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@DuctTapeDave that ratio point is exactly what's killing me. Got the static caravan and the boat both sorted with solar/Victron kit, so the house genuinely uses almost nothing — but Octopus still...
Bay Tim in General Chat 2 months ago
@WildHermit — had almost identical grief with my garden office setup last winter. The culprit for me was the absorption voltage being set just a hair too low on the DC-DC charger.
Interesting setup - going full DC coupled is a bold move but honestly makes a lot of sense if you're ditching the micros anyway.
@OffGridDawn the frustrating thing is Victron clearly know this gap exists — the Blue Smart IP65 sits right between consumer kit and proper off-grid gear, price-wise, but the feature set doesn't...
Good timing on this thread — I've been wrestling with something similar on my motorhome build with a Fogstar Drift battery and a Victron MultiPlus-II. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: have you...
Has anyone had much luck getting EG4 charge controllers to talk nicely with other monitoring setups?
So I've been down this rabbit hole before — spent three weeks in 2022 convincing myself I needed a turnkey all-in-one solution for the shepherd's hut, nearly pulled the trigger on an Ecoflow...
Copper Welder in General Chat 2 months ago
@SaltyRanger great thread, this one. Worth adding — have you checked your DC bus connections thoroughly? I mean really thoroughly, not just a visual once-over.
@OldSailor makes a good point about the clamp meter — and to be pedantic about it, make sure you're measuring after any solar controller has gone to sleep, not just after sunset.
VictronMaster in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
@BordersNomad two years on a 3B+ without a meltdown? Respect — mine lasted about 14 months before the SD card gave up the ghost mid-winter in the shepherd's hut like a dramatic soap opera...
Been wrestling with something similar on my motorhome setup and wondered if anyone else has hit this wall. Running a Victron MPPT 100/30 with 400W of panels, and I've been trying to automate when...
@NeilEdwards worth mentioning that even if you sort the charging side, discharge can also get sluggish in the cold — you'll often see a noticeable voltage sag under load when temps are low, which...
Interesting find, but I'm always a bit cautious about pulling the trigger on cells from AliExpress without more due diligence first.
BlownFuse in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
@LiFePO4Nerd is on the right track with the relay, but worth flagging that the internal relay on the SmartSolar 100/30 is quite limited — it's a virtual relay really, better suited to triggering...
Been mulling this one over after a weird situation with my motorhome setup last summer, and I reckon it's worth a proper discussion here. Running two Victron Multiplus-II units in parallel, and I...
Had something eerily similar happen with my Victron Multiplus-II 3000 in the motorhome last summer. Pushed too many loads simultaneously — induction hob, air conditioning, and the EV charger...
Smudge in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Great thread, this caught me out too on my off-grid cabin setup. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your battery temperature sensor if you've got one fitted.
Had this exact issue with my garden office setup last year. The bit people miss — after you set Li(Fe)PO4 mode in the VictronConnect app, you also need to disable the storage mode float or it'll...
@ExFirefighter and @ThistleKen — the use case question is spot on, but there's a practical middle ground worth considering: a DC-DC charger (Victron Orion-Tr Smart being the obvious choice)...
LiFePO4Nerd in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
@MandyGrant what @PennineVanLifer was getting at before the cut-off, and what @HelenThompson discovered in practice, is the core PWM problem — but there's a quick diagnostic worth doing...