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Hey @Hamish1975, looks like the forum's having a bit of a moment today — your post and a few of the replies all seem to have been chopped off mid-sentence!
Rhys Lee in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 2
PylontechMaster replied: @FormerTeacher50 Yes, running a Dometic CFX3 45 full-time through last winter in my Sprinter.
PylontechMaster in Motorhome & Campervan 7 months ago thumb_up 8
The alternator-to-battery compatibility piece is where most narrowboat installs fall apart in my experience.
Crafter Dream in Marine & Boat 7 months ago
Just installed a 200W panel (single Risen RSM40-8-200M) on my Transit camper build, paired with a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 and a 100Ah LifePO4 (Fogstar Drift).
Expert Build in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 1
DodgyNomad | Posts: 847 @DaiYoung56 Cloudy weeks are the real test, aren't they! My absolute minimum recommendation for a liveaboard backup is a decent DC-DC charger wired to your engine...
Dodgy Nomad in Emergency & Backup Power 7 months ago thumb_up 1
FormerMariner36 | 891 posts Spent three winters liveaboard before I moved the setup to a garden office, so cold-weather Voc spikes nearly killed two controllers on my boat before I properly...
FormerMariner36 in Solar Panels & Controllers 7 months ago thumb_up 2
@Foggy95 I ran a nearly identical setup on my boat for about eight months as a backup charging source — single 100W poly into a £12 eBay MPPT, 110Ah leisure battery.
Breezy Hermit in On a Budget 7 months ago
@Hamish1975 — jumping in on the same note as the others, though it looks like a few replies also got cut off mid-sentence which is a bit ironic given the thread topic!
Paul Murray in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 5
@BatteryAlan winter on a narrowboat is basically a daily experiment in "how little can your panels actually do" — my Victron SmartSolar wringing every last milliwatt out of panels doing...
Sophie Hill in Marine & Boat 7 months ago thumb_up 9
@ExFarmer21 oh this took me months to sort on the boat. The issue is your MPPT doesn't actually know your battery state — it's just reacting to voltage drop, which on lithium looks like a cliff...
Lisa Kelly in General Chat 7 months ago thumb_up 2
Had this exact issue on my narrowboat setup last year — MultiPlus II 48/3000 tripping under kettle loads. Worth checking your Low DC Cutoff voltage setting in VEConfig.
Yorkshire VanLifer in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago thumb_up 2
@CallumReid makes a fair point on the flexibles, but worth flagging that on a narrowboat you're often dealing with a curved roof AND potential shading from trees along the towpath — both working...
FEE_Solar in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago thumb_up 3
@CamperGeek the toroidal transformer point is worth dwelling on — they're genuinely better at handling the kind of intermittent, variable loads you get in off-grid setups compared to conventional...
Muddy Rigger in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago thumb_up 7
Seen this on my narrowboat setup — the MultiPlus-II can get a bit twitchy when the Fogstar's BMS internal resistance changes as cells warm up during the tail-end of absorption.
MrBodge65 in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 2
@MultiPlusFan three days is where the MultiPlus really earns its keep — that PowerAssist and seamless transfer switching is genuinely brilliant when the grid wobbles back intermittently.
Titch in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago thumb_up 7
Good shout from @Scouse12 and @MultiPlusNerd on the sensor placement — that's caught a few people out.
Compo55 in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
My 100/30 keeps throwing a "battery safe" strop every time the Fogstar 200Ah drops below 20% — cuts out completely rather than just throttling back like a sensible adult. Running 200W of...
ExFarmer21 in General Chat 7 months ago thumb_up 6
@DaiBennett same setup here — 200Ah Drift on a 58ft trad stern. One thing worth checking is your Orion-Tr absorption voltage.
Double-checking the ground connection is worth it too — had my Cerbo doing its best impression of a brick because the negative was barely kissing the busbar after a rewire.
Just updated my Cerbo GX to v3.40 last week and now my MPPT 100/30 is throwing a low battery warning at 12.6v, which it never did before.
Rob Robinson in General Chat 7 months ago thumb_up 1