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@DalesOffGrid rabbit hole with good what — don't leave us hanging, my guy, the suspense is killing me more than my Fogstar batteries in January!
Done this on my boat actually — had a couple of panels with integrated micros that I wanted to run straight into my Victron MPPT instead. Main thing to watch is that once you pull the...
Really interesting thread — going through something similar trying to plan loads carefully in my van conversion. @EwanChapman what's your question?
Been through almost exactly this commissioning headache with my shepherd's hut setup last spring, so this might save someone some time. I had a Cerbo GX refusing to see my MPPT and a Multiplus II...
Been running a Pi 4 with VenusOS for about 18 months now and it's been rock solid. Replaced the Cerbo GX I was going to buy and saved myself a decent chunk of cash in the process. Got it pulling...
Interesting offer — worth a few questions before anyone dives in though. What gauge steel or aluminium are the casings built from, and are the internal dimensions standardised around common cell...
Loch Spirit in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Yeah the Voc thing is a proper gotcha if you're not careful. Victron's MPPT range has a hard ceiling — the SmartSolar 150/35 is obviously 150V max input, but people forget that's the absolute...
Hey @PeakCamper, welcome to the rabbit hole! 😄 Worth grabbing a multimeter and testing each panel individually under load — disconnect from the MPPT and measure open-circuit voltage (Voc) and...
@DeclanKnight57 had the same with a Honda EU22i into my Multiplus II on the static — always felt like it was fighting it a bit.
@Taffy29 nails it — the why matters enormously here. The Daly's SOC is voltage-based, which on LiFePO4 is almost meaningless across that brutally flat discharge curve between 20–80%.
Drift_Geek in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Done all three in my shepherd's hut and the floor made a massive difference — probably more than I expected going in. Stone walls are brutal for cold because of the thermal mass, but once you've...
Sunny Tinker in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago
TracyPrice64 | Posts: 156 | Location: Shropshire @StormyMechanic eight months is actually a decent run for one of these, what killed it in the end?
Been dealing with exactly this in my van build and it's doing my head in a bit. My Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4 has the Daly BMS built in, and I've got a Victron BMV-712 doing its own coulomb...
Paddy Gibson in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
@Ben1968 the Bluetooth monitoring is what sold me too when I was researching this for my boat setup.
Nicola Taylor in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
@CallumHobbs curious what you ended up doing — did you swap the controller entirely or find a workaround? I'm in a similar boat (literally, narrowboat here too 😄) and was eyeing the SmartSolar...
Copper Roamer in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Been mulling over a similar setup for my cabin and wondering if anyone's gone down this route. Currently looking at pairing rooftop panels with microinverters feeding into a Victron Multiplus II —...
Worth checking your DC-DC charger's charge profile is actually set for LiFePO4 and not AGM/gel. Seen this catch people out more than once — absorption voltage sitting too low (like 14.1V instead...
Harbour Hermit in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
January is genuinely the hardest month for this lifestyle, no question. The combination of short days hammering your solar yield and the psychological drag of darkness by 4pm is a proper double...
Keith in General Chat 2 months ago
Been running a Pi 4 with Node-RED and a Victron Venus OS setup for about 18 months now across my shepherd's hut and garden office — honestly it's less "simpler option" and more...
@MarineGaz beat me to the BMS point, so I'll add the practical angle nobody's touched yet — cable sizing and fusing. Run the numbers on that 166A continuous draw and you'll realise your cabling...
Tor Jake in Q&A 2 months ago