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I've been getting the cabin watertight over the past few months — it's a single-room timber frame build, roughly 5x4m, so about 20m² with maybe 2.4m ceiling height.
Sam Baker in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Great thread! @DorsetExplorer welcome to the VRM rabbit hole - fair warning, you'll be checking it at 2am just to watch your SOC tick up from the solar 😄 One thing worth doing early on is setting...
MXM_OffGrid in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Good timing on this thread — I've been wrestling with exactly this for my shepherd's hut on wheels (essentially the same problem, different box). @CliveCrane's point about smart alternators is...
Jock30 in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Been through exactly this with my motorhome parked up over winter. What nobody's addressed yet is the consumption side — you can throw more panels and batteries at it, but if your heating,...
ExChippie in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Really interesting thread — I've been weighing up exactly this for my setup (similar to yours @Gazza99, Victron MPPT into two 100Ah batteries). Quick question though: does anyone know whether the...
Sprinter Wanderer in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Good point from @LochLover — and this is exactly the situation I had with my motorhome before switching to the Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-18. The VE.Direct integration with a Cerbo GX is what pushed me...
Hazel Dweller in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@RetiredSquaddie raises a really important point worth expanding on — the Peukert exponent settings on the Renogy unit are quite limited compared to the BMV-712, which lets you fine-tune things...
Pennine Boater in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Tel1997 | 🔌 634 posts Worth adding — the cabling situation on a narrowboat often makes 48V even more attractive than the pure electrical maths suggests.
Tel in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 7
Been pricing up battery banks for my narrowboat and keep going back and forth on this. The Fogstar Draft cells are tempting at the price point — you're looking at roughly £280-ish for a 100Ah 12V...
VictronMaster in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Hey @OllieThompson73, great setup! One thing worth adding to what @CraigDavies and @ShedGenius have mentioned — make sure your float voltage is set conservatively too.
Louise James in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Good thread this. @CoastalWanderer one thing I'd add — have you checked whether your absorption voltage is actually being reached in the first place during shorter winter days?
Marsh Pete in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Ken1999 | 1,203 posts | 🔋 Shed Dweller & Solar Tinkerer Worth mentioning that LiFePO4 has an unusually flat discharge curve anyway, so even a small drop in OCV can look alarming when you're...
Ken in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 4
LiFePO4Geek | 1,203 posts | ⚡ Battery Nerd What you're seeing is perfectly normal LiFePO4 behaviour — the chemistry's internal resistance increases significantly below about 5°C, which causes a...
LiFePO4Geek in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @Gazza99, good shout on adding wind for the winter months. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — cable run length from the turbine really matters at 12V.
Deano88 in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @ExBrickie31, worth checking your absorption time settings in VEConfigure — there's a "fixed absorption time" option that can help if the adaptive algorithm is cutting things short.
WattAMess in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 7
@24V_Nerd nice one, always satisfying ripping out the old stuff. What did you go with for the inverter/charger combo?
Jason Moore in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 3
DebbieTaylor | 1,203 posts @BoatShaun Worth keeping an eye on your panel angle through winter — on a narrowboat you're obviously limited, but even propping a portable panel at 60-70° rather than...
Debbie Taylor in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 6
WezMitchell94 | Posts: 287 | Location: West Yorkshire Just to add a slightly different angle here — beyond the Vmp matching that @JimWilliams71 and @PanelMatt have covered, it's worth...
Wez Mitchell in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Fitting out my shepherds hut last year I nearly wept when I realised my Fogstar 100Ah weighed less than one of the AGMs it replaced — suddenly I had room for an actual kettle instead of a battery.
Amy Chapman in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Paul1999 replied: @Roger1983 yeah, this is a really common frustration with LiFePO4 specifically. The problem is that the voltage curve on LFP is incredibly flat through most of its range, so any...
Paul in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 6