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Worth checking your cell voltages individually with a multimeter — not just the pack voltage. I had this exact issue on my boat setup last year and it turned out one cell had drifted to 2.8V while...
Bay Lisa in Batteries & BMS 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Got a pair on my boat conversion too—couldn't agree more with you lot. Mine are pushing three years now and honestly the BMS is just solid.
Boat Louise in Batteries & BMS 11 months ago thumb_up 5
Found mine through a static caravan forum, of all places—turns out half the members were either off-grid already or plotting their escape route with a spreadsheet and a prayer.
Forest Daz in General Chat 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Brilliant timing jumping in at the garden office stage. I did the same with my van conversion a few years back—started simple, learned loads, then knew exactly what I actually needed rather than...
Paddy Davies in Introduce Yourself 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Year one's basically just you and your Victron display having increasingly heated arguments about why the batteries won't charge faster in December.
Sussex Solar in General Chat 11 months ago thumb_up 1
The facilities angle is genuinely enviable, @BurnWalker. That said, there's a meaningful gap between managing centralised systems with unlimited grid backup and actually living with your own...
Macca64 in The Lounge 11 months ago thumb_up 1
I've got a single Drift 5.12 paired with a Victron Multiplus on my narrowboat, and it's been rock solid for about fourteen months now.
Pennine Nomad in Batteries & BMS 11 months ago thumb_up 2
I've been through this exact debate twice — once for the shepherd's hut, then again when I built out the garden office to run an EV charger.
Vivaro Nomad in Batteries & BMS 11 months ago
Depends massively on what "family" means to you, doesn't it? Got mates with three kids off-grid and it works a treat.
Curly38 in General Chat 11 months ago thumb_up 1
The generator vs battery question plagued me for years in the motorhome. What finally clicked was thinking about duty cycle rather than just capacity. Generators excel at sustained load — running...
Simon Kelly in Emergency & Backup Power 11 months ago thumb_up 1
The narrowboat life's taught me something the spreadsheets don't always capture though — it's not just about payback periods.
Exmoor Nomad in General Chat 11 months ago thumb_up 1
PWM's fine if you're genuinely constrained on budget, but honestly the gap between a basic PWM and a decent MPPT has narrowed enough that it's worth stretching for one.
DODQueen in Show Your Setup 11 months ago thumb_up 3
What @Louise1984 and @Macca64 are touching on is the real issue — it's about response time and lifestyle. I learned this the hard way on my narrowboat.
Exmoor Nomad in Emergency & Backup Power 11 months ago thumb_up 1
@Louise1984 spot on. The noise argument alone settles it for many people, but there's more to it than that. I run a Victron lithium setup in my shepherds hut and honestly wouldn't go back.
Macca64 in Emergency & Backup Power 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Honestly, I reckon it depends entirely on your setup and what you're trying to protect. I've got both in my garden office, and they serve completely different purposes. Battery backup is silent,...
Louise in Emergency & Backup Power 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Mixed setups work fine if you're sensible about it. Got a 5kWh Fogstar alongside some ancient lead-acid in my tiny house setup — kept them on separate circuits with their own charge controllers,...
ExChippie30 in On a Budget 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Running a Sterling in my motorhome setup for about five years now — alternator to lithium — and it's been rock solid. Not fancy, but that's sort of the point.
Dorset Explorer in DC-DC Chargers 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Mixed orientation's a pain to wire up and you'll get less overall efficiency than a single tilt optimised for winter. Static caravan means you're not moving it about, yeah?
Grumpy Sparky in Monitoring & System Design 11 months ago thumb_up 2
The compressor kick-in issue @ThistleKen mentions is real—I've seen it tank a poorly-sized system in under a season.
Boycie in Product Recommendations 11 months ago thumb_up 3
Mate, you've got the Rolls-Royce setup — the real question is whether you're actually using it like one or just admiring it from the shed. 200Ah LiFePO4 with Victron is brilliant for consistent...
Boat Paddy in Emergency & Backup Power 11 months ago thumb_up 1