Many people are interested in renewable energy and are installing it themselves. Here's a quick guide on electrical components and their connection order to install.
1. The battery, it's the heart of the system. It's where energy is stored, it's charged via a solar panel and powers equipment from devices attached to its terminals. So this is always the first place to start. You should be using fuses on all cables which would have a direct connection to power. If you also have a switch panel you should include 1 large fuse directly off the battery to the switch panel, then smaller fuses for each circuit running of each switch.
2. Charging circuit, this normally consists of 2 scenarios, either a solar panel and solar controller, or a mains powered battery charger. Both are OK to use at the same time to charge up a flat battery.
For Solar Panels connect the battery to the solar regulator first. Connect the battery neg to the controller battery neg. input/output, then connect the pos. terminal of the battery to the battery input/output. (we say input/output as you might be using the solar controller devices outputs which are normally indicated as a lightbulb to power your devices). If you have any equipment that exceeds the current rating of the solar controller you shouldn't use these lightbulb outputs but instead connect your discharging equipment directly to the battery terminals so you don't overload the controller).
If you are connecting a mains charger that can be connected to either a generator or a mains power source you just need to connect the positive and negative terminals to the battery. If it's a permanent installation it would be best to use eyelets and not the alligator clips as they can come off easily.
Now for the solar panel - a 36 cell panel outputs around 17-18 volts which is too high a voltage to connect directly to a panel so it needs to be connected to a solar controller. It should also be fused and switched so you can turn it off when necessary. Connect the negative terminal first and then the positive terminal.
With that done your solar controller should have the solar panel input indicating its working and the battery being connected will be charging. If the battery is already fully charged then there won't be must current flowing and it might only indicate a voltage up to 13.6 volts but that's OK. A fully charged battery doesn't need a charge. If however, the battery was flat, let's say the voltage was only 10 volts, it will take many hours, maybe days to get the voltage up to 13.6 volts. That's not uncommon if using one small panel on one large battery. Just let it do its thing until a full charge has been done prior to you discharging energy from the battery.