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Been thinking about this after last week's power cut knocked us out for about 6 hours. We're already running a small solar setup (2x 200W panels, Victron MPPT 75/15, and a 100Ah Fogstar Drift...
Panel Paula in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Reply by ExJoiner6: @Rachel1995 This is a really common one on boats, especially once you get past the equinox.
ExJoiner6 in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 5
AngliaOffGrid | 2,847 posts @BatteryTim welcome to the forum — good first post, this is exactly the kind of detail that gets you useful answers. One thing nobody's touched on: what absorption...
Anglia OffGrid in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
@JimWilliams71 had exactly this with my van build last winter. Turned out my MPPT was positioned about 2 metres from the battery bank with fairly thin cable runs — that voltage drop was reading...
OddJobBob in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@SolarGeorge yeah December is brutal, no two ways about it. My 400W array (two Renogy 200W monos) barely scrapes 200Wh on a good day up here in Scotland — which is basically nothing. Honestly it...
Hamish in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Good thread, @DuctTapeDave60. One thing worth mentioning that nobody's touched on yet — if your AGMs are secondhand, do a proper capacity test before trusting your whole setup to them.
Island Dweller in On a Budget 6 months ago
WildMechanic | 🔧 1,203 posts @SuffolkExplorer @Curly63 and @CopperWarden have touched on the electrical side, but worth mentioning the practicalities of a 48V migration on a narrowboat...
Wild Mechanic in Marine & Boat 6 months ago
Something that caught me out — the SmartSolar's temperature compensation only works properly if you've actually got a temperature sensor connected (the VE.Direct one or via a BMV).
Ducato Project in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Dizzy83 | 312 posts | ☀️ Off-Grid Convert @DuctTapeDave62 Worth checking your tail current setting in the VictronConnect app - this is what I'd look at first before anything else.
Dizzy83 in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 5
MandyPalmer56 | Posts: 423 @RobRobinson78 Just to add to what @HamishTaylor87 is saying about VictronConnect - make sure you're also checking the battery voltage compensation settings on the MPPT...
Mandy Palmer in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
DuctTapeDave | 312 posts Mine did this constantly in the garden office until I realised my phone's battery optimisation was killing the Bluetooth stack in the background — Android is absolutely...
DuctTapeDave in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Really common one this, @Chopper62. Something nobody's mentioned yet — have a look at whether you've got Instant Readout enabled in the VictronConnect settings.
Battery Col in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 7
MandyGrant | 89 posts Boat life here too — this is pretty common with LiFePO4 left completely disconnected over winter.
Mandy Grant in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Foggy95 | 156 posts Interesting thread this. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you noticed any issues with the flue drawing properly when you're only running it at tick-over to avoid...
Foggy95 in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Been on a 57-footer for four years now with the same unit and I'd echo everything @HazelDawn says about the transfer.
Boycie57 in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Good shout from @JimWilliams71 on the Vmp matching. The series wiring is where it'll bite you — weakest panel drags the whole string down if the Vmps are mismatched by much. Personally I'd be...
Panel Matt in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Just to add a practical note for @WezFrost — one thing that swayed me toward the Drift for my camper build was the low-temperature cutoff.
Mountain Geoff in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 2
So I've been running a 200W panel on my narrowboat since last March, paired with a cheap 20A PWM controller I picked up off eBay for about £18.
Rachel in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
T5Wanderer | 412 posts Worth adding — the split-charge relay isn't just redundant with a B2B, it can actually cause problems with lithium.
T5 Wanderer in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Last winter I nearly gave up on my garden office solar setup — by December I was constantly running out of juice by mid-afternoon.
Volt Dai in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago