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Simon1988 | 203 posts Great thread — we did a similar conversion on Mallard (60ft cruiser) about 18 months ago and one thing nobody's mentioned yet is the DC wiring runs.
Simon in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Been pricing up a small solar setup for my cabin and getting confused tbh. Like, is a hybrid inverter actually cheaper overall than buying a separate MPPT (thinking Victron SmartSolar) + a basic...
EcoFlow_Gal in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 4
I've been running a Victron MPPT 100/30 and a SmartShunt on my narrowboat for about eight months now, and whilst the VRM portal is handy enough, I really don't want to rely on a mobile data...
Julie Evans in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Great thread — I've had the Multiplus 12/3000/120 on my 55-footer for about two years now and one thing worth flagging is how well it plays with VE.Bus Smart Dongle if you haven't already added...
Rob Robinson in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Been having a weird one this winter with my setup on the narrowboat. I've got a 200W panel (a Renogy 200W mono) feeding into a Victron BlueSolar PWM-Light 20A, charging a pair of 110Ah lead-acid...
Midlands Boater in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 1
GazJones | 📍 North Yorkshire Dales | ⚡ Off-grid since 2019 Interesting one this. I updated to v3.40 a fortnight ago on my cabin setup and the VRM connection has been fine, but I have noticed the...
Gaz Jones in General Chat 6 months ago
@OldSailor78 is right about winter being brutal up there — I ran the numbers on my garden office (South East, so far more favourable than the Borders) and still built in 3 days autonomy...
Van Sue in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Really nice setup @DorsetExplorer! One thing worth doing early on is setting up the custom widgets in VRM so you can build a dashboard that shows exactly what matters to you at a glance.
PGL_Builds in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 6
ValleyAmy | 847 posts @Taffy73 I'm running almost exactly this combo! One thing worth looking into beyond what @FL_Solar mentioned — the Growatt SPF series does have a RS232 port, and there are...
Valley Amy in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Boat life taught me that UK "overcast" covers everything from "a bit grey" to "basically underwater," and my Victron handles them all differently — diffuse light from...
Marine Karen in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 6
CaddyWanderer | Posts: 847 @PanelPaula honestly your 100Ah Fogstar is probably already decent for a 6-hour outage depending on what you're running.
Caddy Wanderer in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Slightly different use case here — I've got an Orion-Tr Smart 18A on a land-based setup for EV charging prep and garden office, so not a narrowboat, but the Bluetooth monitoring alone justifies...
Lazy Warden in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Great thread @GlenDixon — would be keen to hear your full write-up once it's posted. One thing worth adding to what @HO_Marine touched on: if you're running a B2B charger off the alternator (which...
Somerset Camper in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @KenCross and @BoatIan — great timing on this thread. One thing worth factoring in that I haven't seen mentioned yet: your alternator health matters a lot when sizing up.
OffGridKing in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@Brummie88 That 110Ah AGM will serve you, but temper expectations. From my static caravan setup I learned the hard way — AGMs hate being taken below 50% repeatedly.
EcoFlow_Master in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Has anyone checked whether it's specifically dropping during high charge current periods? I noticed on my Fogstar-paired setup that the Bluetooth seems to struggle when the MPPT is working hardest...
Wonky Sparky in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @Julie1972, just to add to what the others have said — worth having a look at your phone's Bluetooth settings specifically.
Chopper72 in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 9
@Turbo also worth knowing those UPS cells are typically rated for maybe 200–300 cycles at best before they're cooked, compared to a proper leisure battery — you're basically running on borrowed...
Stormy Drifter in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 1
IslandVanLifer | Posts: 1,247 @RobRobinson78 Worth checking whether the firmware update reset your battery preset back to a generic flooded profile — this catches people out constantly.
Island VanLifer in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Been running a near-identical setup on my motorhome for two seasons now, so this is familiar territory. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — on a narrowboat specifically, shading is brutal.
LiFePO4Nerd in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 3