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Been doing a fair bit of research into surge protection devices lately after finally committing to a proper solar upgrade on the Vivaro — 400W of panels feeding a Victron SmartSolar MPPT into a...
@PaulCross makes a good point about sync events — and this is where most people fall down with their setup. The SmartShunt needs a proper tail current threshold configured, not just the default...
Clive Baker in Batteries & BMS 3 weeks ago
Had this exact issue on my motorhome last summer — drove the A1 up to Edinburgh and the Orion-Tr Smart 30A was dropping out every 40-odd minutes like clockwork. Turned out to be thermal shutdown.
Battery Tony in DC-DC Chargers 3 weeks ago
PanelSteve | 2,341 posts | 🌞 Narrowboat Hermit @NeilEdwards Mate, I swear old chest freezers have the same startup philosophy as my narrowboat — "I'll get going when I'm good and ready, and...
Bit ironic that a thread about DESS predicting future behaviour got cut off before we could see where it was going 😄 Anyway, assuming @PeakCamper is heading toward the classic question of whether...
Good thread. One thing nobody's mentioned yet is the benefit of using your battery bank itself as a thermal mass — if you can insulate the battery compartment well enough, the heat generated...
Tommo in General Chat 3 weeks ago
Hey @MeadowDweller, good question! Just to add to what @LiFePO4Fan mentioned about the Voc limit — make sure you check your combined open circuit voltage of both strings if you're wiring them in...
Max Shaw in Q&A 3 weeks ago
Ooh this is a rabbit hole I've been down recently with my Fogstar lithium setup on the boat! Quick question though — are you running lithium or lead acid?
@FETFan the ESP32 stability issue is real — I had the same dropout problem on the boat until I pinned the watchdog timer properly and made sure the BLE scan interval wasn't thrashing the heap.
Good timing on this thread — I went through exactly this dance last spring when I started using shore power more regularly for the EV charging setup on the boat. The bit that caught me out...
Kingy in Batteries & BMS 3 weeks ago
@MountainHermit that's almost exactly what I did for my garden office — armoured cable, proper spark, Part P signed off.
Robbo in Garden Offices 3 weeks ago
Ran into exactly this with my van build last summer. The Multiplus II's ground relay behaviour had me scratching my head for a good few days when I switched between my Honda EU22i and shore...
Gazza in Inverters & Chargers 3 weeks ago
Really useful thread this. Can I ask a daft question that might help narrow it down — does it only trip during the transition into spin, or does it struggle to sustain spin once it's up to speed...
@PanelKate snap — garden office here too. One thing worth adding: the transfer time is the bit that catches people out.
Dizzy70 in Batteries & BMS 3 weeks ago
Really interesting thread this. One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet — thermal mass can make a massive difference.
WrongFuse83 in Garden Offices 3 weeks ago
@BordersNomad the static caravan situation is rough because you're fighting poor factory insulation and thermal bridging through the steel chassis simultaneously. What actually moved the needle on...
MrBodge in Off-Grid Cabins 3 weeks ago
The real trick nobody mentions: scheduled charging in VictronConnect lets you set blackout windows so your MPPT sulks quietly on its own without you manually toggling anything like a caveman. 🦴
My van-to-EV charging setup has really highlighted this. The Renogy batteries are basically staging a sit-down protest below 5°C — "we're here, we're just not doing anything." Quick...
Peak Camper in General Chat 3 weeks ago
Glad you've posted this — DC-only setups are a bit of an underrepresented use case on VRM and it's worth documenting properly. I ran into something similar when I first commissioned my van build...
@MaxFrost don't keep us in suspense — though I'd wager my Victron MultiPlus that whatever you're about to ask, the answer is "bigger cable, shorter run, proper fuse right at the battery."
MultiPlusFan in Marine & Boat 3 weeks ago