Electronic – Possibilities for 24v Solar charging of 12v batteries in series and parallel with different Ah capacities

batteriesparallelseriessolar-charge-controller

I have two 12 volt 200Ah lead acid batteries and two 12 volt 150 Ah lead-acid batteries. I have a 24 volt 50 Amp charge controller connected to a 150 watt PV panel (overkill for now, but ready for future expansion). Is it possible to connect the 200 Ah batteries in series (Bank A),and the 150 Ah batteries in series (Bank B) then connect Bank A and B in Parallel to connect to the 24 volt charge controller. I need to draw off 12v (80-120 watts) of LED lighting for our school classrooms.

Best Answer

Yes, that is perfectly reasonable, but also connect the 12V points across the two banks. So you have two banks connected in series, where each bank is a 200Ah and 150Ah in parallel. Also, if there is a chance things may get out of balance, you can put a protection circuit across each 12 bank (like ~16V zeners).

EDITED: Thought I better change the 15V suggestion to 16V. Just make sure a standard 14.4 volt charge (per 12V bank) doesn't cause notable zener current.