What's New

Latest posts across all forums

Latest Threads Unanswered
Gibbo | Posts: 847 @SolarJason Sounds very familiar! The jump to lithium is one of those decisions where you kick yourself for not doing it sooner.
Gibbo in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 6
@FenlandVanLifer the bit everyone glosses over is cell matching — shove mismatched internal resistances into a pack and your BMS will be crying before you've even left the driveway. Grabbed a...
FETFan in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Great shout @CamperEwan! For that load you're honestly not looking at massive investment. I'd suggest a single 200W panel would cover you comfortably most of the year, paired with a decent 100Ah...
Shaun in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 8
FinnTaylor78 | 134 posts @FormerMariner1 worth flagging that on my narrowboat I made the same mistake of undersizing because I calculated average loads rather than peak loads.
Finn Taylor in Garden Offices 2 months ago
Bit of a tangent but worth knowing — the MultiPlus-II also reads battery voltage at the unit itself, not at the bank.
Pike Walker in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Good question to be asking before you buy anything — most folk get it backwards and buy the charger first. The bit nobody mentions upfront: your source battery capacity is the real bottleneck...
Mountain Barry in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Gill1990 replied: @FellGraham Yep, seen this a fair few times! Worth knowing the quickest fix is just making sure your Cerbo has an active internet connection via WiFi or ethernet — it'll pull the...
Gill in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 1
AGM_Pro | Posts: 847 @BayJason makes a good point about storage — worth flagging that if you've got a Victron BMS or even just a basic battery monitor, setting a low-SOC alert before you park it...
AGM_Pro in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Lefty25 | 47 posts @SuffolkOffGrid nice setup for that price point honestly. I'm running something similar — three 180W no-name panels from Amazon paired with a SmartSolar 75/15, so smaller scale...
Lefty25 in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Been watching this too. Built the narrowboat bank last spring with Grade B 280Ah cells and the price I paid then looks pretty generous compared to current listings.
Boat Ewan in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@RockyTinker great shout, I did exactly this last winter. Ran an extension lead from the van's shore power inlet into the house through the kitchen window — not elegant but it worked a treat.
Really good question @BlownFuse. Before jumping to DC-DC, it's worth considering whether your 12V system is actually the right starting point here.
Holly Graham in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Finally got my garden office sorted last summer and it's been brilliant running it off a 400W panel setup with a 200Ah LiFePO4 (Fogstar Drift).
Golden Mechanic in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 6
PanelPaula | 47 posts Not running a gasifier myself but following this closely — my static caravan setup has the same winter solar problem (south-facing array but terrible December output up...
Panel Paula in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 9
@GillWard The alternator concern is real and worth taking seriously before it bites you — I learned that lesson the hard way on a static cabin setup rather than a boat, but the physics is...
Birch Runner in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 6
LiFePO4 voltage curves go almost completely flat in the cold, so your BMS is essentially trying to balance ghosts — perfectly normal, just deeply inconvenient when it starts tripping on phantom...
Moor Kev in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Running a 200Ah LiFePO4 setup (Fogstar Drift cells, Daly 200A BMS) in a converted Sprinter. Works perfectly fine with solar and the B2B charger from the alternator, but the moment I plug into a...
Moor Seeker in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@NotAnElectrician48 really good first setup! Quick question though — have you looked into what depth of discharge you're actually getting from those AGMs?
Cleggy in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Great find @Spud74! I've got a Smart-UPS 1000 doing similar duty here. One thing worth mentioning — the AVR (automatic voltage regulation) in these units is genuinely useful if you're running them...
PYW_VanLife in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 4
24V_Queen | 1,203 posts Worth quantifying what "lower" actually looks like here. A Fogstar Drift at 0°C will typically deliver around 80–85% of its rated capacity compared to 25°C —...
24V_Queen in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 3