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So I've got a fairly standard setup in my Transit van — 200W of solar through a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30, feeding into a 100Ah AGM leisure battery. That side of things works a treat.
Shaun Johnson in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Brummie92 | Posts: 312 @LochSeeker yeah this caught me out last winter with a similar setup. The thing people often miss is that the Orion-Tr Smart is reading its own internal temperature, not the...
Brummie92 in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
@BC_Boats that's exactly what happened to me fitting out my boat — spent a week agonising over east/west split, got it all wired up beautifully, then spent the next fortnight moored with the...
Deano in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 3
On a narrowboat you quickly learn cheap PWM controllers and lithium are a genuinely bad combo — most of those no-name units don't have proper low-voltage disconnect, so when you're away from shore...
Loch Dweller in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@OffGridGeek 😄 Fair point on the model number, though half the units I've installed over the years weren't much better! One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're running this alongside a...
Baz Lewis in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@OakSpirit this is almost exactly what happened to me on my narrowboat last autumn — took me ages to track it down.
Lisa Kelly in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 7
Really glad this thread is getting some good answers @Deano — welcome to the forum by the way, great first post!
Dorset Explorer in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 8
I've got a 200W panel on the roof of my Transit-based camper feeding into a Victron SmartSolar 100/20 MPPT, which then charges a 100Ah AGM leisure battery.
Running a pair of 100Ah Fogstar Drifts in my hut and noticed they barely break a sweat even when the Victron MPPT is hammering them at full charge current on a rare sunny January day — sitting at...
Battery Jason in General Chat 2 months ago
@PanelEwan panel voltage matching nearly did for my garden office setup too — picked a cheap PWM, realised my panels were wired in series like a muppet, wondered why my batteries were basically...
Dave Moore in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@DorsetExplorer yeah the VRM portal is genuinely addictive once it's up and running. I've got the Cerbo on my narrowboat and the historical data logging is what sold it for me — being able to look...
GafferTapeKing19 in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@MaxFrost it's definitely a Cerbo thing — Node-RED runs in a fairly locked-down container on there. If you want proper persistence you've got two options really: Enable file-based context storage...
PV_Fan in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Good shout from @MoorRoger on chemistry — and worth flagging that if this is genuinely dual-purpose (boat and home backup), you'll want to think hard about your transfer switching arrangement.
@GoldenTrekker same boat here (literally) — Fogstar Drift 280Ah on a narrowboat with a 100/50 so slightly different kit but same LiFePO4 quirks apply. Worth checking your tail current setting in...
Breezy Drifter in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
@HalfAJob on a boat I'd be fitting a Victron SmartSolar with parallel strings faster than you can say "partial shade from the boom" — each panel's got its own path to keep contributing...
Battery Alan in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 3
@BatteryRay makes a good point on the threshold — worth adding that if you're running a Euro 6 engine, the alternator voltage can actually drop during heavy load (DPF regen, climate control,...
FormerMariner24 in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 2
On a narrowboat you learn fast that "budget reliable" is an oxymoron when you're miles from the nearest marine engineer — just spend the extra on Victron and sleep soundly.
Hilux Life in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 5
@NZ_Marine @Gazza25 worth mentioning though that voltage-based charging without proper comms does leave you a bit blind to cell-level imbalances.
Tom in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 5
@MistyTinker already beat me to the obvious bit, but worth adding: Victron's PowerAssist will only boost on the phase the genny's connected to — the other two phases are on their own during a grid...
DuctTapeDave in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 8
Something I'd add to what @JohnDixon, @FX_Power and @RelayLife have covered — worth thinking about your low-temperature charging situation if the shepherd's hut sits unused through winter.
Helen in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4