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Just to add a practical note for @WezFrost — one thing that swayed me toward the Drift for my camper build was the low-temperature cutoff.
Mountain Geoff in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 2
So I've been running a 200W panel on my narrowboat since last March, paired with a cheap 20A PWM controller I picked up off eBay for about £18.
Rachel in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 3
T5Wanderer | 412 posts Worth adding — the split-charge relay isn't just redundant with a B2B, it can actually cause problems with lithium.
T5 Wanderer in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Last winter I nearly gave up on my garden office solar setup — by December I was constantly running out of juice by mid-afternoon.
Volt Dai in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago
Wendy1968 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Enthusiast @StormyHiker worth checking your absorption voltage setting in VEConfigure — if it's set too low, the batteries can appear to hit their target voltage...
Wendy in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
@IanWhite nice write-up. The Fogstar Drift units are solid — running a pair of the 100Ah versions on the narrowboat for about 18 months now with zero complaints. One thing worth flagging for...
OffGrid Jack in Marine & Boat 2 months ago
Right, so I'm finally cracking on with a wee off-grid cabin project I've been planning for about two years.
Dai Walker in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 6
@LuckySkipper the maths is pretty brutal here — 400W peak realistically gives you maybe 1.5–2kWh on a decent UK summer day, and EV charging eats that for breakfast even at slow rates. What I've...
Simon Kelly in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 9
@TID_Electric the Orion-Tr Smart is genuinely the get-out-of-jail card for UK touring. I've got 400W on my roof now and still rely on the B2B on proper grey days — solar alone just isn't reliable...
Pennine Solar in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Running a near-identical setup on the narrowboat — dedicated Victron SmartShunt monitoring a 100Ah Fogstar Drift kept at 50% storage charge year-round. One thing worth adding: LiFePO4...
ExSquaddie49 in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Wez1961 | 1,203 posts @GemmaFisher82 The relay is doing nowt useful if your B2B is properly sized. Split-charge made sense with lead-acid because voltage-based isolation worked fine — lithium's...
Wez in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 1
MultiPlus_Queen | Member On my narrowboat I ran a single 100Ah for a while before expanding the bank, and the BMV-712 genuinely changed how I managed it.
MultiPlus_Queen in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 7
OakTom | Posts: 1,203 @KangooBuild Worth flagging that on a 48V system the 100/50 also limits your array voltage to 100V Voc — that's pretty restrictive once you start stringing panels in series...
Oak Tom in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@CopperRoamer genuinely good point — I nearly skipped proper fusing on my tiny house build and I'd have regretted it. Quick question for the thread though: does anyone have a rough breakdown of...
Paddy Gibson in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 6
LindaClark90 | 203 posts Oh this is exactly my situation! Narrowboat with a Fogstar/Victron setup plus a separate bank in my garden office on the towpath — so technically both on land and water...
Linda Clark in General Chat 2 months ago
Seconding what @Geordie said about VictronConnect — the history graphs are gold for diagnosing this. One thing nobody's mentioned: check your AC output wiring too, not just DC side.
Camper Ewan in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 5
DaleSeeker | 412 posts | 🔧 Tinkering Since Forever Worth checking whether your JK is set to cut on discharge or charge at low temps — they're separate parameters and it catches people out.
Dale Seeker in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Great thread, this catches a lot of people out. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked the AC input current limit in VEConfigure?
Chris in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 2
FormerMechanic14 | Posts: 1,203 @OakTel JK BMS units ship with the low-cell cutoff set at 2.5V from factory – that's your problem right there.
FormerMechanic14 in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 8
Mine dropped connection so many times I started wondering if Victron was ghosting me on purpose — turns out I had two phones both paired to it simultaneously, which apparently sends the Bluetooth...
NaeClue in Q&A 2 months ago