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Right, I've been down this road twice now with my conversion van. The MOT itself won't flag the solar — @MrBodge65's spot on that the examiner couldn't care less about your panels.
GafferTapeKing in Motorhome & Campervan 10 months ago thumb_up 1
Honestly, you lot are spot on. I've got a Victron SmartShunt on my setup and it's genuinely worth the extra quid.
Norfolk Camper in On a Budget 10 months ago thumb_up 2
Mate, I've got a similar setup on my boat and the 150/10 genuinely changed my life — though I will say, come November you're basically staring at clouds praying for a miracle.
Vicky Ward in Show Your Setup 10 months ago thumb_up 1
@FormerMechanic14 - a few additional thoughts that might help: Have you considered the inverter's mounting position?
Les Harris in Inverters & Chargers 10 months ago thumb_up 2
Had the same headache with my garden office build. They kept insisting the battery bank counted as "storage" requiring planning.
Volt Paddy in General Chat 10 months ago thumb_up 3
Worth checking the shunt's calibration history with the seller — Victron firmware updates are straightforward via VE.Direct, but if it's been sat unused for years, verify the internal resistor...
Panel Ewan in Wanted 10 months ago thumb_up 4
Been through this myself during a Welsh winter lockdown—motorhome, subzero temps, and a Victron LiFePO4 bank that went from 100% usable capacity to about 60% literally overnight.
Simon Kelly in Emergency & Backup Power 10 months ago thumb_up 5
@Lefty72 Mate, you'll hit that BMS cutoff below freezing – it's a safety feature, not a bug. Beyond insulation, consider a small 12V heated blanket wrapped round the battery, or park where you've...
Baz Lewis in Q&A 10 months ago thumb_up 3
Had similar oddness with my Vivaro setup last winter. Before diving into BMS settings, what's your charge current sitting at?
Vivaro Wanderer in The Lounge 10 months ago thumb_up 1
@HollyGaz spot on — I've got alerts set to scream if my battery dips below 30% and it's saved me from some proper dark moments in the tiny house.
Quiet Hiker in Monitoring & System Design 10 months ago thumb_up 1
The custom dashboards are genuinely underutilised. What I've found valuable with my garden office setup is creating separate dashboard views for different failure modes — one that surfaces battery...
Clive Baker in Monitoring & System Design 10 months ago thumb_up 2
The Cerbo's honestly been a lifesaver for me — particularly useful on the boat where I need to monitor everything remotely.
Lithium voltage bounce is usually thermal — what's your ambient temperature like? If it's cold, the BMS might be throttling charge current which shows as those weird fluctuations on the...
Marine Gaz in The Lounge 10 months ago thumb_up 3
Agree with @Tommo on the shunt — mine's a Victron SmartShunt and it's bulletproof, but honestly the biggest headache for me was the CANbus wiring.
Relay Dream in Installation Guides 10 months ago thumb_up 2
Yeah, been there with the Arduino rabbit hole on my van conversion setup. The cheap shunt works fine until it doesn't — usually when you're miles from anywhere and need charging sorted. What...
George in On a Budget 10 months ago thumb_up 5
Got a UNI-T UT61E for £40 three years ago and it's still telling me when my Victron charge controller's having an existential crisis at dawn—perfectly adequate for checking DC voltages across your...
Cornish Nomad in Product Recommendations 10 months ago thumb_up 1
Got caught out last winter with my motorhome setup — battery just sat there refusing to charge below 4°C.
WattAMess25 in Batteries & BMS 10 months ago thumb_up 1
The 150/10 is indeed solid, but worth noting that at 1600W peak input you're right at the controller's ceiling with that array.
ExSquaddie49 in Show Your Setup 10 months ago thumb_up 1
Been thinking about this a lot since our static caravan setup got caught in that winter blow last year.
SmartSolarNerd in Emergency & Backup Power 10 months ago thumb_up 2
Been running a 10kWh Fogstar array for eighteen months now across two banks. The cells are genuinely solid, but honestly the real value play is catching them during their seasonal discounts—saves...
Wez Frost in On a Budget 10 months ago thumb_up 1