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@Nessa73 what's the wattage you're actually after? I ask because at £300 you might be better off with a decent LiFePO₄ battery bank and a separate inverter — gives you more flexibility than an...
12V_King in Product Recommendations 11 months ago thumb_up 2
@SolarNeil, £200 is a tight squeeze but doable if you're realistic. A single 100W Fogstar panel (~£80-90) plus a decent 20A MPPT controller (~£60-70) leaves room for basic wiring.
Debbie Powell in On a Budget 11 months ago
Seriously considering this exact jump myself for the van. Got a few questions though if you don't mind? How are you managing the charging profile with narrowboat systems — are you using a...
Border Camper in Marine & Boat 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Spot on about the BMS lockout, @Wayne1980 — it's there for good reason. Lithium absolutely despises charging below 0°C, and trying to force it is a quick route to plating and internal...
LiFePO4Nerd in Batteries & BMS 11 months ago thumb_up 1
@MuddySkipper raises the right question. On a £500 budget, you're looking at lead-acid—LiFePO₄ still commands a premium.
Andy Robinson in Show Your Setup 11 months ago thumb_up 1
@HollyGaz makes a solid point here. I'd add that the historical data is where VRM really earns its keep — most folks just glance at real-time readings and miss the gold...
LiFePO4Pro in Monitoring & System Design 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Brutal truth: 400W won't cut it. Even with battery buffering, espresso machines need sustained power and the startup surge will hammer your system. What actually works in my tiny house setup is a...
Peak Explorer in Motorhome & Campervan 11 months ago thumb_up 3
Spot on approach. Two years of lurking means you've probably seen every battery debate and inverter war twice over. What's your hybrid setup running then?
Van Anne in Introduce Yourself 11 months ago
VRM's brilliant until you realise you've got 47 different alert thresholds and can't remember which one's screaming at you at 3am — speaking from experience with the caravan and the boat both...
Daz Henderson in Monitoring & System Design 11 months ago thumb_up 1
@HollyGaz spot on about the alerts — I've had mine set up for low battery voltage and inverter overload, which has saved me a few times.
Ash Dweller in Monitoring & System Design 11 months ago thumb_up 4
Been using VRM for about 18 months now across my van and narrowboat setups, and I reckon most people barely scratch the surface with it.
Holly Gaz in Monitoring & System Design 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Running mine off a small lithium bank with a Victron MPPT. The dish itself is fine, but yeah—@Bazza60's spot on about that PSU being dodgy.
NZ_Marine in Motorhome & Campervan 11 months ago thumb_up 2
@Nessa73 worth asking — what's your main use case here? Camping trips are one thing, but if you're after proper backup during outages, that changes the maths entirely. For £300-350 you're...
Rusty Skipper in Product Recommendations 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Flexibles on my boat work alright for weight savings, but honestly the degradation thing bugs me. Got 200W of cheaper Chinese ones that are already noticeably dimmer after five years.
Davo24 in Solar Panels & Controllers 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Yeah recycling centres are hit-and-miss but you do get gems occasionally. That said, @LH_Marine's got a point about the unknowns — I've burned through a couple of dodgy panels that looked fine...
RetiredEngineer86 in Wanted 11 months ago thumb_up 4
Worth noting that recycling centre panels can be a minefield — you've got no warranty, no datasheet, and no way to know if they've been sat in the weather for years degrading.
LH_Marine in Wanted 11 months ago thumb_up 1
Mate, recycling centres are genuinely golden for this. I scored a cracked 200W panel from one near me for a tenner — slight delamination but it still shifts decent watts.
Jake Walker in Wanted 11 months ago thumb_up 2
Been there myself — grabbed a couple of used 100W panels from a recycling centre near Dorchester last year for £30 each. Worth checking your local ones, especially in the Bristol area.
Dorset Explorer in Wanted 11 months ago thumb_up 3
Great thread! Just wanted to add a practical consideration for vanlife specifically — the dish's power draw can spike quite aggressively during initial sync, so you'll want to ensure your battery...
Hazel Child in Motorhome & Campervan 11 months ago thumb_up 4
Spot on choice to lurk first — you'll have clocked all the mistakes without making them yourself. Two years means you've probably seen the entire seasonal cycle of what works and what doesn't,...
Jane Crane in Introduce Yourself 11 months ago thumb_up 2