My Experience Networking 2 Charge Controllers and Sizing Battery Bank

[jimindenver]

It may be in the thread but how far from the battery is the inverter and what gauge wire connects them? 560 Ah of bank should have no problem running a microwave for a normal amount of time if they are getting completely charged.

 

[Canine]

The battery bank goes down to 12.5 to 12.4 during heavy loads when it starts with a full charge. It has never been below 12.2 when I reference the lowest voltage recorded on the control panel. The example I had given was when the batteries eventually wear out. The inverter is pure sine wave, 3000 watts, the microwave is 600 watts (900 real life watts), and the heaviest load, the hot, pot is 1000 watts.

 

[Weight]

Some inverters do not like higher volts, such as comes with solar charging. But if your use pulls the battery voltage too low for the inverter, something else is wrong. Connections, wires, battery condition. One of my maintenance procedures is to search for voltage drop conditions using a multi-meter. Placing the leads on each side of a connection, or each end of a wire, the meter will show voltage drop during heavy use. ie Microwave on.