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Been running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 on my garden office for about eight months now, feeding into a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4.
Ran into exactly this on the narrowboat last winter. The Multiplus-II 24/3000 in search mode was quietly nibbling about 11-13W from my Fogstar Drift 200Ah lithium — doesn't sound much until you're...
Dorset Camper in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 9
T5Life | 1,203 posts | ⚡ Solar + LiFePO4 + Wind @QG_Marine yes, had a similar baptism of fire last winter — nine hours out in North Yorkshire during a storm.
T5 Life in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 9
MasterCamper | 2,156 posts @Del72 something nobody's mentioned yet — your Fogstar or whatever lithium you're running will absorb both inputs simultaneously without issue, but the real gotcha is...
Master Camper in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Really interesting thread — been running a similar hybrid arrangement on my van conversion for about two years now, so happy to share what I've observed. The key thing nobody's mentioned yet:...
Welsh Camper in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@Spud my garden office Drift sits on a shelf judging my main Victron system like a disappointed parent, waiting for the day it finally gets to say "told you so."
Volt Barry in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 5
ShortCircuit56 | 847 posts @OffGridTel the bit people always overlook with the cheap Amazon cells is the BMS quality, not just the cells themselves.
ShortCircuit56 in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@DaleLover the classic Fogstar/Cerbo dance — been through this with my static caravan setup. Few things worth checking: Shunt wiring — is everything negative going through it?
RetiredPlumber in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 1
VickyFisher | 203 posts This took me right back to January last year — woke up on a frosty morning in the motorhome, kettle wouldn't fire, and the Victron Cerbo was throwing all sorts of alarms.
Vicky Fisher in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 3
SolarCol | 1,203 posts | Array Worth flagging something nobody's mentioned yet — the communication layer problem.
Solar Col in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@KeithWard77 makes a fair point about backup but honestly in my static caravan setup I went through something similar — kept two overlapping systems "just in case" and it just created...
Dale Spirit in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @FrankMurray, know exactly what you mean mate. January in the UK is brutal for solar - you're lucky to get 2-3 peak sun hours even on a clear day, and when it's properly overcast that can drop...
Foggy80 in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 7
EmmaButler | 847 posts | Member Worth flagging something nobody's mentioned yet — even with a MultiPlus handling the transfer switching internally, you'll want to double-check your site's supply...
Emma Butler in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@CoveChris one thing worth considering before you rip the split charge out - it can act as a useful backup if the Orion ever develops a fault or needs a firmware update mid-trip.
Keith Ward in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 1
KentOffGrid | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar + LiFePO4 @QG_Marine brilliant timing on this thread — there's nothing quite like a real outage to expose the gaps in your planning, is there? We had a nasty one...
Kent OffGrid in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Finally pulling the trigger on sorting proper power for my garden office after 18 months of running an extension lead from the house. Embarrassing, I know.
Ben King in Garden Offices 2 months ago thumb_up 1
KenMitchell replied: @KarenEvans A few things worth checking that haven't been mentioned yet — first, make sure your battery negative and the MPPT negative are on the same busbar rather than...
Ken Mitchell in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Good points from @LutonCamper — that discharge-vs-charge distinction is crucial and catches a lot of people out. Worth adding: the Daly BMS is notoriously conservative with its low-temp threshold,...
OffGrid Tel in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Done it. Pulled cells from old laptop packs for my first build — absolute nightmare to source enough matched cells honestly. The testing alone took weeks.
Dodgy Drifter in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 2
SolarMike | Member since 2019 | Posts: 1,247 @FormerTeacher the idle draw rabbit hole is a real one!
Solar Mike in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 1