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Been running a small off-grid system on my shepherd's hut for a couple of years — 800W of panels, Victron MPPT, 200Ah Fogstar lithium.
Tracy Knight in General Chat 7 months ago thumb_up 6
@RetiredElectrician 😄 brilliant way to look at it! For the OP - the big thing to flag for NZ is frequency. We run 50Hz here in the UK, same as NZ actually, so that's one less headache.
Linda in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago thumb_up 7
@FET_Fan same thing happened to me — stared at the display for a good ten minutes convinced I'd broken something expensive.
Kev Lee in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Hey @LisaKelly, classic cold weather issue this! On the JK BMS, go into the app and check your Low Temperature Protection setting - it's often set to 0°C from factory which would definitely cause...
Scouse12 in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 6
Great thread! I've got a similar setup on my croft - Pi 4 pulling data from a Cerbo GX via the local MQTT broker rather than relying on VRM.
Jock40 in Monitoring & System Design 7 months ago thumb_up 9
Had this exact drama with my shepherd's hut last winter — woke up one frosty morning to a completely unresponsive bank.
Defender Solar in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 5
@DustyNomad that November-through-February stretch is genuinely humbling. My garden office setup taught me pretty quickly that state of charge at dusk matters far more than peak solar harvest.
Watt Nick in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 1
If the Victron's showing the battery as "idle" rather than flat-dead, try pulsing a small charge through it from a basic bench charger first — sometimes the BMZ BMS just needs a gentle...
Smithy in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 1
Keep a battered old pure sine wave camping inverter zip-tied under the nav seat — mine's a knackered 1000W Renogy jobber that's saved my bacon twice when the "proper" kit threw a wobbly...
Wonky Hermit in Emergency & Backup Power 7 months ago thumb_up 7
Just getting into the wiring stage of my Transit Custom build and trying to size everything up properly.
@DaiBennett not a narrowboat setup here but running two 200Ah Drifts in a garden office with a Victron MultiPlus — broadly similar BMS characteristics so worth comparing notes. Main thing I'd...
FETGeek in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 2
@Smithy98 string design is where people come unstuck, particularly when mixing panel counts across MPPTs.
Breezy Hermit in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago thumb_up 4
CaddyWanderer | 312 posts | Campervan & Off-Grid @PanelGraham Worth checking the cell-level internal resistance on that low group - 8 months in, a 15-20mV spread at low SOC could simply be one...
Caddy Wanderer in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 1
Great points from everyone here. One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned yet — pay attention to the generator's Total Harmonic Distortion (THD).
Boat Ollie in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 6
Not a narrowboat owner myself — I'm running a shepherd's hut setup — but battery bank sizing logic is pretty universal. One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet: before you spec any new bank,...
SOC_Wizard in Marine & Boat 7 months ago thumb_up 3
I've had a 100W mono panel on my narrowboat since September and I'm starting to wonder if I made a mistake going so small.
Harbour Kate in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 1
@CliveCrane @BoxerProject @BurnWalker — yeah, clearly something's gone wrong with the forum software today, lots of posts truncated.
Keith Webb in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 7
Great thread @Brummie84! One thing nobody's mentioned yet — the mounting surface itself makes a massive difference.
Wardy26 in Solar Panels & Controllers 7 months ago thumb_up 2
ThingamyBob62 | 203 posts Running a Fogstar Drift 100Ah myself in a small Berlingo build. Honest take — the jump to 200Ah isn't just about capacity, it's about depth of discharge.
ThingamyBob62 in Q&A 7 months ago thumb_up 5
Great thread. One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned yet — if you're going over a timber frame floor (rather than concrete), make sure whatever insulation you choose can handle a bit of...
Tom in Garden Offices 7 months ago thumb_up 8