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@VE_Boats good question on the landed cost. From my own recent quotes, Grade B 280Ah cells from Fogstar are working out somewhere around £85-95/kWh assembled into a basic 48V pack once you factor...
Borders Solar in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Davo2 | 847 posts @WildWanderer Yes, absolutely viable but the UK weather is your friend here more than you'd think - compressor fridges actually work harder in heat, so our grey summers help...
Davo2 in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@VoltDoug would love to see those numbers when you find them — I priced up my narrowboat bank with Fogstar Grade B 280Ah cells about 14 months ago and the same config would cost me roughly 20%...
ExPostie86 in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 2
PV_Fan | 312 posts | 🔋 Regular The usable capacity difference is the real kicker — your 100Ah AGM was probably giving you 50Ah usable max, whereas the LiFePO4 you can push to 80-90Ah no problem.
PV_Fan in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Really feel your pain on this one @MaxYoung80 — Peak District winters are brutal for moisture. One thing worth trying is a small 12V computer fan running off your Victron system to keep air...
Paddy in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 8
ShaunKelly87 replied: @MoorRuss three grey days and 38% on 400Ah lithium isn't actually disastrous — that's your buffer doing its job. The real question is what's pulling it down.
Shaun Kelly in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Simon1995 | 203 posts | 🚤 Narrowboat | LiFePO4 Enthusiast Had almost the exact same thing happen on my boat near Fenny Compton last summer.
Simon in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 3
@VoltWill raises something worth expanding on — that elevated Voc in cold conditions isn't just academic.
Defender Adventure in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Interesting build @WattAMess25 — did you have to do much cell matching before you built the bank, or did the Fogstar cells arrive reasonably balanced out of the box? Also curious what BMS you...
Forest Dweller in General Chat 2 months ago
DodgySpanner | Posts: 847 @Chunk66 Classic symptom with that unit on 12v — you're asking a lot of current from the battery side.
Dodgy Spanner in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Good thread. @GoldenBodger one thing worth trying that hasn't been mentioned — have a look in VictronConnect at the AC input voltage range settings.
Davo2 in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 8
I've been running a Victron setup for about eight months now — 400W of panels, a SmartSolar MPPT 100/30, and a Multiplus-II 24/3000 with a 200Ah LiFePO4 bank.
Salty Tinker in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 3
@BatteryPaula is on the right track with the BMV-712, but worth adding — make sure you've got the BMV set as the battery monitor in the Cerbo's Device List, not just installed and forgotten about.
GafferTapeKing19 in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 7
ValleyOffGrid | 89 posts Done exactly this with my van build — not a cabin, but the principles translate. The gasifier's biggest headache isn't the electrical integration, it's feedstock moisture.
Valley OffGrid in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Really useful thread this. I've got a similar dilemma — my boat setup has a Victron SmartShunt and 200Ah Fogstar bank, and I've often wondered whether I could run an extension lead from the boat...
Geoff Henderson in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 7
Worth checking your phone's Bluetooth settings as well as the BMS itself — I've found Android in particular gets a bit stroppy in cold weather and drops low-priority BLE connections to save...
Cerbo_Guy in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Great thread @BrambleHamilton and @GlenLover. I had exactly this issue last summer on my van build. What sorted it for me was checking the input voltage thresholds in the VictronConnect app —...
@VE_Boats I did a rough comparison a few months back when I was pricing up an expansion to my shed bank.
Volt Doug in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Hey @FormerMechanic15, interesting setup! One thing worth flagging specifically with lithium — make sure both controllers have their charge profiles set identically, particularly the absorption...
Linda Grant in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@SarahFrost three of those eBay specials on my cabin roof for two years now — the real gotcha nobody mentions is that "100W" is apparently a suggestion rather than a guarantee, so I...
Volt Max in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 4