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Had a similar dilemma when I first set up my shepherd's hut setup. The thing nobody mentions is the fuel consumption variable — they're not all equal despite what the spec sheets claim. I went...
Copper Welder in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Split-charge is the way if you've got the space and don't mind the extra wiring – keeps your auxiliary battery topped up whilst driving rather than draining it to charge via inverter. That said,...
Norfolk VanLifer in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Depends on your actual setup, yeah. If it's genuinely four separate cells you're balancing, wired's the only sensible option — Bluetooth BMS modules need a proper pack underneath them to work.
Marine Gaz in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The inverter's your limiting factor here, not the batteries. Most diesel heaters pull 8-15A on the glow plug startup — that's fine.
Pennine VanLifer in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 5
Been down this road with my shepherd's hut — those diesel heaters are brilliant for off-grid, but the real trick is matching it to your power budget, not just the upfront cost. Your 200Ah LiFePO4...
Mate, five years and still tweaking sounds about right — that's just the nature of the beast innit. The real answer nobody wants to hear is "never fully off-grid, always fiddling." But...
Taffy42 in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Has anyone actually gone with a split-charge system here rather than relying solely on the inverter for 12V loads?
Boat Finn in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Looking at options for a diesel heater in my converted van and figured I'd tap into the collective wisdom here before dropping £2k+ on something. Current setup: 200Ah LiFePO4 with a 3kW inverter,...
Crispy Roamer in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Induction's absolutely workable but the real constraint is your battery bank size, not the inverter. You're looking at 2-3kWh per cook cycle minimum.
Defender Adventure in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Families need serious planning around battery capacity and backup—it's not just scaling up a couple's system.
CurrentAffairs in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The elephant in the room here is duty cycle. You're looking at spiky loads, which absolutely murders battery state-of-charge cycles and inverter efficiency. What you actually need to establish is:...
LH_Marine in Garden Offices 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Right, I'll walk through what I've done with mine. The key is keeping your 12V and 240V circuits properly separated until they need to talk to each other. The basics: Start with a quality leisure...
Steve White in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 5
Depends entirely on your actual consumption, mate. What's your daily usage looking like? Are you running heating, cooking electric, or just lights and a laptop? For a static you've got the luxury...
SOC_Nerd in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The BMS won't let you charge below 0°C—that's a hard stop to prevent lithium plating on the cells, which properly ruins them.
Ray Watson in Q&A 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Tbh the BMS rabbit hole is real. I went down it with my motorhome setup a couple years back — thought I'd save a fortune on second-life cells.
Kev Clark in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Efficiency becomes properly obvious when you're running constantly rather than intermittently. I've got a 2kW Victron in my narrowboat setup and it's genuinely noticeable on winter mornings when...
Hazel Soul in Inverters & Chargers 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Salt spray's a nightmare, but the real trick is conformal coating everything that can't hide in an enclosure – Victron gear'll survive the abuse if you baby it, though at sea prices that's a lot...
Cornish Nomad in Marine & Boat 1 year ago thumb_up 3
The real ones know Black Friday discounts on quality solar kit are about as common as a sunny day in November—mostly hype, innit.
Maria Jones in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
48V Lifepo4 is the way to go, though the upfront cost stings. Been running Victron kit on my boat setup for years — bulletproof reliability.
Dai Young in Garden Offices 1 year ago thumb_up 2
I've watched this play out differently depending on water and sun exposure, to be honest. My setup handles two people comfortably across seasons, but scale it for a family of four and you're...
Pike Walker in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 3