DIY solar panel 45v on a 24 volt battery bank

[Nosty]

I just built my first two solar panels. I bought the glass almost 3 x5 on craigslist and the glass was big enough to put 17 cells across and 5 high so my output is right a 45 volts. I encapsulated them in epoxy and they are now on the roof bringing power to my batteries which are 6 gell batteries in series parallel. My question is did I mess up and make them too high voltage and will this mess up my batteries. I already fried my aims 24v 2500 watt inverter this morning not sure why. The only thing different is my solar panels. I'm thinking of upgrading to the aims 1000 watt pure sign wave 12v inverter if i do this should i make my panels 18 volts. Thanks for the help Matt

[Sunking]

Depends on what kind of charge controller you are using.

[Nosty]

I have the coleman air 60 amp charge controller but its not hooked up because ive already fried 2 of them but i know why i screwed them up. I just thought you dont need one unless the battery's are full which i dont have enough solar panels yet. but i can hook it up if necessary.

[Sunking]

If you connect a 45 volt panel directly to a 12 or 24 volt battery you are asking for trouble.

[Nosty]

So what voltage should I make the panels for a 24 volt system?

[Mike90250]

Generally, 24V batteries need at least 35V at the charge controller inputs. Commercial panels use about 72 cells in series.
To fully charge and equalize flooded batteries, you have to reach around 30v at the battery.

GEL batteries are not good for solar systems. Solar relies on a quick charge while the sun is present, and gel batteries develop voids. AGM or flooded are the batteries of choice. All must be used with a proper charge controller, set correctly for your batteries. If you want to use 45V to charge 24v bank, you can use a MPPT controller to down convert the voltage without wasting power, otherwise, you will waste nearly 40% of your panel power with a PWM style controller. My suggestion for your existing epoxied panel, would be the Rogue Controller 3024, or one of the Blue Sky controllers (MPPT versions)

[Nosty]

Thanks for all the help I have another question. Since my inverter got smoked this morning I'm going to send it back and upgrade to a pure sine I was thinking either the aims 12v 1000w or the 24v 1500w. I want to go back 12v seems easier. I also have one wind generator which puts out power every once I awhile. I'm new to this and have had alot of problems and just want something simple to run my house. I'm using about 500 to 600 watts and hour according to Kill a watt meter. I have enough solar cells for 1kw of power. I know how to wire them now I just want a little more advice on the 24v vs 12v before I make more solar panels.

[Mike90250]

The more gear you want to run, the higher you should plan your battery voltage for. If you load up on 12V stuff, you eventually will need to discard it for 24 or 48V gear. If you never plan on going beyond a 1,000 inverter, then you may be happy with 12V.

example, My 240V pump pulls 1,000 watts from the inverter, but that's only 20A from the batteries @ 48V. In a 12V system, a pump half that size (500W) would pull 41 amps. That's twice the wire gauge needed, for half the load.... Add up the cost of copper, and that may be the difference of the price of a 12 or 24v inverter.