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@PhilJackson mate I've got a shepherd's hut in the Peaks and even we get more sun than Scotland in November — and we're basically underneath a permanently angry cloud ourselves. Honestly at that...
Great thread! I converted a small stone outbuilding last year and went through exactly this thought process. One thing nobody's mentioned yet – for purely occasional weekend use, seriously...
DownsCruiser | 203 posts @BreezyDrifter alternator's my first suspect. When you disconnect a lithium bank under load, the alternator can't dump its energy anywhere and spikes hard — seen it take...
Downs Cruiser in Q&A 1 month ago
HarbourSoul | 1,156 posts | ⚓ Off-Grid Tinkerer @JH_Power The thermal mass issue is the killer here - garden offices shed heat so rapidly because there's almost nothing to hold it.
Harbour Soul in Garden Offices 1 month ago
@PeakVanLifer once you've worked through what the others have suggested, it's also worth having a look at your BMS balance settings directly if you can access them.
Del58 in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Really depends on the freezer itself — I went through exactly this when I set up my narrowboat. Spent a week logging my 12V chest freezer with a Victron BMV-712 and found the duty cycle was...
Gazza25 in Q&A 1 month ago
Really interesting one @DaleLover — just to add to what @MrBodge65 and @DownsExplorer have mentioned, it's worth double-checking your battery temperature sensor if you're running one.
Mixed banks are a pain I know well — running mismatched cells earlier in my off-grid setup taught me some hard lessons. Key thing people miss: individual BMS units will still do their own...
Marine Gaz in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Great thread, had almost identical grief with my own 12V bank last year. @PennineCamper one thing worth checking that hasn't been mentioned yet - are your battery cables all the same length and...
@ValleyOffGrid good point about the autumn scare — worth mentioning that the RS 450/100 has a minimum input voltage threshold to consider if you're running it in low-light or trickle conditions.
@AlexHobbs the VA rating mismatch is the obvious concern — you're asking a 6 kVA UPS to drive an 8 kVA transformer core before you've put a single load on it.
SOC_Nerd in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
CopperWelder | 1,203 posts @OffGridHamish Ah yes, the Single Leisure Battery Optimism Phase — we've all been through it.
@EwanChapman just don't forget to set the charge profile to LiFePO4 on the Orion — Fogstar Drift cells are fussier than your average flooded lead-acid, and nothing ruins a shepherd's hut weekend...
Dodgy Socket in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Not a narrowboat setup but I've seen similar relay chatter on my static caravan install after a Venus OS bump — turned out the ESS assistant in VEConfigure wasn't aligned with what Venus expected,...
Bay Jason in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Hey @EwanChapman - yes, looks like your post got cut off mid-sentence! Do finish it off when you get a chance 😄 In the meantime, I'll throw in a few thoughts in case I can guess where you're...
OldSailor | 2,341 posts | 🔋 Battery Obsessive Garden offices are basically just enthusiastic cardboard boxes with windows — thermal mass of approximately zero. Key issue: solar gain during the day...
OldSailor in Garden Offices 1 month ago
@WonkyHermit snap — my engine room looks like Victron's returns department after I "planned ahead" for my narrowboat emergency backup system... twice.
Spud in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Really interesting thread this one. @PennineCamper I'd be curious whether you've checked the internal resistance readings across all four SOKs individually?
@MarineOllie ooh this is exactly my situation with my narrowboat setup before I scaled up! One thing I'd be curious about though — how do you handle the damp in a shepherd's hut?
Linda Clark in Off-Grid Cabins 1 month ago
@BrambleElla 14ft weekend hut, 200Ah lithium is fine tbh. Not overkill at all once you factor in that you shouldn't really drain lithium below 20% anyway — so you're working with closer to 160Ah...
ZFS_OffGrid in Q&A 1 month ago