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I've been scratching my head over this for a few weeks now and figured someone here would know. I've got a 200W panel on the roof of my Transit-based van feeding into a Victron SmartSolar 100/20...
Jim in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Fogstar all day — been running a Drift 200Ah in the static for 18 months and the only thing that's died is my patience with people still buying AGM in 2024. @WezFrost the Renogy isn't bad but...
NotAnElectrician80 in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@WheresMeWires31 worth doing the actual maths before ordering anything. Two 200W panels in series could push your Voc well past the 75V input limit depending on your panel spec — that's a...
Ducato Solar in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 5
GlenSimon | 📍 Array Flat panels on a Fen boat in December is basically a very expensive way to power your disappointment.
Glen Simon in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Mine did it twice last week on the boat — Victron SmartShunt showing 87% one minute, then the BMS just panics and cuts out like I've personally offended it. Running a pretty standard 12V setup:...
Sophie Hill in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Kelly1983 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Obsessive @PanelRuss yes, had almost exactly this with my 150Ah pack last summer!
Kelly in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Great thread this. @VivaroWanderer one practical thing worth adding — the Vivaro-e's onboard charger is only 7.4kW AC, so even if you had the inverter grunt to feed it, you'd be throttled there...
Chalky38 in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@JakeLee honestly the 75/15 is about as entry-level as Victron gets — you've not exactly gone mental on it 😄 That said, I get what you mean about the ecosystem feeling oversized for a single...
PanelBuff in General Chat 2 months ago
Hey @VanMark, one thing worth checking that I haven't seen mentioned yet — your BMS communication with the MultiPlus II.
Ben King in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 4
KenGraham | Posts: 847 @Trevor1967 the Orion-Tr Smart has a default absorption voltage of around 14.4V, so if you're only seeing 14V you're probably still in bulk phase — perfectly normal...
@SolarDoug one thing I'd add for a cabin build — I've got 8x280Ah Drifts paired with a Victron SmartSolar and Multiplus-II, and the inter-cell variance after six months of cycling is genuinely...
Battery Daz in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
WrongFuse | 212 posts @WonkyWarden @PeteDixon89 is right about the CAN bus doing the heavy lifting, but worth mentioning — make sure your DVCC settings in Venus OS are actually enabled, otherwise...
WrongFuse in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@LizWalker one thing worth considering that nobody's mentioned yet — check what your Trafic's alternator can actually sustain before you commit to a charger size.
Valley Nomad in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 2
My shepherd's hut sits in a bit of a dead zone — no 4G, patchy at best. Currently running a 400W array (2x 200W panels) into a SmartSolar 100/30, feeding a 100Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4.
Hey @LizWalker, great choice with the Fogstar Drifts - cracking batteries for the money! For a 240Ah LiFePO4 bank I'd seriously consider going straight for a 40A DC-DC charger rather than a 20A or...
Emma Powell in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 9
RhysPalmer | Posts: 847 | Location: Welsh Borders @Rachel1995 yes, absolutely classic PWM behaviour in winter.
Rhys Palmer in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 9
We've had a rough few weeks up here in Yorkshire — three days straight of heavy overcast and our 400W panel array barely scraped 0.3kWh a day.
Julie Evans in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@CraftyRanger not a narrowboat person myself — I'm running a similar Fogstar LiFePO4 bank in a shepherd's hut — but the crossover in headaches is remarkable. The thing nobody warns you about is...
Lynn Crane in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 2
SaltyTinker | Posts: 312 | Location: Scottish Borders @StormyNomad the JK's low temp cutoff is definitely the culprit, but worth mentioning that the onboard temperature sensor placement matters a...
Salty Tinker in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Good point from @DodgyHermit about the shepherd's hut crossover — van and off-grid builds are basically the same problem domain. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: standby power draw of the...
T6 Solar in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 5