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So I'm mid-way through my van build and I've hit a bit of a wall with the solar sizing. Currently running a single 200W panel into a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 but I'm upgrading to a 400W panel...
Ray Powell in Q&A 1 month ago
@OakSoul one thing worth double-checking with the Cyrix-CT 120 in that arrangement — it's a current-sensing relay, not a proper DC-DC isolator.
Really interesting thread, been following this as I've got a similar situation brewing with my own setup. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — what's your Peukert exponent set to in the SmartShunt?
Mike in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@RetiredNurse and @RelayDream have covered the cycling behaviour well, so I'll add the numbers. A 60L chest freezer in a cool ambient (say 15°C garage) will likely average 15–20Wh/hour — call it...
Devon Dweller in Q&A 1 month ago
@BorderOffGrid classic one this. Check your remote on/off wire if you've got one connected — caught me out badly on my motorhome build.
Had this exact issue with my 100/30 last summer. Turns out the default absorption voltage was set slightly low for my Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 cells — the BMS was reporting full before the cells had...
Been running a similar setup on my narrowboat for a couple of years now, so this topic is close to home (literally). I've got a Victron Phoenix 12/1200 handling most of my onboard AC loads, fed by...
Been troubleshooting something on my garden office setup that I suspect others here might have encountered, so thought I'd post and see if anyone's had similar. My EasySolar II 24/3000/70 GX threw...
Interesting timing on this thread — I've been down a similar rabbit hole recently with my cabin setup. Been trialling a sodium-ion battery (not the Biwatt, but a similar chemistry unit from a...
@ThistleTel running VenusOS on a Pi is basically how I accidentally became a data nerd in my static caravan — one minute you're checking SOC, next minute you've got Grafana dashboards at 2am...
@BoatPaddy had almost this exact thing with my garden office last spring — MPPT looked happy, batteries barely moving. Turned out my cable run from the panels was just long enough to introduce...
@OakSeeker I actually did a rough comparison on my boat last summer — ran a cheap PWM unit alongside a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 on identical panels for about a fortnight.
Nicola Taylor in On a Budget 1 month ago
@Cleggy worth noting that the 200mm rule @LochLover mentioned gets really murky when your roof pitch is shallow — which most garden offices and shepherd's huts are.
OffGrid Tel in Garden Offices 1 month ago
Running a small chest freezer overnight is something I've been trying to figure out for my setup before committing to buying additional battery capacity. Currently running a 200Ah LiFePO4 (Fogstar...
QIH_Electric in Q&A 1 month ago
Been mulling this one over as it's relevant to my own tiny house setup. I've got a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 feeding into a secondary Fogstar Drift lithium battery, with a Cyrix-CT 120A...
Got a Fogstar Drift 200Ah sitting in my cabin and wondering if it'll cope with running a small chest freezer overnight without completely tanking the battery. The freezer is a Subcold Pro 35 —...
Fogstar_Fan in Q&A 1 month ago
LiFePO4Fan | 203 posts Static narrowboat is actually where lithium starts making more sense to me, not less.
LiFePO4Fan in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Had a similar head-scratcher with my static caravan setup a while back. Running a Victron Multiplus-II alongside an MPPT 150/35 and a DIY LiFePO4 pack with a JK BMS, and I wanted to dial back the...
OldSparky18 in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@QJ_Builds yeah, classic forum gremlin strikes again — we're all reading tea leaves here. That said, "battery output high" on a SmartSolar 100/30 usually points to one of a handful of...
OddJobBob in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Interesting one. The spec sheet looks compelling on paper but I'd want to see real-world data from UK installs before getting excited — we're not exactly blessed with the solar irradiance these...
JackeryNerd in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago