Pros and Cons of Wiring DC Accessories to Load on Charge Controller Vs. Directly to the Battery?

[MikefromMichigan]

I currently have my 12V accessories wired directly to my battery through a marine style fuse box. Is there any advantage or disadvantages to running it to the load on the charge controller vs. directly to the battery. My charge controller is limited to 20 amps of DC load, but I'm nowhere near that with my stuff. Its mainly low wattage, LED lighting, radio, 35 watt, DC refrigerator, phone charger and cell phone booster. I also have a small, 150 watt inverter wired to that fuse box where I charge tool batteries and occasionally run a small, low wattage TV.

 

[chrisski]

If the charge controller says loads of 20 amps, no disadvantage to hooking there if the controller gives no other bad indications. A bad indication could be a charge controller rated for 60 amps but can’t fit wire rated at 60 amps.

Some charge controllers I looked at had no rating for the load other than to not use for the inverter.

Other than that, I’ve only seen smaller charge controllers coming with the load terminals.

 

[v_green57]

Only real advantage is that if your DC loads are on the LOAD terms, the LVD function of the CC can turn them off when the battery voltage gets so low you shouldn't be pulling power from it.

 

[tinyt]

On my MakeSkyBlue charge controller connector, the DC load has limited current capability. See no. 5 below.

 

[Q-Dog]

On my Victron 100/20, I have in the past used the load port to switch a light on when the sun went down. Now I just have it on all the time but still only use it for a light.

 

[wpns]

The disadvantage I learned was that if you want to power-cycle the load on a Victron SCC using the Bluetooth interface after you installed it with the default jumper in place, you can turn it _OFF_, but you can't turn it _ON_ without removing the jumper and disconnecting the battery (but not the PV).

It's always something. Now that I know what I'm doing, I prefer the ability to control the load (and the other LVD, OCP, and potentially other <streetlight!> functions), but it wasn't one of my finest hours (or, well, weeks, as I was off-island) at the time.