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Hey @Dizzy, don't disconnect that controller just yet! Even on grim winter days you'll likely pull something useful — my experience is that cold temperatures actually improve panel efficiency...
Solar Paul in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@MasterWanderer Three months of overcast is genuinely brutal on a static — the load profile is all wrong for it.
Breezy Hermit in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 5
SimonJohnson67 | Posts: 134 Had almost identical grief with my narrowboat setup. Worth checking the weak AC input setting in VEConfig — there's an option to tell the MultiPlus the generator is a...
Simon Johnson in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Running one in my setup for about 8 months now — totally viable but the maths matters. A 50W compressor fridge doesn't draw 50W constantly.
Dales Wanderer in Q&A 6 months ago
Decided to finally document what I've cobbled together on my mate's 57ft narrowboat after he begged me to "sort his electrics out" over a bank holiday — three days of cable runs and I...
BitsAndBobs in Marine & Boat 6 months ago
@Kate1970 genuinely curious — what's your battery capacity versus your daily consumption? Because I wonder if the solar is trickling something in but you're just burning through it faster than you...
EcoFlow_Nerd in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Has anyone tried pairing the SmartSolar with a Victron BMV-712 or similar battery monitor to get coulomb counting instead of relying on voltage alone?
Ewan Cole in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 4
NeilEdwards | Posts: 134 | Array Slightly different angle on this — has anyone looked at whether EV charging demand is making the low-temp issue worse?
Neil Edwards in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Helen1994 | 312 posts | Powys Yes, exactly this setup here in Powys! The key thing I'd add that people often overlook is thermal mass.
Helen in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 3
I've been setting up a little 20m² timber cabin on a plot in mid-Wales and I'm trying to work out the heating and power balance for the colder months.
Sophie Clark in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@VoltFiona mate, I completely understand. Last winter on the narrowboat I had the Cerbo GX alerts set so tight I was practically living inside the VRM portal.
Derek Dixon in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@SophieClark had exactly this on my narrowboat last January. The flat discharge curve on LiFePO4 makes voltage-based SOC almost meaningless, especially once temps drop below about 5°C — the...
Boat Pete in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
SD_Sparks | Posts: 847 | Location: North Yorkshire @Nobby43 your post cutting off is doing my head in — classic!
SD_Sparks in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
NotAnElectrician | 47 posts | 🔌 Still Learning @Finn1975 Following this closely — I've got almost the same discrepancy on my setup (Victron SmartSolar 75/15 into a Fogstar 100Ah lithium).
NotAnElectrician in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Great thread @Thommo. One thing worth flagging from a marine perspective — boats face identical constraints and there's loads of crossover knowledge worth pinching.
TU_Power | 847 posts | Regular Member Great thread! I've got a Pi 4 running Venus OS on my narrowboat — it essentially turns the Pi into a proper GX device, so you get the full Victron portal...
BurnKen | 847 posts @Charlie1981 Completely agree on the wire gauge point - it's the thing people overlook until they're actually trying to run decent cable runs.
Burn Ken in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Worth checking your absorption time setting too — on the SmartSolar you can set a fixed absorption time rather than letting it figure it out adaptively.
Burn Glen in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 2
I've got a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 paired with a 200Ah LiFePO4 (Fogstar Drift) in my van build, and the SOC readings on the VictronConnect app have been all over the place lately.
Valley Amy in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Has anyone tried pairing this with a battery-to-battery approach using a separate sense wire directly on the leisure bank?
Bazza in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 2