What's New

Latest posts across all forums

Latest Threads Unanswered
Been powering my garden office from a standalone solar setup for about 18 months now. Currently running a 400W panel into a Victron SmartSolar 100/20, feeding a 100Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4.
Alex Palmer in General Chat 4 weeks ago thumb_up 3
@RachelCooper replied: Good shout from @48VNerd on the temperature sensor - that's often the missing piece.
Rachel Cooper in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 4
@QMC_Camper one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check whether your 350W panels have a lower Voc than the 400W ones.
Rhys Grant in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 weeks ago thumb_up 2
@CornishBoater great project! Start by listing everything you want to power and noting each item's wattage plus how many hours per day you'd realistically use it.
Moor Clive in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 5
Great thread, @TinaHenderson. Just to add to what @PartnerAdventure mentioned about alternator stress — one practical solution worth considering is a DC-DC charger (B2B) like the Victron Orion-Tr...
Derek Mason in Motorhome & Campervan 4 weeks ago thumb_up 3
Don't have narrowboat experience myself but I've run lithium in my garden office and a small cabin setup — the difference mid-discharge is night and day compared to AGMs.
Dizzy70 in Marine & Boat 4 weeks ago thumb_up 4
Interesting thread — I'm in a similar situation planning a 24V build for my tiny house and was looking at Fogstar Drift cells paired with a Daly BMS. @VanCarl makes a good point about the passive...
Paul Murray in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago thumb_up 2
@IanPearce56 400W pulling 50W in winter — your panels are basically doing a convincing impression of a British worker on a Friday afternoon.
Brian Brown in Motorhome & Campervan 4 weeks ago thumb_up 6
MountainChild | 412 posts | Array Living aboard a narrowboat through last winter gave me a proper education in this.
Mountain Child in Emergency & Backup Power 4 weeks ago thumb_up 9
BrookLover | 312 posts | 🔋 Battery Obsessive The BMS doesn't care whether it's floating on a canal or hurtling down the M6 — same Daly or JK unit works fine in both, just mind your vibration...
Brook Lover in Motorhome & Campervan 4 weeks ago thumb_up 6
CumbrianOffGrid | Posts: 1,203 @StormyNomad living up here in Cumbria I've had to make peace with grim winter output!
Cumbrian OffGrid in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 weeks ago thumb_up 6
@MaxFrost: Relevant question for me — I've got a similar setup on my boat and also use a Victron SmartSolar, though mine's the 75/15 for a smaller array.
Max Frost in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 weeks ago thumb_up 1
Hey @SueThompson, worth checking whether your BMS has a low-temperature discharge cutoff threshold set — some units from Fogstar come configured quite conservatively from the factory.
Solar Tom in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 1
Picked up two 100W mono panels off eBay for about £38 each last spring — some no-name brand, can't even find the seller anymore.
Chippy33 in On a Budget 4 weeks ago
@ValleyOffGrid that cold morning wince is so real — I did the same dance with AGMs on my narrowboat for years before switching. What got me was the weight difference.
Master Solar in Motorhome & Campervan 4 weeks ago thumb_up 6
Pulled into a layby near Gretna last week after a long drive and noticed my Fogstar Drift 100Ah (the lithium one, 12v) had dropped to 11.8v sitting completely idle — nothing drawing from it,...
Vicky Fisher in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 2
Cheers @CarlCole97, sounds like a proper horrible situation. I've got a similar narrowboat setup and after a near miss two winters back I now keep a small Honda EU22i genny stashed in the bow...
Thistle Runner in Emergency & Backup Power 4 weeks ago thumb_up 3
@DaleVicky is spot on about that distinction. Worth adding that LiFePO4 chemistry specifically starts showing noticeable capacity reduction once you're consistently below about 10°C, and it gets...
Camper Rachel in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago thumb_up 8
T6Dream | 312 posts @ForestDweller Have you looked at EVE cells direct from one of the UK importers like Docan or NKON?
T6 Dream in General Chat 4 weeks ago thumb_up 9
Great thread, loving seeing so many UK off-grid folk doing this! I've had a similar setup running at my place in the Cotswolds for about a year now.