Battery and solar set up

Hi,

I'm looking for input to confirm my RV batteries are wired in parallel and wired correctly for the solar controller and plug. I received it this way. I can not see behind the battery switch and assume both positive wires (from the battery) go to the same terminal on the battery switch essentially connecting them.


Thank you

Yes, that is parallel

What is an external solar plug? Is it the output of another charge controller?

Why is the jumper between the two positive terminals ran through a switch? Is the switch a double pole switch? I ask because both positive and negative are connected at the switch. Do all the system loads connect to the switch?

Charleswgibbs said:

What is an external solar plug? Is it the output of another charge controller?

Why is the jumper between the two positive terminals ran through a switch? Is the switch a double pole switch? I ask because both positive and negative are connected at the switch. Do all the system loads connect to the switch?

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@Charleswgibbs Yes, the external solar plug is for a second portable solar panel with a controller.

I can't explain why is wired this way. It is the way the RV came to me. Attach is the switch. Yes it turns all loads and power off inside the RV.

Maybe the negatives are not wired to the swtich like I show, but just go to a ground? Or vice versa. Negativesgo through switch but positves to to inside RV? Sorry I'm not sure and it's hard to get behind the switch to look

Are the solar wiring correct to charge both batteries?

Thank you

If that's the type of switch you have it's a single pole, so the negative wouldn't (hopefully) be connected to it, otherwise it would short your battery.

The external controller should ideally have positive connected to one battery and negative to the other battery, like the other controller does. Not a safety issue or anything just helps to keep current shared equally between the two batteries.

Charleswgibbs said:

If that's the type of switch you have it's a single pole, so the negative wouldn't (hopefully) be connected to it, otherwise it would short your battery.

The external controller should ideally have positive connected to one battery and negative to the other battery, like the other controller does. Not a safety issue or anything just helps to keep current shared equally between the two batteries.

Click to expand...

@Charleswgibbs Thank you. I just figured out how to remove the battery switch and as you say, only the two positives are tied to the switch. The negatives looked like they ran into it, but actually go behind and into the trailer.

So do you recommend to move one of the wires of the external plug to the other battery? If so, does it matter which one?

Honestly if it's working fine it's ok to leave as it is, but if you do move it it doesn't really matter with only two batteries as long as the neg and pos are on on opposite batteries. Just make absolutely sure to get polarity right if you do move it.

If you are looking to make improvements to your system and could spare the money I would really suggest some busbars. It seems whoever built your system was avoiding them for some reason.

They make tying everything together a lot easier as you have a central location for all the connections and don't have to connect multiple lugs to one terminal, and overall they make wiring more tidy.