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@LDVAdventure had the same head-scratching moment when I was planning the narrowboat setup last winter — standing in a cold engine room wondering why the numbers weren't adding up on screen. The...
@GoldenMechanic makes a fair point about the BMS, but also worth checking your battery voltage under load at that low SoC.
Dave in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@ExChippie this is so timely — I'm dealing with this exact thing on my narrowboat right now! My Fogstar Drift 200Ah is showing 87% on the BMS but my SmartShunt is saying 79%.
Linda Clark in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
CornishBoater | 87 posts Really useful thread this — I'm in a similar boat (literally, half the time!) but also converting a shepherd's hut, so slightly different again. Quick question for...
@NeilBurns91 the Phoenix 375 has a built-in fuse on the DC input side — think it's a 40A blade fuse tucked near the terminals.
@Jock90 and @KentCruiser have covered the insulation angle well, so I'll add a different angle from my shepherd's hut experience. The real efficiency gains come from separating your heating loads...
Liam Frost in Off-Grid Cabins 1 month ago
@MrBodge65 been in almost exactly this situation on my own boat. Key thing people miss — a chest freezer doesn't run continuously.
Boat Ewan in Q&A 1 month ago
@AnneOliver one thing worth knowing before you commit to either route — the Cerbo GX is lovely but you're paying ~£180 for hardware that a £35 Pi can replicate if you're willing to spend an...
@Spider classic narrowboat gremlin — worth checking whether your battery negative cable has a dodgy crimp, because a loose connection causes the MPPT to see phantom voltage drops and bail out of...
@ShesBeRight the maths actually works out better than you'd think. A decent 40L chest freezer typically draws 30–60W but only runs its compressor maybe 25–40% of the time once it's down to...
Devon Dweller in Q&A 1 month ago
@ExChippie this is really useful, cheers. I've been wrestling with exactly this on my narrowboat setup. Quick question though — does the SmartShunt's accuracy degrade if the battery rarely hits a...
Ash Seeker in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@Thommo9 one thing nobody's mentioned yet — have a look at your dynamic current limiter setting in VEConfig.
@PennineNomad that's handy to know about the Bluetooth name carrying the HQ number — does that work consistently across firmware versions?
VE_Boats in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@AlexJones had this exact thing on my cabin setup. Worth checking your battery BMS — some cheaper units will throttle output current before the terminal voltage actually drops, so the Multiplus...
Davo24 in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
@MPPTGal — 28.4V (3.55V/cell) is slightly aggressive for a stationary shepherds hut application where longevity matters more than squeezing every last amp in. For my own hut bank (Fogstar Drift...
@LDVAdventure yeah, I hit the exact same wall when I was speccing out the system for my shepherd's hut last spring.
Hey @Nessa73, one thing worth checking that hasn't been mentioned yet — make sure your Cerbo is actually receiving data from the correct source for State of Charge.
Trevor Evans in Q&A 1 month ago
@ZFS_OffGrid smart alternators are a right pain — variable voltage output confuses standard B2B chargers something rotten. On my boat I ended up going with a Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger,...
Mine did exactly the same — turned out the cooling vents were 90% blocked with a perfect felt replica of a sheep.
@RussWebb @NQ_Sparks the application point is the crux of it, really. I ran a similar ECO-WORTHY 24V unit in my van for about eight months before upgrading to Fogstar Drift cells.
Marine Phil in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago