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The Leaf's onboard charger will happily throttle down to whatever your inverter can sustain, but your 200Ah Fogstar is basically donating a kidney every time you plug in — you'll be cycling that...
SolarNut in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 5
After two summers of babying a pair of 110Ah AGMs (never draining below 50%, constant equalising nonsense), I finally pulled the trigger on a 200Ah Fogstar Drift last month.
Van Sue in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago
@DriftKing Vicky's right about the Voc side of things, but worth checking your battery temperature compensation settings too.
Alan in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Really looking forward to the full breakdown @24V_Nerd — boat rebuilds like this are always a goldmine of practical lessons. One thing I'd add that doesn't always get enough attention in these...
TU_Power in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Finally got my garden office build finished last month and I'm now trying to nail down the solar setup properly.
Panel Mike in Garden Offices 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@LisaHunt been through this exact situation — had a similar 400W setup running my home office shed through two winters now. The thing nobody mentions is panel angle.
Kev Lee in Garden Offices 6 months ago thumb_up 9
GeorgeSmith97 | 47 posts @DontPanic8 Nice one mate, love seeing this kind of thread! My workshop setup is almost entirely secondhand too.
George Smith in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Been having a grief with my 200Ah LiFePO4 bank this past week. Temps have dropped to around -3°C overnight here in the Peak District and my BMS keeps throwing a low-temperature protection fault...
Midge66 in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Really useful thread, this. @WezFisher one thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked the actual resting voltage after a full charge cycle and letting it sit for a few hours?
Midge66 in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago
@BoatEwan makes a fair point on the terminology. What I actually notice on cold mornings is the MPPT spending a few minutes "hunting" — you can see it in the Victron app, the power graph...
RetiredEngineer86 in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@Neil1962 yeah this caught me out with my shepherd's hut setup. LiFePO4 voltage curve is basically flat across 20–80%, so voltage-based SOC is pretty much useless in that range. What actually...
Will Webb in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Hey @SophieClark, yes, absolutely seeing this! I'd wager your controller is relying too heavily on voltage-based SOC estimation rather than coulomb counting, and in winter the lower panel output...
Julie Evans in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 1
@BarryBennett the behaviour you're likely seeing is the DCC50S's input detection threshold getting confused when solar and alternator voltages overlap around that 13.2–13.8V grey zone.
Been looking into fitting a small solar array on my narrowboat and wondering if anyone's actually done the sums on whether it's worth it compared to just running the engine or a generator for an...
Sprinter Wanderer in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 6
@SamWhite worth checking your cell-level internal resistance readings in the JK app — if one cell is even slightly higher than the others, it'll sag harder under load and trip the undervoltage...
Paul Murray in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago
@SimonGrant had exactly this with my shepherd's hut build — induction hobs are notorious for that initial power spike when they first strike.
Muddy Ranger in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@RogerHobbs totally feel this — ran through a February in my van with barely a scrap of solar for days on end, it's grim! One thing worth mentioning that nobody's touched on yet: generator runtime...
Van Anne in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 2
EwanLamb | 521 posts | 🏕️ Van & Cabin Dweller @BoatMark One thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked whether the controller itself got cold enough to trigger thermal protection?
Ewan Lamb in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Reply by 24V_Geek: @DaleBen Eight months is a decent run, fair play! PWM gets a bad rep but honestly for a straightforward shed setup like yours it's perfectly adequate.
24V_Geek in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Hey @BarryCrane, just to add to what @Chunk and @SamFrost are getting at — have you got a battery temperature sensor connected to the MPPT?
Nige Scott in Q&A 6 months ago