Setting up my classic 200 properly

[SolarPychek]

I have a midnite classic solar 200 connected to the 3600w Outback inverter and that connected to 9 panels. I usually can contact my sales rep from the place I purchased however they starting to charge me $150/hr for every little problem, I need to learn this on my own. I tried to upgrade to larger capacity batteries so I had a longer period of lights on whenever an emergency arose however I did not maintain batteries so I believe I have ruined them. I had to go back to the older smaller batteries which are 4- 12 volt in series they say “dual-purpose part #31DP-6, cold crank-675 marine cranking amp at 32f 840, reserve capacity 210”
I need to know how to set my solar classic 200 to the smaller battery bank?
Please and Thank you...

[boB]

That is quite  bit for advice !!  Geeez !

Well, since you are downgrading your battery size, and if those batteries are similar to what you had before, you shouldn't have to do much, if anything at all.   However, you would just need to look at the charging specifications for that battery to find the recommended Absorb and Float voltages first of all.  They may be the same or slightly different than your previous batteries if the same technology.  i.e. Flooded lead acid.

These newer batteries with the cold cranking amps sound like maybe marine batteries ?  If so, the should work in a pinch but may not be a complete long term solution if they are not deep-cycle lead acid.

The way to hurt Lead acid batteries is to not let them have a good Absorb cycle cycle (2 or 3 hours typically) so that they sulfate their plates.  So make sure you let them get a good Absorb every few days or every week or so.

Hopefully others will chime in here to give more advice.

There is also battery temperature voltage adjustment which may need to be refined.  Also, make sure the battery plates are covered with electrolyte/distilled water if they happen to boil it off.  I've neglected that maintenance  before, myself 

[ClassicCrazy]

Any deep cycle battery lead acid battery you have you will need to check them every few months and make sure they have enough water , and it is good to check the specific gravity once in awhile to make sure no cells are getting out of balance. You will want to either set up automatic equalize once a month or to check and do it manually as needed.
I would suggest reading forum posts on here from the past. There is a lot of knowledge there.
Some things to consider
If only using your batteries occasionally and keeping them in float most of the time you probably want to set up skip days .
You will want to give them a deep cycle occasionally and recharge so you stir up the electrolyte to keep the acid from stratifying.
As Bob said - those are probably not the best batteries for your use.
Without knowing more about your specific batteries , the settings that you have now, and the loads and frequency you use them it is tough to give advice.
Look through the old posts and then you will learn a lot and be able to ask some more detailed questions.

Larry

[ClassicCrazy]

Another good source of beginners info is the AltE youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/AltEStore
and Will Prowse  https://www.youtube.com/user/errolprowse