Dual Battery Bank Neutral Bus

Bloom
Bloom Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Hi, thanks for the help but I'm back with more questions. :confused:

I'm collecting my ever mounting pile of electrical gear and heading out to my cabin soon. While I'm there I want to rewire my solar and modify the set-up based on some advice. I checked the wiring and realized I undersized it. It is all being changed out for one higher gauge than required. Next, I am changing out my controller to a Morningstar Sunsaver Duo. ( http://www.solar-electric.com/modubachco25.html )

I am building a good core system with the plan to change out my panels and batteries for higher quality as funds become available. In the meantime, I'll make do with what I have and build on it as I can.

I've been drawing up the wiring trying to minimize the duplicate wiring from two separate battery banks. The latest drawing has two positive bus bars, one for each battery bank. The charge controller is connected separately to each positive bus. I used a battery selector switch for the inverter feed from the positive buses.

I was wondering if it would be possible to use one shared negative bus bar instead of one for each battery bank. All the drawings and research suggest that this is actually the preferred method but the charge controller that I selected has dedicated negative terminals for each battery bank. Is it really necessary to keep the negative wiring of the battery banks separated?

Thanks for all the helpful advice.

Kind Regards, Bloom
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Comments

  • NorthGuy
    NorthGuy Solar Expert Posts: 1,913 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: Dual Battery Bank Neutral Bus

    It is hard to tell.

    I guess your charge controller is designed to work with two banks if it has terminals for two banks.

    Two terminals may be just for convenience. In which case common bus is fine.

    Or, the controller may have different shunts on different connectors if it wants to measure current going into separate banks separately. In this case, the common bus will mess these measuremets up.

    It is easy to tell by opening the cover and looking at the wires.

    On the other note, in most cases it is more beneficial to have a single bank instead of 2 separate ones.
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  • Bloom
    Bloom Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭
    #3
    Re: Dual Battery Bank Neutral Bus

    Thanks, NorthGuy. I'll check the controller.
    Bloom
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  • mahendra
    mahendra Solar Expert Posts: 188 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Dual Battery Bank Neutral Bus

    check alte store they have nice heavy duty battery bank switches that has connections for both negative and positive i believe.
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