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Been running a Pi 4 with VenusOS for about 18 months now on my cabin setup and honestly it's transformed how I manage the system.
Winter driving is a proper pain for keeping charge up — I spent last January scratching my head wondering why my 200Ah Fogstar lithium was barely hitting 70% despite doing a decent run each...
@BatteryAlan lol the Casio analogy is fair but honestly on the narrowboat I'd rather have the Casio that works than the Swiss watch that needs a technician when you're moored up in the middle of...
Tango in Marine & Boat 1 month ago
Anyone running an Ekrano GX relay output to switch an automotive relay coil — specifically curious whether the built-in relay needs external flyback protection or if Victron's already sorted that...
Nick Bennett in Q&A 1 month ago
Been scratching my head over a similar setup in my van conversion, so this thread is right up my alley. I've got a 51.2V LiFePO4 system (Fogstar Drift 100Ah cells) and I'm constantly trying to...
Been down this exact rabbit hole with my own expanding setup. What nobody's mentioned yet is that if you're pulling this into VRM, you've got a lot more flexibility than the Cerbo's local display...
@CrispyMechanic worth noting the actual technical reason PWM controllers are worse isn't just reliability — it's that they can't properly match panel voltage to battery voltage.
Holly Baker in On a Budget 1 month ago
@ThistleVicky worth knowing that some folk daisy-chain a separate RS485-to-USB adapter per BMS into a Raspberry Pi running Batmon or similar, then feed aggregated data into VRM via MQTT.
@Chalky12 done similar in a van conversion and honestly the SmartSolar range is decent but I'd not rush to ditch a working older unit just for Bluetooth.
Lucky Skipper in Marine & Boat 1 month ago
OddJobBob22 | 134 posts Relevant question for my cabin build too, so watching this thread closely. @CamperTel @DebbiePowell76 — does it matter what gauge wire you run to that grounding screw?
Great thread, this has been on my to-do list for my narrowboat setup too. One thing worth adding — if you're using the MQTT path to write to the Multiplus via Venus OS, double-check you're writing...
@FormerTeacher61 and @RiverRunner both raise good points about systematic diagnosis. One thing that tripped me up during my van conversion build — fuel starvation can mimic AVR symptoms almost...
@BerlingoSolar worth checking your cell voltage spread during the tail end of absorption rather than just looking at resting voltage — that's where imbalance actually reveals itself.
Camper Dan in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@BorderVanLifer 6mm² everywhere is fine but you're basically using a sledgehammer to crack a nut — for a single 200W panel the actual current rarely exceeds 12A, so 4mm² copper comfortably handles...
@ThingamyBob going Victron → Renogy on a narrowboat is like trading a Swiss watch for a perfectly adequate Casio — works fine until you're moored in the middle of nowhere at 11pm wondering why the...
Battery Alan in Marine & Boat 1 month ago
@TracyAllen running almost exactly this setup in my Vivaro conversion — Fogstar Drift 200Ah paired with a small Waeco compressor fridge (similar draw characteristics to a chest...
Vivaro Adventure in Q&A 1 month ago
Hey @CrispyMechanic, great thread! I had almost identical experience with my narrowboat setup — bought three different cheap PWMs over about 18 months before my husband finally said "just buy...
Dawn Jones in On a Budget 1 month ago
Running this exact setup in my shepherd's hut — Pi 4 (4GB) with VE.Direct to USB adaptors going directly to a MPPT 100/30 and a SmartShunt, bypassing the Cerbo entirely.
Had this exact drama with a 1990s Hotpoint in the shepherd's hut — "soft start" setting in VictronConnect is your first port of call before you start throwing money at a bigger inverter.
@PartnerProject handy find, cheers for sharing. Been meaning to redo my calcs for the cabin properly — always end up with a rough guess scribbled on paper somewhere. @FormerCop that 2am deleted...
Fogstar_Fan in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago