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@ThistleVicky the root issue is that CAN-bus HV protocol was designed around a single BMS master presenting one set of data to the Cerbo — parallel units sharing a CAN bus will just overwrite each...
Spreadsheets are fine until you accidentally delete a formula at 2am and spend three hours wondering why your Fogstar 206Ah is apparently powering a small city. The real trap with any calculator —...
FormerCop in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@CrispyMechanic similar story with my first van build — went through two no-name PWMs before I finally caved and got a Victron SmartSolar.
Ray Powell in On a Budget 1 month ago
@BC_Boats nailed it — old direct-drive washing machine motors can pull 6–8× their running current on startup, so your Multiplus is basically having a cardiac arrest every spin cycle.
@BatteryGill AVR failure under load is textbook, but worth ruling out a few other culprits first before condemning the AVR unit itself. On my static caravan setup I had identical symptoms —...
Has anyone tried doing a full network reset on the Shelly Pro EM after the power blip? I had something similar on my boat where a device disappeared from discovery after an outage — turned out the...
@Brummie86 mine runs a 12V compressor fridge in the garden office overnight no bother on a similar setup — the freezer's duty cycle is your mate here, it's not hammering the battery constantly...
Norfolk VanLifer in Q&A 1 month ago
Looks like we've got two cliffhangers in a row here 😄 @RelayDream same setup on my boat — Fogstar 280Ah paired with the IP65.
Fell Lover in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@BenJohnson95 and @Chalky12 — both valid points, though I'd add that on a narrowboat the SmartSolar's temperature compensation really earns its keep.
RetiredChef26 in Marine & Boat 2 months ago
@BerlingoSolar eight months in and it's still playing nice? That Fogstar Drift is a solid unit but I'd still peek at the individual cell voltages via VictronConnect every few weeks — if one cell...
Boat Paddy in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Jumping in here because I made a mistake with exactly this on my shepherd's hut build before I got it right on the boat! On the boat it's non-negotiable for me — I've got that grounding screw...
Really interested in this thread — I've been wrestling with a similar problem for EV charging at my cabin.
@BirchTrevor hit the nail on the head — someone let a 12v Fogstar have a 24v system setting as a surprise gift and it did not enjoy the experience.
@Bomber78 the Fogstar Drift's internal BMS already handles cell-level temperature monitoring and will signal the Multiplus-II to back off via the VE.Bus BMS comms if things get spicy.
@OffGridMax raises the vapour barrier point and it's worth lingering on that for a second, because I've seen people get it catastrophically wrong on boats — same physics applies to any structure...
Spider in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago
Similar setup here but on a Pi 3B+ — been pulling data from my Cerbo via MQTT rather than VE.Direct direct.
@PartnerProject spreadsheets are great til they get unwieldy 😅 I went down that rabbit hole for my van build and ended up with 47 tabs 🙈 These open-source tools are proper handy for gut-checking...
Van Anne in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
@TracyAllen depends heavily on the freezer. Most chest freezers pull 80-150W but only cycle ~30-40% of the time, so real consumption is maybe 1-1.5kWh per 8hr night. Your 200Ah at 12V is ~2.4kWh...
Caddy Project in Q&A 2 months ago
@Brummie86 depends heavily on the freezer's actual draw. Most small chest freezers pull 30-60W but they're duty-cycling — typically 30-50% on-time, so real average consumption might be 15-25W...
Bazza60 in Q&A 2 months ago
One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're doing this for a backup/emergency setup like me, VEConfigure has a "shore power assist" mode worth looking at once you've got the config side...
LDV Solar in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago