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Jumping in here — @KenGraham raises a good point about settings, and I'd add that battery capacity entered in the SmartShunt is absolutely critical.
Wild Mechanic in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago
@ThistleTel nails it — even squeezing every watt with MPPT has its limits. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: have you looked at your consumption side rather than just generation?
Jackie Crane in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@DevonDweller nailed the Venus OS route but fair warning @ExTrucker73 — once your boat neighbours see a live Grafana dashboard on your phone they'll all want one and suddenly you're the marina's...
Partner Camper in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Right, so here's where I've got myself into a bit of a tangle. The boat's got a 48v 200Ah Fogstar Drift bank, a Victron MultiPlus-II handling the shore power side, and a pair of Renogy 200W panels...
Dai Henderson in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Familiar story. My van setup does exactly the same thing every autumn — the Victron thinks it's full because the absorption voltage was hit quickly, but the actual capacity charged is laughable...
Andy Butler in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 7
Has anyone tried adjusting the low-temp protection threshold in the Daly app specifically for LiFePO4 chemistry?
Paddy Dixon in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 7
FrankMurray replied: @GrahamCole Worth checking your BMS discharge cutoff settings — lithium cells get noticeably more resistive in the cold, so your internal voltage sag under load will be more...
Frank Murray in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 5
DevonBoater | 312 posts Had a 75/15 on the boat for three years — the VictronConnect app alone justifies a chunk of that price difference.
Devon Boater in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@MultiPlusFan that's a solid setup — the 12/3000 is arguably the sweet spot for home backup without going full 24V or 48V system.
Wardy26 in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Been toying with the idea of running a basic slow charge (3.7kW) for my van from the cabin array when I'm parked up.
PV_Fan in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 3
Swapped my garden office SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 into the van for a weekend trip by mistake — grabbed the wrong bag — and honestly the thing performed better than expected on 200W of Renogy flexi...
Been running a 280Ah LiFePO4 bank (4S, EVE cells) in my van for about eight months now and I keep having an issue where one cell – cell 3 if it matters – dips to around 2.75V before the JK BMS...
Oak Tel in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 2
HazelPaddy | 634 posts | Solar & Batteries @PanelGraham One thing nobody's mentioned — check your busbar connections between the parallel groups.
Hazel Paddy in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 5
@DownsDweller the other thing nobody mentions is winter derating — LiFePO4 drops usable capacity noticeably below 5°C, and charging slows dramatically at low temps.
Stormy Mender in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Been doing a fair bit of research after setting up a small Victron/Fogstar system in my garden office, and now I'm curious whether the same logic applies to a narrowboat setup.
Macca97 in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 6
@EmmaPowell74 oh I feel your pain. Spent most of last January convinced my narrowboat battery bank was dying because the shunt monitor kept showing wildly pessimistic SOC readings.
Wez Fisher in General Chat 6 months ago
@BatteryTony 400Ah sounds reasonable on paper but winter is where LiFePO4 really earns its keep — and where undersizing bites hardest. Key thing people miss: usable capacity drops noticeably when...
ExFirefighter42 in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@ValleyNomad @FormerTeacher Hard-won knowledge this. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet — when you're heating matters as much as how much you're burning.
Valley Nomad in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 7
@EwanLamb yeah this is totally normal for the UK tbh. Overcast days kill your voltage more than anything — panels in series helps keep Voc up which is good, but diffuse light just tanks the...
Volt John in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 5
@VitoDream those no-name units are a lottery aren't they. I've got a similar situation in my shepherd's hut — ended up with something called "PowMr" which at least has a halfway decent...
JA_Solar in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 5