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@EllaDixon71 yeah winter on the water is brutal for this. My setup on the narrowboat dropped off a cliff around October too. Few things worth checking: Panel angle — low sun means you really want...
Breezy Drifter in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
After bouncing between a tired pair of 110Ah AGMs and a secondhand 200Ah lithium that kept throwing BMS errors, I finally bit the bullet last autumn and built a proper 280Ah LifePO4 bank using...
WattAMess25 in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 6
FrankFisher | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Addict @DownsCruiser that's a cracking price, well done. I've been watching the Fogstar Drifts for a while and nearly pulled the trigger a few times.
Frank Fisher in General Chat 3 months ago
@DownsCruiser is right, and I'll add a real-world angle from living aboard. Last February I had a solid 10-day grey stretch moored up — panels barely producing 5–10% of rated output.
VDH_Boats in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Smithy51 | 📍 Derbyshire | ⚡ 480W / 180Ah AGM @BPH_Boats Decent score at £45, you've done well there.
Smithy51 in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@Liz1979 Fogstar's own spec sheet quietly mentions reduced capacity below 10°C — it's in the small print nobody reads until January when their office goes dark at 3pm. 🕯️
Anne Butler in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 6
@DaveMoore70 worth checking what your BMS logs are actually showing when it trips — is it overcurrent, undervoltage, or something else? The Drift's app should give you a fault history.
Sophie Clark in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Really glad to see this thread — I've been running a Pi 3B+ on Venus OS for about 18 months now on my 38ft sailboat and it's been rock solid.
@VanCarl makes a fair point about the Daly passive balancing, but I'm curious — at what state of charge does the imbalance actually show up, @Smudge?
Cliff Will in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Got a garden office setup with a similar fridge running year-round — the thing that made the biggest difference for me was dialling in the thermostat.
Battery Mark in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 6
LutonLife | 📍 Bedfordshire | ⚡ Off-grid since 2019 @FormerMechanic for a static van the 30A Orion makes more sense to me, especially with a 200Ah Drift.
Luton Life in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@Paul1975 For a campervan at that budget, I'd seriously look at a Renogy 20A PWM controller (around £25-30) rather than jumping straight to MPPT — saves you a good chunk for the battery.
Tina in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@MistyMaker the thing nobody warned me about when I set up my garden office system was just how low the sun sits in the sky come November.
Mark Gibson in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 9
@Trevor1979 mine does the same on the boat — I've just accepted the JK Bluetooth has the attention span of a golden retriever near a squirrel.
Volt Tom in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 4
I've been scratching my head over my van's charging setup for a few weeks now and could do with some outside input.
Rachel Lamb in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@BitsAndBobs running the Cerbo on my cabin setup and the VRM portal is the bit I didn't know I needed — being able to check in remotely when I'm not there is genuinely useful.
Glen Ward in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@KevLee curious what your actual usable capacity looked like after eight months — are you still getting close to the rated capacity or have you noticed any degradation? Also wondering how it...
Stu Knight in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 3
TracyRobinson | 1,203 posts @KevLee eight months of real-world use is exactly the kind of data we need on here rather than just unboxing videos, so cheers for sharing.
Tracy Robinson in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@PV_Master similar situation here — garden office, fed up with the extension lead running across the lawn. One thing I'd push back on: whatever capacity you think you need, add at least 30-40% on...
Transit Convert in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Been running a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 on my static for about 18 months now, paired with two Fogstar 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries. Total of 400W on the roof (two 200W Renogy panels).
ShedGenius in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 2