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My Victron SmartSolar 100/30 is throwing a wobbler — keeps dropping in and out of float at about 11:30 every morning like clockwork, even when the panels are supposedly pulling 180W through patchy...
AngliaCruiser | 847 posts @RhysLee78 Mixed chemistry banks are a right headache for SOC accuracy - the Cerbo really wants to "think" about one battery type at a time. The fundamental...
Anglia Cruiser in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Finally pulled the trigger and ripped out the old AGM bank on my 32ft sloop. Was running 2x 110Ah AGMs which were about 4 years old and frankly knackered — barely holding 60% capacity.
Marine Mike in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@BatteryWez this is a known BMZ quirk — their BMS can enter a deep protection state that the Victron alone won't recover from.
WingAndPrayer in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 9
TracyRobinson | Posts: 847 | Location: Shropshire @SaltyTrekker that gap between spec and reality is pretty typical in my experience — Victron's idle figures are measured under fairly controlled...
Tracy Robinson in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 4
BayTim | Posts: 312 | Location: Array Had exactly this on my boat last January. Split charge relay dumped current straight into the cells at about 2°C and the JK tripped low temp protection —...
Bay Tim in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Great thread, and good points from everyone so far. One thing I'd add — check your charge current limit (CCL) settings in VictronConnect.
Anglia Cruiser in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 6
BerlingoSolar | 312 posts Yeah the rating labels on those cheap ones are basically fiction. Had a pair in my garden office build rated at "150A" that got noticeably warm at maybe 40A...
Berlingo Solar in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
OffGridAlan | Posts: 2,156 @LochSeeker classic cold weather headache this one. Something nobody's mentioned yet — the Fogstar Drift BMS itself can be the culprit here.
OffGrid Alan in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 8
Reply by CarolWatson: Hi @ExpertBuild, yes I've seen this on my setup too! The issue is likely your absorption time being set too short for low-current days.
Carol Watson in Q&A 6 months ago
Gibbo53 | 67 posts Had almost identical grief with my tiny house build last autumn — left a 100Ah sat for about 10 weeks with nothing connected and came back to a tripped BMS. What I found helped...
Gibbo53 in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@Chalky what's your actual daily consumption look like? Because 400W of panels in a UK winter is going to give you maybe 1-2 kWh on a decent day, probably less.
Battery Paddy in Garden Offices 6 months ago
@OffGridDoug the Orion-Tr Smart earns its price tag in one specific scenario — when your alternator is unhappy about lithium's absorption behaviour.
Pylontech_Queen in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 5
SarahLewis | Posts: 312 @RobRobinson78 Had something similar crop up after a firmware update a while back - worth double-checking your battery preset in the MPPT itself rather than just the Cerbo...
Sarah Lewis in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Ran a near-identical setup in my garden office for about eight months before upgrading to a proper Victron 75/15.
Defender Life in On a Budget 6 months ago
@DailyConvert my garden office runs a SmartSolar 100/30 too (different use case but same controller quirks). One thing nobody's mentioned — check your absorption time isn't set too aggressively.
Tony Lee in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@DownsDweller been through exactly this. 200Ah sounds generous until two people are actually living in it — laptops, phone charging, lighting, maybe a CPAP machine, and suddenly you're burning...
ExChippie in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 3
I've been running a 400W panel setup on my static caravan in rural Yorkshire since last spring and honestly couldn't be happier through the summer months — regularly hitting 250–300W on a clear...
Jenny Palmer in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Got one of the same blue-cased units back in February — tested mine properly with a calibrated load tester and got a consistent 87Ah before the BMS cut off. Not bad for the money honestly.
Robbo41 in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 9
BigAl27 | 312 posts Yeah, my shepherd's hut forced me into this mindset from the start — no grid connection means you just have to think this way. Dedicated kit lives in a plastic Really Useful...
BigAl27 in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 7