Do I Wire My Solar Panel Directly to the Battery and Can I Use Solar With Shore Power?

Question:

Thank you for the wonderful presentations. I have watched your videos and was motivated to order two 120W solar panels and a Victron MPPT controller 250W 17.5 max amp. I have a battery monitor BM-1 with a shunt . My question is do I have to connect the negative pole from the controller to the shunt or directly to the battery? The monitor will not read the charging from the solar panels. Also, is it possible to keep the shore power and the solar power all together connected ? Thank you. - Antoine

Answer:

 I am so glad you found the information useful:

1. With a battery monitor and the associated shunt meter, make sure that no DC negative bypasses the shunt, otherwise the battery monitor shunt will NOT capture the current
2. A smart battery charger and quality MPPT solar controller can be operating (i.e. charging) the batteries simultaneously with shore power. - Jeff