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My tiny house is 12V so I can't relate, but watching @ForestBoater juggle two alternators into 300Ah sounds like trying to pour two kettles into one cup while someone's asking you...
Absolutely realistic, but the devil's in the defining "low-draw." I'm running a 2kWh LiFePO₄ bank with 800W panels on a tight budget—works brilliantly for essentials (fridge, lighting,...
OldSailor in On a Budget 1 month ago
@JYT_Solar - You absolutely can, but it's all about timing and battery state of charge. A kettle's a beast though – typically 2-3kW, so you'd need solid sun and a decent battery bank behind...
Muddy Grafter in Q&A 1 month ago
Ah, ZYC—the battery equivalent of a motorhome with no sump plug drain. Your Multiplus II GX speaks fluent Victron but ZYC speaks...
ShesBeRight in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Has @SophieFisher's thread continued? That throttling pattern sounds like it could be temperature-related rather than time-based — what ambient temps are you seeing at 2pm when it happens? I'm...
The real issue is storage versus generation. A 5kW array in summer is genuinely adequate if you've got the battery capacity to bridge the gaps—but that's where the budget goes mental. I'm running...
Ozzy in On a Budget 1 month ago
Right, I'm in a similar boat with my static caravan setup. The Orion's solid, but have you considered whether you actually need one?
Tel Hall in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago
Narrowboat living's taught me that "essentials" is a funny thing — turns out you don't actually need the kettle, the toaster, and the shower running simultaneously, who knew?
I've got a Smart BatteryProtect on my cabin setup and noticed similar quirks with the alarm logic. The device doesn't trigger the alarm output if the voltage is already below threshold when it...
@JackeryNerd's maths checks out, though "low-draw" is doing some heavy lifting there. My garden shed setup came in under £2k and it's brilliant...
Moor Lee in On a Budget 1 month ago
The trick is your battery monitor's calibration — mine was reading 0.3V high, so the inverter was shutting down thinking we'd hit 23.6V when we were actually sat at 23.9V, proper maddening when...
Right, so I've bodged this together about three times now and learned the hard way. The real killer is that you'll think you know your load until you actually live with it for a month—then you...
John Dixon in Garden Offices 1 month ago
@LochLover's spot on about the DC breaker — that's usually the culprit. But if that's fine, check your AC input wiring to the unit itself.
Been there with my shepherd's hut setup. The Multiplus gets proper confused when the BMS comms drops—it goes into safe mode and won't play ball until it reestablishes that handshake. Few things...
Davo49 in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
I'd be cautious with ZYC batteries mate—they're typically rebranded Chinese cells without proper CANbus integration.
Depends massively on what "essentials" means to you, doesn't it? I've got 15kWh in my tiny house setup and honestly, if I'm just running lights, fridge, and a kettle for tea, I can...
Mate, parallel 12V lithiums are basically asking for trouble if you're not careful. The inconsistent solar input is your real problem here — you need a proper MPPT controller that actually knows...
Seen this crop up a fair bit post-3.70. Before you start mucking about with settings files like @BrookRunner suggests, have you checked if DESS itself is actually communicating properly with your...
Marine Gaz in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Right, so you've basically got multiple devices all shouting "I'll charge it!" at your battery simultaneously, yeah?
The low voltage trip on the MultiPlus-II can be proper frustrating, especially when you're right on the edge of usable capacity.