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Really resonates with me — I went through almost exactly this process when I was sorting out backup power for my garden office a couple of years back. The thing that shifted my thinking was moving...
Nige in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Narrowboat winters sorted this out for me sharpish — stuffed mine in an insulated box with a cheap reptile heat mat on a thermostat, because apparently my lithium and my bearded dragon have the...
Stu in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Owen1991 replied: @VivaroProject @CliveKnight is right about the series wiring being your main culprit.
Owen in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 3
We've had a 400W solar setup on our static caravan in Wales for about two years now — two 200W panels, a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15, and a 100Ah lithium (Fogstar Drift).
Ella Dixon in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 5
BorderExplorer | Posts: 847 @JulieEvans Snap — I'm on the Scottish Borders and December/January can be genuinely dire for generation.
Border Explorer in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 6
@ExBrickie31 running a similar bodged setup here — got a 200W Renogy and a 160W panel I sourced secondhand wired in parallel into a Victron SmartSolar 100/30.
WheresMeWires31 in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 7
My old £8 shunt monitor once told me I was simultaneously at 20% and 87% charge — Schrödinger's battery, basically.
Marine Karen in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 8
StormyWarden | 89 posts @Rodney58 Worth adding that temperature throws the readings off badly too — my Daly was consistently optimistic by 15-20% during cold mornings last winter because it wasn't...
Stormy Warden in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@BurnSpirit one thing worth adding that nobody's mentioned yet — your battery capacity matters just as much as the panel wattage.
Callum Reid in Garden Offices 6 months ago thumb_up 6
I picked up a pair of 100W monocrystalline panels off Amazon for about £55 each a few months back — no-name brand, but the specs looked reasonable on paper.
Trevor in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Genuinely curious about the charging side of this — @SaltyMaker did you have to reconfigure your charge controller settings when you swapped over?
Salty Rigger in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago
Finally pulling the trigger on a proper inverter for my garden office after running it off a glorified extension lead for two years.
LK_Solar in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Really feel this thread in my bones! I'm in Cumbria so December is almost a write-off some years — I've learned to treat it as my "grid parity month" where the generator earns its...
Jim in General Chat 6 months ago
@VivaroProject had exact same issue at my cabin before I sorted the wiring. Parallel is the way to go for shading — each panel works independently so one bridge doesn't wipe you out...
Chopper in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Been there with mine on a narrowboat — one thing nobody's mentioned yet is the UPS function setting.
HalfAJob93 in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@RetiredChef2 yes, that's literally what the MultiPlus is designed for! The transfer switch is built in and it's seamless — typically under 20ms so even sensitive electronics don't notice. When...
RetiredEngineer86 in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Good timing on this thread — I went through almost exactly this headache when I was setting up my garden office build last year. The short answer is no, the 100/30 won't natively manage two...
Watt Helen in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Hey @PikeRuss, good question. I'm running a similar static setup — 200Ah AGM bank through a SmartSolar 100/30.
Russ in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 1
@DriftMaster had the exact same issue on my tiny house setup last winter. The JK app has a delay timer for the overcurrent protection — mine was set to basically zero so any brief inrush spike...
Rocky Tinker in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 7
Been through exactly this rabbit hole on my boat build. The thing that sorted it for me was using VE.Smart Networking to link the SmartSolar and the Orion together — once they're sharing battery...
VDH_Boats in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 4