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MIA_VanLife | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar & Van Builds @CotswoldBoater had almost identical grief with mine last year!
MIA_VanLife in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 7
NigeScott98 | 156 posts | 🚐 Van Life @Gazza89 One thing nobody's mentioned yet — before spending anything, have you checked your cable sizing between the panel and controller?
Nige Scott in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 5
@Smudge78 I ran a Cerbo GX in my motorhome for two years before I really understood half of what it was telling me — and that's the honest truth.
Dorset Dweller in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Jumping in on the settings side — with a single 100W panel into a budget MPPT you'll want to make sure your absorption and float voltages are set correctly for your battery chemistry, don't just...
Nick in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@Smudge78 worth every penny in my experience. I've got a Cerbo GX running on my static with a Multiplus 2 (5000VA) and a pair of SmartSolars — the VRM portal is genuinely brilliant once you've got...
Linda Jones in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 6
EwanGreen | Posts: 634 @KangooBuild One thing worth considering alongside the hardware side — EV charging via an off-grid setup like this is going to be heavily weather-dependent, and a 48V system...
Ewan Green in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Just finished the wiring in my Transit and went with a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 feeding a Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4.
LDV Nomad in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 1
@Ozzy nice score on that MultiPlus-II — £320 is properly good going. Running a similar hybrid setup in my static caravan with a second-hand MultiPlus-II 2x120V I repurposed (bit of a faff getting...
Birch Lover in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @LesPhillips, yes! Running almost the same setup here but for a converted shed workshop. Been going about two years and honestly it's one of the best decisions I made — keeps the energy usage...
Doug Dixon in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
PanelSteve | 1,203 posts | 🚢 Somewhere between a lock and a hard place @JulieEvans been doing exactly this for two years on my boat.
Panel Steve in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 9
I've been planning a small off-grid cabin build in Perthshire and the compost toilet question is one I keep going back and forth on.
Gemma in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Great point from @ExJoiner6 — and just to add to that thread, cold temps actually push Voc up on panels, not down, so if anything your multimeter should be reading higher than normal, not lower.
Gaz Jones in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 7
@CornishSolar @VanKen is right about the series issue, but to add a bit more context - when panels are wired in series, one shaded panel drags down the entire string's current.
OffGridKing in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 5
@PeakCamper the irony is killing me. @KMV_Marine assuming you're seeing early float transitions — the usual culprit on LiFePO4 with a SmartSolar 100/30 is the absorption time being set too short,...
Golden Socket in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@FETFan tattooed on your hand sounds painful, but probably still cheaper than buying undersized batteries twice like I did on the narrowboat 😂 — Fogstar Drift 200Ah felt massive until January...
Hannah Davies in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@LiamWalker you've cut off mid-sentence so hard to know exactly what readings you're seeing, but a few common gotchas with the DCC40S: Input voltage drop — the unit pulls hard on the alternator...
RetiredPlumber in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
HighlandCamper | 847 posts @RachelLamb the Fogstar Drift already has an internal BMS built in, so you're covered there — no need to add an external one for a modest setup like yours.
Highland Camper in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 1
BurnShaun | 284 posts | ⚡ Solar + LiFePO4 + Generator backup Good shout on this topic @HeathGazer. My honest answer is a Honda EU22i petrol genny as the final backstop — not glamorous but it's...
Burn Shaun in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 9
JakeShaw96 | 47 posts @NeilSmith yeah had almost the exact same thing happen last October with my 8s setup.
Jake Shaw in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Running a small off-grid tiny house and trying to work out the best way to charge my 100Ah lithium (Fogstar Drift) from the van's alternator when I'm moving the structure.
Gibbo53 in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 6