The batteries are a year old, I got them new and stored them in a room in my house. I have not put any loads on yet. Ea. battery is about 5.6 volts
Hi alehowe,
Several things;
It is generally a very bad idea to let batteries sit, without some charging every month or so. NiCd batteries and NiMh batteries are possible exceptions.
You say that ea battery is about 5.6 V. Assume that these batteries 6 V ea, and there are four in series for a 24 V bank.
This is a fairly low voltage.
AND, an Input voltage of about 25 Volts is not enough for any MPPT CC to work, on a 24 V bank.
Most 250-ish Watt PVs are 60 cells. This equates to a Vmp of about 30-ish volts at STC. With the PVs warm or hot, this will not be enough voltage to allow most MPPT Charge Controller (CC) to work well.
Assume that you have wired all three PVs in parallel. On a 24 V battery bank, and with three PVs, you may not have much choice, but to wire all three PVs in series. This will give about 90, or so volts input to the CC. This configuration of three PVs in series, should help the CC to charge those batteries.
We all are making a lot of assumptions, because there is not much information on the details of your system.
Guessing done, for now, Vic
