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[Mike90250]

I wish I knew what you meant (Mike) when you said "insure all those parallel connections are equal".

Meaning the resistance to each battery MUST be the same, or they will charge unequally. here is a nice write up on batteries in parallel.
http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html

....and still wondering if I can string all 42 panels together parallel.
Look below where it says nominal voltage (battery charging).
It says you have to have a 48v battery but this was before MPPT, right?
Voltage at Pmax 71V

If you run 71V panels lower than 71V, you will WASTE the power. Wired thru a conventional (PWM) charge controller to a 48V battery bank, you will only get about 60% (1102w) of the nameplate (1836w) wattage.

An MPPT controller will preserve nearly all the wattage your panels are capable of, which is about 20A at 55V (normal charging voltage for a 48V bank)