Classic Battery Monitor

[Tons001]

I did reduce it. I completely removed two of the batteries. I did not rewire them in series/parallel to make a 12v/610ah battery bank. I just have two 6v/305ah batteries in series. It was my "oh crap" moment about 2 hours ago when it dawned on me that I don't have enough panel to properly charge my battery bank.

Maybe at some point I will figure out a way to add more panels so I can either go back to a 24v/305ah bank or wire them in series/parallel for 12v/610ah bank. Obviously neither one may be possible on how long the two now unused batteries sit. I will throw the two extras on a maintenance charger for now.   

[zoneblue]

Ok sounds like a plan.

[RossW]

I did reduce it. I completely removed two of the batteries. I did not rewire them in series/parallel to make a 12v/610ah battery bank. I just have two 6v/305ah batteries in series. It was my "oh crap" moment about 2 hours ago when it dawned on me that I don't have enough panel to properly charge my battery bank.

Maybe at some point I will figure out a way to add more panels so I can either go back to a 24v/305ah bank or wire them in series/parallel for 12v/610ah bank. Obviously neither one may be possible on how long the two now unused batteries sit. I will throw the two extras on a maintenance charger for now.

Lash out on a couple of decent battery isolator switches. (Can get decent 500A units for as little as $10-$15).
Put two 6V batteries in series, with an isolator.
Put the other two 6V batteries in series, with the other isolator.
Connect both to the charge controller.
Assuming your loads are light enough to get away with it, you can isolate one bank and hit the other hard.
When it reaches float, bring the other bank on and isolate the first. When the second bank gets to float, bring them both online and let the controller "float" them together when it needs far less current.

Just thinkin'...

[Tons001]

I like what you're thinking! Thanks.

[Resthome]

I did reduce it. I completely removed two of the batteries. I did not rewire them in series/parallel to make a 12v/610ah battery bank. I just have two 6v/305ah batteries in series. It was my "oh crap" moment about 2 hours ago when it dawned on me that I don't have enough panel to properly charge my battery bank.

Maybe at some point I will figure out a way to add more panels so I can either go back to a 24v/305ah bank or wire them in series/parallel for 12v/610ah bank. Obviously neither one may be possible on how long the two now unused batteries sit. I will throw the two extras on a maintenance charger for now.

Tons

Looks like this is a similar thread to what was going on in the WB Jr Q&A and probably a more appropriate place is here. It sounds like you may have add another 2 panels to help out. But living in Chicago probably doesn't help especially this time of year with less sunlight. 

I've plugged what I believe is your current panel data into a spread sheet I've used that someone else created. What I like about it is besides the STC ratings it shows a couple of other conditions based on temp and amount of sunlight that has to be taken into consideration for actual panel watts out. As you have noted most battery manufactures spec a particular minimum amps for charging based on the AH size of the batteries.  Depending on how discharged the batteries get before getting charged again and whether is was a constant or hard discharge have an effect. If you have Excel you should be able to play with the numbers to see the various output you can expect from you system. Hopefully you are able to keep your batteries charged using your auxiliary charger as the SunExtenders are a good set of batteries. 

[gnjpowell]

Check out the Magnum Energy ME-BMK battery monitor kit. It comes with a 500A shunt and supports Enet monitoring. Very nice! Very happy with mine in DIY 3000W off-grid system with Classic 150. I have an extra 500A new shunt for sale that I do not need.