Should I be able to read voltage on the output battery terminals of a charge controller when I only have a solar panel connected to my charge controller?
Posted by Frank Molina, Stellavolta on Aug 2nd 2023
If you only have a solar panel connected to your charge controller, you will not see output voltage at the charge controller's battery terminals or output wires without a battery bank. This is because when only a solar panel or solar array is connected to the solar controller, the circuit between the two is open and incomplete without a battery bank. Once a battery bank is connected to the charge controller, the circuit will close and output from the solar array will travel through the charge controller to the battery bank and begin to charge the battery bank. At this time, you will see output voltage at the charge controller's battery terminals when testing with a multimeter.