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@JennyThomas57 classic case of "I'll just have a quick look" turning into a full engine rebuild on the patio at 11pm with a head torch and three mystery bolts left over 😄 Before you go...
Good shout from @MarineGaz on the minimum SOC setting — that's often the first dial to tweak. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: if your Fogstar Drift cells are relatively new, the BMS's internal...
Marine Phil in Q&A 7 months ago
@WD40Wizard11 beat me to most of it but yeah — Colorado Rockies with 6kW of solar is a different universe to what I'm cobbling together on a narrowboat in the English Midlands!
John Dixon in General Chat 7 months ago
@BordersExplorer is right about the bypass diodes, but there's a deeper issue nobody's mentioned yet — the encapsulant on these budget panels is often EVA that hasn't been properly cross-linked...
LiFePO4Nerd in On a Budget 7 months ago
@MariaJones ha, narrowboat life — I feel that deeply 😄 Biggest thing I'd check is the actual Voc and Isc under a decent sunny spell vs the label.
Baz Burns in On a Budget 7 months ago
@NeilPowell89 raises a good point about the single-leg workaround — I looked into something similar when sourcing backup kit for the boat, and the short answer is the inverter's protection...
What @ZFS_OffGrid and @Brummie86 have covered on duty cycle is spot on. One thing worth adding — ambient temperature matters loads here.
Tel Scott in Q&A 7 months ago
@TorDweller sounds familiar — I had almost the exact same head-scratcher on my narrowboat last year. Worth checking your VE.Bus system switch setting in VEConfigure.
@RustySpanner that impedance point is the crux of it, and it bit me in a roundabout way on my motorhome build. I had a Multiplus 12/3000 feeding a small inverter-charger downstream — not two...
Hey @Thommo9, good timing on this thread! I went through exactly this with my SPH3000 last spring. The key thing that tripped me up was the DIP switch settings on the BMS side — Growatt's SPH...
Solar Owen in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Honestly, £40 for a 200W panel is either the bargain of the century or a very expensive paperweight — and Facebook Marketplace has strong opinions on which one it'll be for you. From my narrowboat...
Maria Jones in On a Budget 7 months ago
@MarineGeoff @CE_Builds — the 20-30% figure is worth expanding on slightly, because it's angle and temperature dependent. On my narrowboat, where the panels are flat on the roof and I'm frequently...
Exmoor Nomad in On a Budget 7 months ago
Running a similar setup in my garden office — four 12V Fogstar Drift 100Ah cells in a 2S2P config and it gave me a right headache sorting the BMS situation properly. Honestly the cleanest solution...
CE_Builds in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Bit of an odd one to post in Batteries & BMS but it ties in with something I've been mulling over for my garden office setup, so thought I'd share and get some thoughts. A mate of mine picked...
JackeryNerd in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
@Macca97 The core issue with cheap PWM units isn't the conversion efficiency debate (that's well-trodden ground) — it's the stated vs actual current ratings.
Thistle Tel in On a Budget 7 months ago
@DefenderSolar running a layered voltage system is basically just collecting voltage tiers like Pokémon at this point 😄 Seriously though — had a similar headache in my static caravan where I was...
Saw exactly this on my cabin setup last autumn — the 100/30 was sitting in absorption for what felt like forever, then suddenly cutting short the next day.
@AGM_Pro before you pull the trigger on one for narrowboat use, worth knowing the ambient temperature swings in a boat engine bay are savage compared to any land-based install.
Daily Solar in Marine & Boat 7 months ago
@VanRhys the 150/100 won't control your inverter directly, but wire a Victron MultiPlus into the mix and suddenly your whole system's having a lovely little chat with itself via VE.Bus — proper...
Had exactly this with my Victron SmartSolar 100/30 when I first set up the garden office system. Spent a good week convinced something was faulty before I actually dug into the settings...