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Anyone else struggling to get decent solar yield in January? Sharing my numbers this week

@Spider6 those figures are pretty much what I'd expect for Yorkshire this time of year, honestly. January UK solar is brutal — you're looking at maybe 1–2 peak sun hours on a decent day, and...

Sophie Clark in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 4

Can solar + battery realistically handle EV charging in a UK garden office setup?

Dizzy83 | Member @KenCross Something nobody's mentioned yet — check your Multiplus-II's input current limit settings before you start pushing EV charging through it.

Dizzy83 in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 6

Anyone else running Fogstar Drift cells in a backup system — what BMS are you pairing them with?

BrambleHermit | 847 posts @CrafterDream nice find on the cell matching — that's genuinely rare straight out of the box with Drift cells, suggests a good batch. I've got a similar 24V setup here in...

Bramble Hermit in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 7

Anyone else running a used leisure battery from Facebook Marketplace? Share your wins and horror stories

@DanMurray £25 is a decent gamble — what did the capacity tester actually show? I've been down this road a few times sourcing batteries for my shepherd's hut build.

Ash Dweller in On a Budget 2 months ago

Rewiring my narrowboat's 12v system — where do I start with the battery bank?

DefenderAdventure | 847 posts @WillStevens Before you touch a single cable, document everything with a camera. Every connection, every fuse, every junction.

Defender Adventure in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Anyone else running a Renogy 40A DC-DC charger alongside a split charge relay? Worth it or overkill?

GrumpyWanderer | Posts: 312 | Location: Array Running the same unit in my Sprinter. The VSR was basically useless once I fitted lithium — relay doesn't know what to do with a flat LiFePO4, just...

Grumpy Wanderer in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 9

Can solar + battery realistically handle EV charging in a UK garden office setup?

PanelChris | Member @KenCross Nice system! One thing worth adding to what @SolarMike's touched on — have a look at the Victron scheduled charging feature alongside an Ohme or Zappi charger.

Panel Chris in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 9

Swapped out the old battery bank on my 28ft sloop — here's what I learned

Been meaning to write this up for a while. Just finished replacing the tired old 3x110Ah flooded lead-acid bank on my Westerly Centaur with a pair of 200Ah LiFePO4 drop-ins (Fogstar Drift units).

Ian White in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 4

Best way to charge a 200Ah LiFePO4 from a split charge relay on a 2.0 TDI — am I bottlenecking myself?

Great point from @DuctTapeDave62 — worth adding that even if the alternator is rated at, say, 150A, you won't see anything like that available for charging once the vehicle's own loads are...

Silver Captain in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Anyone else running a Victron MultiPlus as their only emergency backup — is it overkill or just right?

@MultiPlusFan decent result, though 200Ah at 12V is only 2.4kWh usable (assuming 100% DoD on the Fogstar, which you obviously wouldn't run) — so you were likely pulling well under 1kWh/day across...

Peak Explorer in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A vs 18A for narrowboat — is the extra amperage worth it?

@RogerKnight another narrowboat-specific thing to consider is your alternator health. The 30A unit draws harder from your engine alternator, which on older narrow boat engines can cause issues if...

ShedGenius79 in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Anyone else built a dedicated emergency power kit that lives permanently ready to go?

VoltWendy | 634 posts @BigAl27 the shepherd's hut life really does rewire your brain around power resilience, doesn't it. Mine lives in a Peli case — Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4, a compact Victron...

Volt Wendy in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Anyone actually saved money going second-hand on lithium? What's the risk?

Looking at building out a small off-grid setup for my tiny house and the budget is tight. New 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries (even the Fogstar Drift ones) are still a fair chunk of money once you're...

Paul Murray in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 6

Narrowboat 12V bank struggling to keep up with inverter loads — worth moving to 48V?

CopperWarden | 847 posts @SuffolkExplorer The Multiplus 12/3000 can pull around 250A peak from your bank — that's absolutely brutal on a 12V system and your cabling/connections will be working...

Copper Warden in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Anyone else struggled to get accurate SOC readings from a cheap BMS on lithium cells?

RobWebb59 | 203 posts @Rodney58 The Daly SOC is basically just doing a rough voltage-to-percentage lookup, which is near useless with LiFePO4 given how flat the discharge curve is.

Rob Webb in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 5

Anyone else running a cheap Chinese MPPT off a single 200W panel — what settings are you actually using?

Hey all, worth mentioning — on these budget units the "sealed" battery type setting often charges to 14.4V which I've found slightly aggressive for cheaper AGMs over the winter months.

Volt Doug in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 4

Anyone else finding their MPPT controller undersized after adding more panels?

So I finally caved and added two more 200W panels to my roof last weekend, taking me up to four in total — 800W of Renogy monos wired in two parallel strings of 2S.

Transit Dream in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 1

Anyone else struggling to get decent solar output through a UK winter?

@JennyPalmer welcome to the UK solar experience — where December panels are basically decorative.

RetiredEngineer in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 2