P is needed, fuse each string before the parallel combiner.

If you have a 12v inverter, batteries in parallel.

With the high currents, quality parts and correct gauge cables are needed to avoid volt drops.
With new batteries it's probable there are unbalanced cells, often lowering the charge voltage speeds up the balance process.

Parallel battery connections need care to ensure equal charge/ discharge current.

Not enough details provided to answer all your questions. The question regarding batteries hooked in parallel comes down to the needed voltage from the batteries. If your inverter is 12vDC than you need a 12vDC battery.

How much are you getting from your present setup?

740GLE said:

Can you post the specs of the panels? My guess is 4s3p is prob the most ideal.

Do you have fusing on the 3p stings?

Do you have any shade that covers any of the panels?

Do you have any type of smart shunt?

Remember 1200w of panels should get around 800w-1000w of charging due to real world limitations of panels.

Even if you have 800w of generation, that will take only a couple hours to bring a dead 300ah 12v battery from zero to full.

Click to expand...

Thank you. This has given me much to ponder. I believe 4s4p is my problem. I did have 4s3p before, but decided to wire the 4 extra panels in and see what happened. Since I did that, my battery's have died, and I cannot get any power at all. I'm assuming the bms recognized the high voltage and shut down. I will drop the 4s3p and see what happens. Thank you for the help!

mikefitz said:

The maximum voltage Input for the controller is 100 volts. The panel Voc is 24.3 at 25 deg C. At lower temperatures the Voc will rise.
Three panels in series is the safe limit , thus 3S4P is needed, fuse each string before the parallel combiner.

If you have a 12v inverter, batteries in parallel.

With the high currents, quality parts and correct gauge cables are needed to avoid volt drops.
With new batteries it's probable there are unbalanced cells, often lowering the charge voltage speeds up the balance process.

Parallel battery connections need care to ensure equal charge/ discharge current.
View attachment 228166

Click to expand...

I do not have fuses anywhere. I did purchase some in-line fuses, but haven't installed them yet. Should I?

ExceedSolar said:

Thank you. This has given me much to ponder. I believe 4s4p is my problem. I did have 4s3p before, but decided to wire the 4 extra panels in and see what happened. Since I did that, my battery's have died, and I cannot get any power at all. I'm assuming the bms recognized the high voltage and shut down. I will drop the 4s3p and see what happens. Thank you for the help!

Click to expand...

Adding another string of 4 panels in parallel does not change voltage. It just increases amperage. If your BMS cut out it likely was due to battery low voltage. Individual cells can spike high (especially if your charging voltages is set high) and charging quits until cell voltage drops back in range but you do not lose discharge.

The hazard of 4 panels in Series is total Voc might exceed SCC max Voc.

Your problem is elsewhere. Once again I suggest you mention just how much wattage your panels are delivering that led you to say that is was not what you expected. Also list loads that you are running so that it can be determined if you are over drawing your batteries. Along with this list charging voltages.

In regards to wire sizing it would help to tell us what you are using and why you feel it is adequate. Photos of your setup often helps those of us that can not see what you see.

I will rattle off a few details here as I can remember them. I purchased 12 100 watt solar panels from hqst. I will post pic of the panels specs. I also purchased a 100amp solar charge controller from oocycoo.
Max.PV open circuit voltage:150VDC Rated charge current:100A 12V systempen circuit voltage ≤96V(Voc) maximum. PV input power:1300W
I purchased 3 100AH redodo batteries, that I have had wired in parallel. Wiring is 8 gauge from controller to panels. With a few boujerv branch connectors, so I could ultimately wire 4s4p. However, I think the voltage was too high, and dropped back down to 4s3p. The only load to speak of is my 2000 watt power inverter, but I've never had more than 1000 watts on it at once. Here's the most recent issue. I left it on all night, and when I woke up the next day, the whole system was dead. Took me several days to figure out how to wake up the bms so they would take a charge. One battery woke up at 60%, the other at 50%, the third completely dead. I'm currently charging them all to full before I rewire them into parallel and try to hook then back into the system on the dropped down 4s3p panels. I think my issue lie in the fact that I was unaware the charge had to be balanced on the battery's before they were hooked together. I also wired my inverter to one battery, instead of the posts on the beginning and end of the bank. I think this combination of unbalanced batteries and misfired inverter drew too much load from battery, and triggered all 3 into safe mode. At least that's what I'm hoping. To wake the bms I hooked up 3p 100 watt panels, and touched them to the terminals, and then quickly to the charge controller. This seemed to wake up all 3 no problem. I thought the battery's would shut off automatically at lower voltages, and then auto restart when charged. I guess not. I'll have to watch them more carefully. Anyways, if anyone has any suggestions on improvements or changes to the system, I appreciate all the help so far.