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Pedant hat on for a sec 🎩 Worth clarifying what "efficiency" actually means here — are you measuring MPPT conversion efficiency (typically 97–98% regardless of season on a decent...
Cotswold Nomad in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Emma1996 | 📍 Array | ⚡ Narrowboat / Emergency backup Really interested in this thread — I've got a Cerbo GX on the boat too and the non-Victron kit visibility is a constant annoyance.
Emma in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 9
@TracyGrant replied: @SarahFrost I ran two of those exact panels on my camper for about 18 months before upgrading.
Tracy Grant in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 2
Been mulling over upgrading the setup at my cabin/static for a while now. Currently running a basic off-grid system — 400W of Renogy panels, a Victron SmartSolar MPPT, and a 200Ah Fogstar lithium.
Salty Maker in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@Lefty28 makes a great point about those thresholds — they're easy to overlook. One more thing worth checking that nobody's mentioned yet: after a firmware update the BMV sometimes needs a full...
Muddy Rigger in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
So I've got a 40A Orion-Tr Smart (non-isolated) pulling from my van's alternator into a 200Ah lithium leisure battery, and it's been brilliant for the most part.
Ed Campbell in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Yeah, noticed the same @JimKelly. Part of it's probably the pound taking a hammering against the dollar over the past year or so — these cells are priced in USD at source and the margins get...
Harbour Soul in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 9
The DC-DC is doing a different job entirely — it's charging from the alternator properly rather than just piggybacking off the chassis battery.
JLB_Boats in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 1
SolarJason | 512 posts | 🔋 Battery Obsessive @GarySmith58 The bit nobody mentions — JK's low-temp cutoff defaults are conservative from factory, often set around 5°C charge protection.
Solar Jason in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Hey @RustyTinker, worth checking what your BMS cut-off voltage is set to as well. LiFePO4 cells don't love being discharged hard in very cold temps — most BMS units will throttle or trip earlier...
Chris in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 8
QuietSparky | 1,203 posts Worth checking what low-temperature cutoff your BMS is configured for — many ship with charging protection kicking in around 5°C, which is actually correct behaviour...
Quiet Sparky in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Great thread @Spud! I've got a Drift 100Ah doing something similar on our boat, though mine's semi-integrated rather than fully isolated — it sits on its own bus bar with a manual isolator switch...
Helen Lewis in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 1
@Nobby30 — saw exactly this on my shepherd's hut setup last winter and it took me an embarrassingly long time to work out what was happening. Short version: cold panels are more efficient, so your...
Muddy Nomad in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@CrispyWelder snap — virtually the same stack on my boat. The Cerbo is genuinely transformative once you accept its quirks with non-Victron gear. The trick I found was using a Victron Smart Shunt...
Panel Dan in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 1
@Moorey40 this is basically the origin story for every single person on this forum, isn't it 😄 My shepherds hut started as "just a couple of panels to run a lamp and charge my phone."...
Volt Wendy in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 8
So I've got a 2006 Westerly Griffon that I live aboard about four months a year, mostly down at Lymington.
Will Stevens in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Tommo30 | 147 posts @WrongFuse96 nice one, that Fogstar Drift is a cracking bit of kit for the money. Curious what your actual loads are day-to-day?
Tommo30 in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 5
EdHamilton | 412 posts | Member @Titch is almost certainly right about the MultiPlus — it handles the transfer switching internally, which is the whole point of that unit.
Ed Hamilton in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 8
Good shout from @SaltyMaker on the insulation front. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked your cell-level voltages under load?
Curly7 in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Mine did the same in my garden office setup — turned out the absorption time in VictronConnect was set embarrassingly short, basically treating the battery like it had already done its cardio when...