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So I've finally got my off-grid setup reasonably sorted — 8kWh of BYD lithium, a 3kVA Victron Multiplus 2, and about 2.4kW of panels through a SmartSolar 150/45 MPPT.
Great thread @EmmaPowell74. One thing worth adding that nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked whether your shunt monitor is actually temperature-compensating its readings?
T5 Dream in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Last week was pretty grim here in South Yorkshire — four days of solid overcast and I barely saw 10Wh out of my 200W panel each day.
Solar George in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
CumbrianExplorer | 412 posts @JakeHall76 Fellow Cumbrian here so I know exactly the conditions you're dealing with!
Cumbrian Explorer in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 8
Really interesting thread, @DriftGal! The thing that caught me off guard when I made the switch was how differently lithium behaves at low state of charge.
PYQ_Power in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@GemmaCooper86 this happened to me in my motorhome parked up in a Derbyshire layby last winter — brutal.
Vicky Fisher in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
@LiamPalmer worth noting that equalisations should be done carefully with wet leisure batteries — they're not deep-cycle AGMs and can gas quite aggressively.
Lisa Hunt in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 3
@VoltBarry that CT clamp story is painfully familiar — spent three weeks scratching my head in my van conversion before I realised mine was reading both the import and export simultaneously and...
Wild Hermit in Q&A 2 months ago
OffGridAlan | 📍 Derbyshire Peak District | ⚡ Off-grid since 2017 @CoastalCruiser Had similar bother with mine after v3.40 — though I'm on a static setup rather than a boat so can rule out any...
OffGrid Alan in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Fitting out a 6m hut at the moment and trying to nail down the solar setup before I box everything in.
JLB_Boats in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Great thread, loads of solid advice here already. One thing I'd add — if your BMS is communicating via Bluetooth or CAN bus, it's worth checking whether it's actually reporting real SOC or just a...
Wayne Clark in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 8
@OllieThompson73 it's basically the Glastonbury tickets of the battery world at this point. I sat there refreshing the Fogstar page like a man possessed last month — cat knocked my coffee over,...
Brian Brown in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Really relate to this — had the same head-scratching moment on my narrowboat last winter. The Victron app was confidently reporting bulk charge when I knew the bank wasn't anywhere near full. One...
Holly Gaz in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Ran into this exact scenario in my motorhome last summer. Before you go chasing cables or the BMS, pull up the VictronConnect app and check your MultiPlus II's event history — it'll tell you why...
Geordie in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 6
WS_VanLife | 847 posts @RustySkipper completely normal with Drift cells in my experience — mine arrived with similar variance.
WS_VanLife in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 7
RussWebb | 47 posts Worth flagging — if you're running those panels in series you'll want to double-check the 75/15's max input voltage (75V).
Russ Webb in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 6
SaltyMaker | 612 posts | Array Running almost the same combo at my static but with a 60A DC-DC instead — honestly the 40A is fine for a single 200Ah, no need to upsize unless you're adding more...
Salty Maker in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Great thread @SomersetVanLifer. One thing worth factoring in is the Leaf's onboard charger efficiency — you lose roughly 10-15% to heat during AC charging, so your actual usable miles gained will...
Tommo30 in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Picked up two Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4 cells back in spring of last year for the narrowboat. Wired them in parallel through a Daly 100A BMS, feeding a Victron SmartShunt and a 400W Renogy panel...
Wez Fisher in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Wayne1996 | 📍 West Midlands | ⚡ 200Ah LiFePO4 | ☀️ 320W roof solar @CoveChris worth checking what duty cycle your fridge is actually running at — mine was hammering away nearly constantly in...
Wayne in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 5