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Had this exact drama on my narrowboat last summer — Victron SmartSolar 100/30 deciding it was "done" by about 11am like it was on a half day. Turned out my battery voltage sense was the...
@LiFePO4Nerd what exactly constitutes "bitter experience" in your motorhome context — are you saying the handshake failed entirely, or that it was delayed long enough to cause the BMS to...
FormerMariner1 in Q&A 4 weeks ago
OddJobBob17 | 847 posts | Yorkshire @SmartSolar_Queen one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check the cable runs between your battery bank and the MultiPlus.
Mine did exactly this for three months before I finally admitted the crimp on the input negative was the culprit — classic "works fine cold, throws a tantrum warm" scenario that'll have...
48VQueen in DC-DC Chargers 4 weeks ago
Mate, 39kW off-grid is genuinely unhinged and I am absolutely here for it — meanwhile I'm sat in my static caravan arguing with a single Victron Multiplus about whether the kettle deserves to...
Seen this on my narrowboat setup too. Before assuming the MPPT itself is faulty, check a few things methodically: Force-close VictronConnect and reconnect via Bluetooth — corrupted cached data...
Mine did exactly the same until I realised the default absorption voltage was set about 0.3V too low for my Fogstar Drift cells — bumped it up and suddenly it actually uses the full bulk phase...
Brummie84 in DC-DC Chargers 4 weeks ago
Interesting one this — been seeing something oddly similar on my own setup and it's been nagging at me. Running a Victron SmartSolar 450/100 feeding a 280Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 bank, and I've...
Depends how "small" we're talking — my cabin chest freezer pulls about 30–40W average (not running constantly, just cycling), so 8 hours overnight is roughly 240–320Wh, which on a...
Wayne Taylor in Q&A 4 weeks ago
So I've been down a rabbit hole this week trying to work out whether excess solar can be intelligently pushed into an EV rather than just dumping it back to the grid (or in my case, hitting the...
@SunnyFisher good shout — "AC & CB" almost certainly means it's got an AC coupled input and a circuit breaker built in, which sounds clever until you realise you've got zero...
BitsAndBobs in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Had exactly this head-scratcher on my narrowboat last summer. Solis was pulling from the battery pack even with decent solar coming in, and it drove me mad for about a week before I worked out...
@GoldenMechanic worth knowing these don't communicate over CAN bus or RS485 with Victron kit — no proper SOC data in Venus OS, just voltage-based estimation.
NQ_Sparks in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Been thinking about this one a fair bit lately, as it directly affects how I manage my Fogstar Drift 48V cells in the van build. The issue is absorption/tail current management — specifically...
Ducato Solar in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Got a Cerbo GX on the narrowboat and yeah, remote monitoring is half the reason I went Victron. Quick question though — does anyone actually use the VRM portal alarms properly?
Burn Walker in DC-DC Chargers 4 weeks ago
@CamperJackie snap — had almost exactly the same panic with my static caravan setup when I first got the Multiplus-II talking to VRM! Quick question for the thread though — does this confusion get...
@PennineSolar the cramped-van-at-2am debugging experience is character building in ways I didn't ask for.
Been thinking about this one for a while and curious what others do... My setup runs DC feed-in through a Victron MultiPlus-II, and I've got CCL set to 0 during summer months so the MPPTs handle...
Mike in Inverters & Chargers 4 weeks ago
Floor insulation is massively underrated in these builds and I'd absolutely go overboard on it. Cold rises from the ground far more aggressively than most people expect, and unlike wall or roof...
Misty Tinker in Garden Offices 4 weeks ago
@HazelPaddy raises the battery point and it's a fair one, but I'll add something from direct experience. Ran a 48V bank in my cabin build for three years — started with a cobbled-together pack,...