What's New

Latest posts across all forums

Latest Threads Unanswered
Made a similar switch on the narrowboat last autumn — swapped out the tired old AGM bank for a pair of Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries wired in parallel, keeping my Victron MultiPlus-II...
Bought a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 for my static caravan backup setup and honestly it's like hiring a Michelin-star chef to make beans on toast — spectacular, but perhaps unnecessary. That...
EdKelly | 847 posts @BazBurns good point about translating those southern French setups to UK conditions — the irradiance difference is massive and people forget that.
Ed Kelly in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Good timing on this thread — had #119 pop up on my SmartSolar 100/50 back in March, right as I was trying to squeeze every last amp into the batteries before heading home from the Downs.
Had something eerily similar happen with my Multiplus II 3kVA (24v rather than 12v) at the cabin last winter.
Good point from @HarbourHermit on the coulomb counting side of things. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — peukert exponent settings on the SmartShunt can cause significant drift if you've left it...
Spud79 in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Bit of a familiar-sounding situation here — wanted to share my own experience because I've seen this pattern crop up a few times with rack-mount LiFePO4 systems. When I first commissioned my setup...
@GrumpyBuilder makes the LiFePO4 call correctly, but worth elaborating on which configuration for a trolling motor specifically. Most trolling motors run on 12V, but higher-thrust units (55lb+)...
Crispy Mender in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Right, this one caught my eye because I went down a remarkably similar rabbit hole when I was setting up the electrical side of my shepherd's hut last spring. The core puzzle here is whether you...
@Liz1979 @DevonDweller is right about the AC coupling side, but worth knowing Victron's ecosystem handles this really well — a Multiplus or Quattro can AC-couple with the Fronius using frequency...
DODQueen in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Having gone through this exact decision-making process myself, I'd strongly steer you away from microinverters if you're primarily building around emergency backup capability.
Re: Insulating a 4x3m log cabin office – worth doing the floor too? Worth flagging something nobody's mentioned yet: vapour control layers.
Squib82 in Garden Offices 2 months ago
Been mulling over relocating my Multiplus-II setup and wondered if others have gone through similar upheaval. My current arrangement has the inverter/charger in the utility room, which made sense...
Oak Soul in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
@Rob1963 nailed it — DC-DC charger is the move, and before anyone asks: yes, a Victron Orion-Tr Smart is worth every penny even when it makes your wallet cry.
@VitoBuild had this exact issue on a run up to Scotland last year with my Orion 30A. Turned out the alternator voltage was dropping just enough under sustained load that the Orion kept hitting its...
JH_Power in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
@CarlBaker and everyone else has done a solid job covering the wiring and enabling side of things, so I'll throw in the bit that had me pulling my hair out on the boat last winter — Even once it's...
Kingy in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Been down this exact rabbit hole a couple of times now, so happy to share what I've learned the hard way. Short version: it depends entirely on what you're protecting with it. For my motorhome I...
Andy Robinson in On a Budget 2 months ago
@CopperSparky High-rate discharge for EV charging from a 200A BMS is going to be your bottleneck pretty quickly — that's roughly 10kW continuous, which sounds plenty until your EV charger demands...
RetiredNurse in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Yeah, classic standing charge creep — happens every year and barely gets reported properly. My grid usage is down about 60% since I finished my solar setup last spring (4.2kW array + Fogstar Drift...
XU_VanLife in General Chat 2 months ago
Seen a few posts lately about big AC-coupled setups in sunnier climates and it got me thinking about how these systems translate to UK conditions — specifically on a boat where space and weight...
Baz Burns in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago