Tristar regulator and battery monitors

We have just installed 7 x170w 34v solar panels and we need a regulator. Would the Tristar TS 60 be too big?  Also we have two other regulators for other panels - is there a monitor into which we can feed all the solar info to give us one lot of information on charging, battery status in % or amp hrs?
Sally

Hi Sally,
I'm slightly confused - 34V is an unusual voltage for a battery-powered system! Big panels such as those are usually used for grid-connected systems, where you produce 240V AC (domestic electricity). In those cases you wouldn't use a regulator such as the Tristar; instead you would use an inverter.
If you have a battery system, it would usually work at 12 or 24V DC. If it's a 12V system, your panels are really producing too high a voltage. But, if what you have quoted is the maximum voltage (usually given as 'Vmax'), they are about right for a 24V system. You have a total power of 1190 W (7 x 170), which at 24V is still a bit under 60 Amps. So yes, if you are running a 24V system, the Tristar 60 would be perfect.
You can get battery monitors to give you the state of charge of your batteries. For 12V systems the NASA BM-1 is very good (http://www.nasamarine.com/). I think Steca make a similar instrument for 24V systems - if that is of interest I can get you more details. At the moment we don't stock them, but we may be able to get one in.

Two seperate charging systems

Hello, I have a 50 watt panel and a 130 watt panel, is it possible to wire them both to the same batteries (560 ah)possibly through 2 seperate charge controllers which I have.The 50 watt system is an older system and batteries are suspect where as the 560 ah system is new and could easily take the 2 panels if they can be used together.

cheers, Steve

Yes, it's usually absolutely fine to wire two seperate solar panels to the same battery bank. You could either use two seperate solar regulators, or you could even wire both panels to one solar regulator - as long as it is rated for sufficient current. In your case, that would be 180 watts(130 + 50), divided by the battery voltage (12) - 15 Amps.