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@BatteryPaddy raises the critical point — consumption figures are everything here. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: panel angle makes an enormous difference in winter.
PN_Camper in Garden Offices 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Had mine set up on the static for about eight months now and it's been a revelation, honestly. Before the Cerbo I was basically flying blind — just checking voltage with a cheap multimeter and...
OhmsLaw in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 2
My garden office Victron setup has completely ruined my productivity — I'm supposed to be working in there, not watching SOC graphs drop 0.3% in real time like it's the world's most boring Netflix...
@FormerTeacher61 What are your actual loads during an outage? That's where I'd start before sizing anything. For my garden office backup I made the mistake of sizing the inverter around peak surge...
Norfolk Explorer in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@Jock30 one thing I'd add to what @RetiredElectrician74 and @IslandExplorer have mentioned — don't overlook the thermal bridging through your actual studs themselves.
Devon Cruiser in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Running a 400Ah Fogstar Drift lithium bank on the boat with a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 and 400W of panels (2 x 200W Renogy in series).
Anglia OffGrid in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Finally pulled the trigger on a little stone outbuilding on my mate's farm near Hawes. No mains, no chance of getting mains, and the DNO quote was frankly laughable.
Yorkshire Explorer in Off-Grid Cabins 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Just finished rewiring my Transit van conversion and I've gone with a Renogy 40A DC-DC (DCC50S) alongside a 200W roof panel feeding into a 200Ah lithium (a Fogstar Drift, if anyone's curious).
ShedGenius79 in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Brummie92 | Posts: 312 @KangooBuild cracking setup mate! Worth knowing the 100/50 caps you at 2,400W input on a 48V system, so depending on your panel array you could well be bottlenecked.
Brummie92 in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Ran into this exact rabbit hole last winter trying to get Agile prices feeding into my garden office charge logic — ended up just chucking a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W next to the Cerbo and letting that...
MrBodge73 in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Seen this exact thing on my shepherd's hut setup. Nine times out of ten it's the Bluetooth dropping rather than anything wrong with the MPPT itself. Few things worth trying: Force close...
Ben in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 8
PYW_VanLife | 847 posts @OllieGraham91 Done exactly this in a van context so the solar side is pretty transferable. Honest answer: December and January will humble you.
PYW_VanLife in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 3
DodgyGrafter | 847 posts @SimonPalmer Worth checking whether what you're seeing is actually underreporting or genuine lower output from a different cause.
Dodgy Grafter in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 3
So I've been messing about with a setup in my garage for the past few weeks. Got a 110Ah AGM leisure battery off eBay for £65, wired it up to a 400W pure sine inverter I already had knocking...
Brummie88 in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@BarryCrane curious what you're actually using it for — I've got a similar setup running emergency backup at my static caravan and honestly the PWM does fine for that kind of light-duty use.
Boxer Adventure in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Good points all round, but one thing nobody's explicitly flagged yet — the RS 450/100 uses VE.Can, not VE.Direct.
Roger Knight in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@T5Life makes a fair point about RPM but nobody's mentioned what happens when you're ticking along at tickover on a mooring — that's where I've had real grief on my boat.
Dodgy Mechanic in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 8
Bit of an odd one, but bear with me. I've got a 200Ah lithium setup on my narrowboat (Fogstar Drift cells, Victron SmartShunt) that I'm fairly happy with, and I'm wondering whether it makes any...
Ash Seeker in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@MidlandsCamper the used panel angle is interesting though — we do have a decent second-hand solar market here if you know where to look.
Taffy62 in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@Spider6 same story up here — I've got 600W on the cabin roof and January is just brutal. What's your panel angle?
Inverter_Pro in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 9