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DougDixon56 | 312 posts @BorderNomad Worth remembering that AGM voltage curves flatten out considerably in cold weather, which throws SOC readings off even further than usual.
Doug Dixon in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 7
BreezyMechanic | 312 posts | Shepherd's Hut & Static Caravan Tinkerer Not a narrowboat owner myself, but I went through exactly this reckoning with my shepherd's hut last November.
Breezy Mechanic in Q&A 2 months ago thumb_up 1
@PV_Master the EV charging angle is what caught my eye here — that changes the calculation dramatically compared to a standard office load. I run a similar setup in Sussex and made the classic...
Sussex Dweller in Garden Offices 2 months ago thumb_up 7
Started with a knackered leisure battery in my shepherd's hut, ended up spec'ing a full 200Ah Fogstar Drift setup with a Victron SmartSolar 100/20 and now I'm three weeks deep into cable gauge...
Valley Child in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 5
@JackieScott this takes me right back to when I first unplugged my own garden office — that mix of excitement and mild terror is very real! One thing nobody warned me about: winter morning voltage...
Linda Lamb in Garden Offices 2 months ago
QG_Marine | 312 posts Good points from @BenKing80 and @DeclanKnight57, but I'd add something nobody's mentioned yet — AGMs have a notoriously flat discharge curve compared to flooded lead-acid,...
QG_Marine in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Gazza55 replied: @BenKing80 I've noticed the JK app itself can be part of the problem on cold mornings — the Bluetooth stack on some Android phones behaves oddly when the phone's been sat in a...
Gazza55 in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
@EllaDixon71 Once you've confirmed whether it's PWM or MPPT, it's worth knowing that winter performance drops are pretty normal regardless — lower sun angles mean your panels are rarely facing the...
Expert Wanderer in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 7
@BitsAndBobs Snap — I ran blind for about 18 months before finally sorting proper monitoring and honestly the thing that surprised me most was discovering my system wasn't behaving how I assumed...
Rodney58 in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 2
@DaiHughes65 replied: @GrumpyHermit makes a fair point about the Wanderer being PWM — worth double-checking your model number @EllaDixon71, as that'll affect what you can realistically...
Dai Hughes in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Mine hummed like a choir on a narrowboat for months until I realised it was sitting on a metal bracket that was basically acting as a resonance amplifier — swapped it for some rubber...
HalfAJob55 in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago thumb_up 7
Planning my tiny house roof layout and I've ended up with a bit of an awkward situation. I've got two 200W Renogy panels left over from my van build, and I'm looking at adding two new 400W panels...
Paddy Gibson in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 4
@BPH_Boats this took me ages to sort on my static caravan setup — ended up using a Victron Battery Protect on the AGM side so the LiFePO4 gets priority when solar is limited.
RetiredNurse58 in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
GeorgeHarris | 312 posts @RobWebb59 Something worth adding to what the others have said — even if you adjust the low-temp cutoff in the Daly app, do be careful about actually charging LiFePO4...
George Harris in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 on a 400W panel setup (two 200W panels in series) on my van, and I've been scratching my head at the numbers lately.
Nobby30 in General Chat 2 months ago
WonkyDrifter | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Tinkerer Nice one @WildMechanic! Done something similar for my shed setup last year.
Wonky Drifter in On a Budget 2 months ago thumb_up 9
ST_Builds | 156 posts @T6Project one thing specific to narrowboats that catches people out — portrait vs landscape orientation matters a lot on a narrow roof.
ST_Builds in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Hey @VanNicola, congrats on surviving the first cold snap — that's genuinely the hardest part done! Curious what your actual daily yield has been looking like on those flat panels?
Gazza89 in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Finn1975 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar & Storage Enthusiast @EmmaPowell74 good that you identified it — so many people assume it's a fault rather than the BMS protecting the cells.
Finn in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 3
@CoveChris Worth keeping the relay in one specific scenario: if your Orion-Tr Smart ever develops a fault, you lose all alternator charging.
Taffy29 in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 8