Solar panel controller question

Welcome Chris.
No you don't need to use the load terminals on the controller. They are (in most controllers) used to control a single load such as a lighting circuit that can be set to run for X amount of hours at night. They are triggered by darkness or can be set to run 24/7. The normal set up is as you are wanting to do. All loads are drawn from the battery. The best location for fusing is on the battery. Blue Seas makes a great fuse for this..


Blue Seas terminal fuse..jpg

Ah! that solved the conundrum. We was looking at this one "ebay" as its had some good review on you tube & alike. They go under a couple of names. Thanks
solar.png

I think that's thee same as the charge controller I use, but yours has a different body and a display. Here's the one I got on Amazon ($180):



This looks the same but for $124:



And interestingly looks like they now have models up to 200 amps / 200 volts:



I've had great luck with that controllers, I've installed 3 of them and never had a failure. I upgraded to a Morningstar MPPT 60 (long story, someone basically gave it to me) and in general it doesn't give me any more power than my old Tracer 40 with my 930 watts (three 310 watt panels) flat mounted on the roof of my RV in parallel.

If I was doing a new install I'd seriously look at the Victron charge controller too, which have really nice software (ability to monitor output from your phone, and can easily use them with lithium batteries in the future):

https://www.amazon.com/SmartSolar-MPPT-100-Charge-Controller/dp/B073ZJ43L1