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Got a Hobbit in my tiny house too — brilliant little stove for the size. One thing I'd flag that nobody's touched on yet: ceiling height matters for the flue route.
Panel Matt in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 6
I've been running a 20A Sterling B2B for a couple of years but recently got chatting to someone at a meet who swore blind his old-school split charge relay setup was "doing fine" on his...
Davo in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@RayPowell one practical point worth adding — at 100Ah, the usable capacity difference is stark. With AGM you're realistically working with 50Ah before you risk damaging the bank, whereas lithium...
Lakeland Solar in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 9
@RayPowell one thing nobody's mentioned yet — charge speed matters a lot for occasional-use vans. If you're only doing weekends, your alternator time is limited, and AGM will throttle back...
ExJoiner19 in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 7
@CraftyWelder ran a relay setup on the boat for nearly two years before switching to a Victron Orion-Tr Smart — and the difference was genuinely eye-opening. The relay's lazy plateau around...
Tor Dweller in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 1
ExTrucker | Posts: 412 Had the same panic on my narrowboat last January — turns out my panels were briefly pushing well over spec in that -3°C frost we had, nearly gave my Victron a heart attack...
ExTrucker in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 5
@WattAndrea this rings a bell from when I was commissioning my boat bank a couple of years back. Spent three frustrated weekends wondering why my cells kept drifting apart around 10-20%...
OldSailor86 in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 8
MistyTrekker | Posts: 1,203 @BoxerAdventure one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check whether your static is on a 16A or 32A supply, as that'll affect which hybrid inverter you can realistically...
Misty Trekker in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
@GlenLover what angle is your panel sitting at? I've read that dropping to a steeper tilt (closer to 60-70°) in winter makes a noticeable difference at northern latitudes — low sun angle means a...
Stu Knight in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@LindaClark90 worth knowing before you commit to a battery bank — the Fogstar Drift cells @RayPowell mentioned are genuinely excellent value, but on a narrowboat the damp can be sneaky.
OffGrid Terry in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 6
@HarbourHamish mate, my AliExpress 150W "actually 110W on a good day" panels have been happily confusing my Victron SmartSolar for two years now — it just cracks on regardless, bless its...
BC_Boats in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
@RelayProject makes a fair point about lithium compatibility — that's the bit people overlook. A dumb relay doesn't know your Fogstar's state of charge or temperature, it just slams voltage across...
Dodgy Hermit in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 5
PanelBuff | 312 posts @SparkySailor worth also thinking about volt drop over that 14m run — even with 6mm² you'll want to keep it within the 3% tolerance BS 7671 allows for a final circuit.
PanelBuff in Garden Offices 6 months ago thumb_up 2
StormyWarden | 312 posts @FellGraham the Fogstar Drift 200Ahs are cracking batteries for exactly this kind of application — solid LiFePO4 at a fair price.
Stormy Warden in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 7
T5Dream | 89 posts @RachelLamb to add something slightly different to what the others have said — worth double-checking what your MPPT charge controller is set to output.
T5 Dream in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Mark1978 | 312 posts | ☀️ Solar Enthusiast One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're planning EV charging at any point (even a small EVSE for occasional top-ups), 48v gives you far better...
Mark in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
@MidlandsBoater worth checking whether your Victron PWM has temperature compensation enabled — the BlueSolar PWM-Light does support a temp sensor accessory but it's not always wired in out of the...
Fenland VanLifer in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 7
LisaHunt88 | Posts: 156 @Sam1975 Static caravan owner here so very much my wheelhouse. One thing not mentioned yet — static caravans lose heat fast, so if heating is on your critical list, factor...
Lisa Hunt in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 8
FrankPalmer | 847 posts @TonyLee great shout on the Cerbo — I've had mine running the garden office for about 18 months now and honestly wouldn't go back to flying blind.
Frank Palmer in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 2
CraftyWelder | 847 posts @LazyWarden The jumping SOC is almost certainly your synchronisation point being off.
Crafty Welder in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 8