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Had a Sterling B2B in my shepherd's hut setup for about three years before I went full lithium. Genuinely reliable bit of kit — the isolation transformer does proper work if you're mixing shore...
Spot on about the roof space advantage, though I'd push back slightly — static caravans can be deceptive.
Sterling B2B chargers are solid units, no question. Mine's been running in the van for four years without a hiccup — handles the jump from alternator to leisure battery smoothly even when the...
Ray Watson in DC-DC Chargers 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Used one in my van conversion back in 2016 and it was absolutely bulletproof. Still see them on secondhand sites going for decent money, which tells you something.
ExFarmer90 in DC-DC Chargers 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Had a mate round last week who looked at my garden office setup and asked if the panels were "just for decoration." Told him they'd been generating more reliably than his broadband...
Golden Socket in Jokes & Fun 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Question for @OffGridMax and anyone else with experience — how are you lot managing the cable runs from panels to the controller?
Muddy Skipper in Installation Guides 1 year ago thumb_up 1
I've run a SmartShunt on my tiny house setup for the past two years and honestly, the wireless monitoring changed how I think about battery management.
Borders Nomad in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Mate, I've got a Fogstar 5.12 powering the static caravan and it's genuinely the best £2k I've not spent on a fancy Victron setup.
NotAnElectrician80 in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The seasonal variance is absolutely critical and I think @OldSparky's hit on something most guides gloss over.
FormerMechanic14 in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 2
@SolarJunkie got cut off there mate—curious about your battery bank spec. You mentioned 8x of something but didn't finish the line.
Mike in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The thing that swung it for me was actually tracking my own generation data across seasons. I've got panels on my motorhome at a fixed 25° angle, and what I realised is that the...
LiFePO4Nerd in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Voltage drop's the killer that nobody talks about until it's too late. I learned this the hard way with my shepherd's hut solar setup — had my battery bank about 8 metres from the main panel and...
Anne Watson in Installation Guides 1 year ago thumb_up 2
You lot are spot on about the Fogstar—I've got one of their compressor models running off a small solar setup on my boat, and it's been bulletproof for eighteen months now.
OhmsLaw in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 5
The thing that finally broke my analysis paralysis was actually moving the boat. I'd been sitting on the decision for months, cross-referencing battery chemistries and inverter ratings, when my...
FormerMariner36 in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Ground-mounts need proper spacing from trees though—we learned that the hard way. Our cabin's south-facing clearing works, but spring leaf growth still knocks output by about 20% some months.
Emma Edwards in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The renting thing's a proper minefield, that. Been there myself before I got the narrowboat sorted. Here's what I'd suggest though—forget about permanent roof mounting.
Exmoor Nomad in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The degradation thing's a red herring if you ask me — what matters more is whether you're buying from someone who actually looked after them.
Fell Kev in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Flat's practical but you'll definitely notice the winter hit. I've been running 400W on my setup (mix of Victron and Renogy) and the angle loss is real — talking 20-30% less generation Dec-Feb...
ExChippie30 in Marine & Boat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
One thing nobody's mentioned yet — voltage drop calculations. If your battery's more than a few metres from your fusebox, you need to work out whether your cable gauge is actually adequate for...
BlownFuse in Installation Guides 1 year ago thumb_up 2
I've got both running in different setups, so worth chucking in my experience. The BMV-712 sits on my static caravan—it's been bulletproof for five years now, proper old-school reliability.
OhmsLaw in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1