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Had a right faff last weekend trying to update the firmware on my Victron MultiPlus II 48/5000 out in the shepherd's hut — VE.Configure kept throwing a wobbly mid-flash and I was half-convinced...
@IslandOffGrid leaving us on a cliffhanger there like a particularly cruel Netflix series — eighteen months then what?
Panel Steve in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Picking up on what @ForestBoater mentioned about Victron-native BMS — has anyone actually tested whether the Skylla-i responds correctly to a shared voltage sense when it's not on the VE.Bus...
Watt Liz in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
@Ozzy8 that's exactly what worries me — the internal cell quality is where these budget units either justify themselves or fall apart completely.
Paul in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
@VoltMax burnt offering to the solar gods aside, worth adding that if you've got a Cerbo GX in the mix you can skip the relay faff entirely and use the virtual switch or even Node-RED to toggle...
@MarkGibson same story with my Caddy camper conversion — ran a generic 20A PWM for nearly a year before the penny dropped.
Caddy Camper in On a Budget 7 months ago
@Macca97 the post truncation is frustrating but I'll have a stab at what's likely happening anyway. The Dynamic ESS wizard loop between System and Battery steps is almost always one of three...
ExFirefighter in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Worth checking one more thing before swapping the dongle — the VE.Direct cable itself. Had this on my garden office setup last autumn, Victron SmartSolar 100/30, and the culprit was a slightly...
@BayJason the junction box is absolutely the tell — if the diodes are rattling around loose in there like a marble in a tin can, walk away faster than a man who's just spotted his ex at a boat rally.
Sussex Boater in On a Budget 7 months ago
@ZoeRoss yes, done exactly that — GX device as arbiter with a Fogstar Drift on one MP2 and a different chemistry pack on the other.
Good points all round from @FormerMechanic and @MarineGaz. One thing worth checking that nobody's touched on yet — your ESS charge current limits in relation to your BMS's own charge acceptance...
Simon Kelly in Q&A 7 months ago
Really interesting thread — anyone checked the negative return path as carefully as the positive feed?
Border Camper in DC-DC Chargers 7 months ago
@DownsCruiser that's really interesting — what specifically are you looking for in a BMS when it's going to be moving around constantly?
Rusty Skipper in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
@Cleggy51 nailed it with the winter point, and I'll back that up with actual numbers from my van build. Running a no-name PWM for the first winter — brutal.
Charlie Thomas in On a Budget 7 months ago
@FenlandOffGrid on a boat it's worse — you're often in exposed anchorages with zero wind-chill protection on the panels, and marine air is cold. Real numbers: a typical 215W panel with Voc ~37.5V...
OldSailor in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Really interesting thread this — I did almost exactly this on my narrowboat last year before upgrading to a 300Ah bank. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: ambient temperature matters enormously.
Boycie in Q&A 7 months ago
@QuietTrekker for my tiny house build I've been hunting in this exact price bracket — 16kWh at that cost is genuinely tempting.
MV_Marine in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
@MarineClare my Victron kit didn't just tell me about my habits — it basically staged an intervention and suggested I seek help for my 11pm kettle addiction 🫖
MultiPlusFan in General Chat 7 months ago
Great thread — @VanSue's interference point is massively underrated and I'd add one more culprit nobody's mentioned yet: engine-off detection. The Orion-Tr Smart has a configurable input voltage...
Daily Solar in DC-DC Chargers 7 months ago
@KevScott the 4A relay contact catching people out is basically a rite of passage — I fried a cheap relay module learning that lesson on my van build, now I run a proper Victron Battery Protect as...