MPPT Installation

Classic owner’s manual Rev I 2193
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 Keep plenty of fresh water and soap nearby in case battery acid contacts skin, clothing, or eyes.
 Wear complete eye protection. Avoid touching eyes while working near batteries. Wash your hands with
soap and warm water when done.
 If battery acid contacts skin or clothing, wash immediately with soap and water. If acid enters an eye, flood
the eye with running cool water at once for at least 15 minutes and get medical attention immediately
following.
 Baking soda neutralizes lead acid battery electrolyte. Keep a supply on hand in the area of the batteries.
 NEVER smoke or allow a spark or flame in vicinity of a battery or generator.
 Be cautious to reduce the risk of dropping a metal tool onto batteries. It could short the batteries or other
electrical parts that can result in fire or explosion.
 Never wear metal items such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, and watches when working with a battery or
other electrical circuits. A battery can produce a short circuit current high enough to weld a ring or the like
to metal, causing severe burns.
How to KILL Your Batteries
Batteries are actually very delicate and require proper attention especially when off grid. Think of your
batteries and solar equipment as a small Nuclear Power plant, Hydro dam or Natural gas fired power plant.
Just like any of those your system needs DAILY attention to make sure it is doing what it should. Below is
a short list of some of the most common ways we have seen people kill there battery bank.
For Lithium battery banks we highly recommend using the Logic input on the Classic to let the BMS tell it
to stop charging if it detects an issue brewing.
We also recommend the use of an independent battery monitor/alarm if you have very expensive battery
banks.
*Not watching the Charge voltages and verify you are charging to the voltage supplied by the battery
manufacturer
*Not verifying the temperature compensation neutral point (typically 25 degrees C) and the milli volts per
degree C per cell (typically -5mv)
*Not watching to verify the Absorb and or EQ time is set properly and that the equipment actually charges
for that period of time (Some equipment will have settings like ―End Amps‖ that can terminate Absorb
early and if set up wrong can damage a battery)
*Not having enough charge current (Solar Panels) to properly charge the size of the battery you have.
(Consult the battery manufacturer for the minimum charge current)
*Using tap water or other liquids instead of distilled water in a flooded battery (The Minerals in the tap
water will destroy a battery)
*Failing to keep all connections clean
*Not using ALL EQUAL LENGTH interconnect cables on each string (It is important that ALL strings be
wired EXACTLY the same way. Any variance in resistance on one string vs another will cause an
imbalance and the batteries will be dead in less than 6 months)
*Using more than 2-3 parallel strings and not using something like common bus bars (When you use more
than 2 strings it is very hard to properly charge the middle strings. The only safe way to do this is to wire
each string with equal length cables to a common bus bar)
*Not making sure your lead acid batteries get a full charge at least once a week
*Routinely using more than 50% of the capacity of the lead acid battery (Using more than half the battery
capacity drastically shortens the batteries life, once in a while is fine but on a daily basis will kill them in
months)
*Not leaving ample space between cells for cooling (We recommend at least 1 inch between the cells for
cooling, Please ask the manufacturer what they recommend)