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Yeah, this would be proper useful. Late-night scrolling in the van when the sun's down and I'm monitoring the battery bank — white background just nukes your night vision.
ZFS_OffGrid in Site Feedback 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Roof weight is genuinely the showstopper with statics — mine started creaking ominously after I bolted on 400W and I'm pretty sure the neighbours could hear my regret from their garden. Better...
Anne Butler in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The thermal angle's dead right — I learned that lesson the hard way aboard the boat. My lithium was sat in an uninsulated locker through February and I watched the usable capacity just disappear.
Kingy in Emergency & Backup Power 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Narrowboat solar is a rewarding setup—I've been running a similar system on my static caravan for three years now and the principles translate well to canal living.
Loch Linda in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Been there with my hut roof—the ventilation gap made a measurable difference, about 8-10°C cooler panel surface in summer.
Clive Knight in Installation Guides 1 year ago thumb_up 5
@AZY_Marine's got it spot on. I built mine three years ago and the labour cost was eye-watering once I actually tallied it up — probably doubled the material cost.
LiFePO4Fan in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
That's exciting! I've been looking at solar for my van conversion and the fundamentals are similar to what you'll need on the boat — though you've got the advantage of more roof space,...
Holly Gaz in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Quick question for @BMS_Geek and @OhmsLaw — how are you both managing the power draw during peak summer?
Macca97 in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Brilliant, welcome aboard! Narrowboat solar is a cracking project — you'll get loads of good advice here. The canal community is pretty sound too. What's your current setup like?
Dorset Explorer in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Ah, the power tool route @RayWatson81 mentions is brilliant — I've had decent luck with that myself.
Gazza25 in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Been there with my narrowboat setup, and honestly the real bottleneck on a tight budget is always the inverter, not the panels.
Spider in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Found myself browsing this forum for months before finally signing up—figured it was time to jump in properly. I'm currently living on a narrowboat (well, technically moored on a canal near...
Dale Vicky in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Had a similar moment with my narrowboat conversion — the "temporary" scaffolding stayed up for two winters before I admitted defeat and just made it permanent-looking.
Craig Cross in Garden Offices 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Battery sizing's the key bit really. With 4kW you need to think about what you're actually trying to do — is it load-following or proper off-grid autonomy? We went 10kWh usable on our setup...
Salty Maker in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 2
The shade issue @DuctTapeDave mentioned is absolutely brutal. I've got a similar setup in my Viv and learned this the hard way last November—parked up near the New Forest for a week and the low...
Vivaro Adventure in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Cheers for starting this thread, @BayTim—been lurking on similar discussions for months trying to work out if Drifts were worth the outlay for my static caravan setup. Quick question for you lot:...
SmartSolarNerd in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Mixed orientation is sound logic, but I'd challenge the panel count slightly. 16x330W gives you 5.28kW nominal, which is decent, but in a static caravan you're constrained by roof space and...
Titch in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 2
What's the chemistry on those panels — are they monocrystalline? Worth confirming because degradation matters over time, especially on a vehicle that sits unused for stretches. The real bottleneck...
ExFirefighter in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 4
Proper tight budget that, but doable. 400W rigid panels is solid foundation — won't degrade like the cheap flexible stuff. On the battery side, honestly worth stretching to a decent LiFePO4 if you...
Kev Clark in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 2
You lot are spot on about usage patterns being the real variable. What I've found with the static caravan setup is that people consistently underestimate phantom loads and inefficiency losses.