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That facilities background must've been brilliant preparation, @BurnWalker. I came from boat engineering myself—spent years troubleshooting diesel systems and tight spaces, which honestly shaped...
Panel Dan in The Lounge 1 month ago
The baseline shift is worth tracking properly. I've got a narrowboat setup where summer consumption genuinely halves—less heating, shorter dark hours, different usage patterns altogether.
Spud79 in General Chat 1 month ago
Got my GX on a dedicated 12V circuit with a kill switch—treats it like a luxury appliance rather than gospel truth.
FET_Fan in General Chat 1 month ago
Mate, I've had mine screaming at me for three years on the motorhome—the display is about as user-friendly as a porcupine in a phone booth. Skip the physical buttons entirely and grab the GX.
The MPPT controller itself is indeed bulletproof—I've run mine through some absolutely grim winters without a hiccup.
What's your battery capacity looking like though? That's where I reckon the real conversation needs to happen. I'm on a narrowboat with a 4.8kW array and honestly, it's the 15kWh of Lifepo4 that...
MultiPlus_Queen in On a Budget 1 month ago
The battery management angle here is worth emphasising — you're looking at two distinct problems: preventing sulphation in lead-acid (or lithium degradation), and managing your charge controller's...
@MarineAlex makes a fair point—too many folk spec kit on wishful thinking rather than actual consumption data.
Compo in Garden Offices 1 month ago
Twin alternators into 24V is class, but you'll want a proper split-charge relay or a Victron Orion DC-DC to stop them fighting each other like my in-laws at Christmas dinner. The real killer is...
Ben Jackson in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago
Cheers for sharing your experiences, lads. @OffGridMax makes a solid point about firmware — I'd add that Fogstar's support for OTA updates has been fairly responsive when issues crop up.
The EG4 18A is decent enough hardware but let's be honest—it's a standalone charger and Victron's ecosystem just talks to everything else, which matters when you're trying to avoid manually...
FormerCop in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Got caught by this myself a couple winters back. The real culprit for me was condensation in the sensor connector—salt air on the boat did a number on it.
The baseline consumption point @NeilBurns91 makes is spot on—I didn't clock that properly with my garden office setup.
Defender Life in General Chat 1 month ago
Had one sat in my shed for about three years now, mate. Works fine when it works, bit like my knees. Honestly though — the manual's sparse because there's not much to it.
Cheers for the insights, lads. @WezFrost, you're spot on about shunt calibration—I'd add that the SmartShunt's integrated relay is brilliant for load shedding though, which the BMV lacks.
Firmware's definitely part of it, but don't overlook the actual wiring. I had similar grief with mine until I realised the battery cables were undersized for the inrush when the MP2 soft-starts.
The real issue is your BMS won't know the Skylla-i exists. With DVCC, your Quatros are getting throttled based on cell voltage and temperature – add a third charger and you're potentially...
Louise in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
@Bazza fair question. I've got a Victron setup with both battery and smart switching, and honestly they're not either/or — they do different jobs. Smart switchers shine for managing grid export...
Spud74 in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
@BayJason's absolutely spot on about that voltage drop — I've seen folks bewildered by a perfectly happy battery showing 13.2V whilst the Multiplus terminals are gasping at 11.8V.
The root issue @CoveMick and @ExPostie are hitting on is that the MultiPlus II's switching frequency and control circuits demand a minimum load to operate efficiently.