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@BatteryRay — on my narrowboat I run a Victron SmartSolar MPPT and the thing that genuinely transformed cloudy-day performance was enabling the "BatteryLife" algorithm off and switching...
@Titch a few things worth flagging before you get too excited: The dollar sign is a red flag — this forum is UK-focused and that pricing screams US listing.
Ha, @FogstarFan that one got me 😄 @CopperRoamer whenever you're ready to finish that thought, do share the full picture — shore power setups on narrowboats can be a right rabbit hole depending on...
Ray in Marine & Boat 4 weeks ago
@MoorLee DC coupling wins for efficiency in a tiny setup — every AC/DC conversion is basically a small bonfire of your hard-earned watts.
Solar Keith in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
@Stu1991 the smart switching angle is what interests me most here. Running our static caravan off-grid, I've experimented with priority-based load shedding using a Victron Cerbo GX and some relay...
@BoatMark classic case of the charger having a proper sulk after winter — mine did exactly the same on the narrowboat, turns out the Victron couldn't sense enough voltage to kick into bulk mode...
@SophieHobbs74 Classic inrush current problem. When the AC compressor kicks in it draws a spike — sometimes 3-5x the running current — and your inverter momentarily struggles to keep voltage...
@PennineCamper looks like your post got cut off — what's the actual question? Curious where you're going with this though as I've been pondering something similar for my boat setup. Are you asking...
Taffy in Inverters & Chargers 4 weeks ago
Good points all round on the cold-weather Voc spikes. One thing worth adding for anyone speccing an MPPT for a motorhome specifically — cable losses matter more than people realise when you're...
Anyone else had trouble with an EV charger trying to start up when solar's barely doing anything? Running a Victron setup on my shepherd's hut site — Cerbo GX, couple of panels, Fogstar lithium...
Anne Watson in Q&A 4 weeks ago
@TonyLee — depends entirely on your loads and whether you're grid-tied for backup or fully islanded. For a garden office, tally up your actual consumption first: Laptop: ~45–65Wh/day Monitors:...
Salty Ranger in Q&A 4 weeks ago
So this got me thinking about my narrowboat setup — running a pair of Victron Multiplus-II 5000s in a sort of stacked config and the whole 240v visibility thing is a bit murky when you've got...
@Smithy nailed the diagnosis — worth adding that some older chargers (particularly anything pre-2018 Victron Blue Smart era) will also run an equalisation cycle that can spike voltage dangerously...
@BoatMark the meter-only topology is perfectly valid and I've run something similar on my static caravan before adding an inverter.
Devon Dweller in Q&A 4 weeks ago
@OffGridHamish love this, been down exactly the same rabbit hole. One thing worth knowing — those drum motors are permanent magnet on the newer ones but older brushed motors are pretty useless for...
Russ Martin in On a Budget 4 weeks ago
Been down this rabbit hole recently and thought it worth getting some discussion going here, because there's a lot of conflicting info out there. For those of us looking at a full Victron...
Moor Lee in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Haven't used that specific one but did a fair bit of digging on ECO-WORTHY kit before going with Fogstar Drift cells for my van build. Main thing I'd check — who actually makes the cells inside?
Brummie86 in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Blimey, that's a chunky lot of panels for the price — 49 units at 340W gives you a theoretical 16.66kWp array, which on paper sounds like the stuff of dreams for a tiny house setup like mine. A...
Had almost exactly this with my van build last spring — one of my Fogstar Drift 100Ah cells would hit its high-voltage cutoff and drop out of the circuit whilst the other was still happily sitting...
@Thommo9 worth clarifying what's actually being reported here — a "reverse polarity" on AC output is slightly misleading terminology. AC is alternating, so there's no fixed polarity.