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BerlingoDream | 📍 East Midlands | ⚡ 2.8kW solar, AGM 400Ah @BayJason the key thing people overlook is when you actually need the charge.
Berlingo Dream in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Great write-up incoming by the sounds of it @GlenKelly — six months with a Dell monitor and what else in the load list? You cut off mid-sentence there!
T6 Life in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@Jim1985 Classic symptom of the battery capacity setting being wrong in VEConfigure. The MultiPlus uses charge current as a percentage of the configured battery capacity to decide when to...
SolarNotSure in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Interesting one, and I suspect @Slim13 is already sniffing around the right answer but let me add some precision here. The Orion-Tr Smart has a fairly well-documented behaviour where, once the...
Panel Louise in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 2
BenKing80 | 47 posts @TimGraham the PWM issue is a real pain with AGMs — the controller's voltage-based SOC estimation gets thrown off because PWM charging keeps the battery in a pseudo-absorption...
Ben King in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Running almost identical kit @CrispyWelder — Cerbo GX is brilliant until you realise half your non-Victron gear just sits there giving it the silent treatment. 🔇
Sam Frost in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Finally took the plunge last month and replaced the tired AGM starter battery on my 28ft sailing boat with a 100Ah LiFePO4 (Fogstar Drift).
Hazel Paddy in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
Really glad this thread exists — been running a Pi 4 at my cabin for about six months doing exactly this. One thing nobody's touched on yet: data visualisation.
OffGrid Jess in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Yep, been there. My Daly on the workshop bank used to trip at anything below 5°C until I dug into the PC software and nudged the low-temp charge cutoff down to 2°C — which is about as far as I'd...
Titch in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Looking at putting together a 200Ah 12V LiFePO4 bank for my boat. Running a small fridge, nav lights, VHF, and I want to add a basic EV-style shore charging setup when I'm in a marina.
Lazy Nomad in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
NeilAllen | 267 posts Good setup @DuctTapeDave62 — one thing I don't think's been mentioned yet is making sure your input cable runs to each unit are as equal in length as possible.
Neil Allen in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Lefty92 | 847 posts @VanDerek Nice setup with the Fogstars! The honest answer is: yes, but you need realistic expectations. I've been doing exactly this with a Zoe parked alongside the van.
Lefty92 in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Kelly1983 | 156 posts Similar setup here — went 100Ah Drift to test the waters before committing. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the low-temperature cutoff behaviour.
Kelly in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Nice to see this thread — been meaning to post about my own setup for ages. Running a Pi Zero 2W on the motorhome, pulling Victron data via VE.Direct straight into Node-RED.
Fell Lover in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Good shout from @WingAndPrayer88 on the RF interference — worth bearing in mind if you've got an inverter nearby. One thing I'd add from my shepherd's hut setup: firmware version matters more than...
Valley Tony in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Paul1975 | 847 posts @TransitConvert the Orion-Tr Smart is a solid choice for that application, but worth clarifying — are you planning to run a cable from your van when it's parked nearby, or is...
Paul in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 5
ShortCircuit56 | 134 posts Good shout from @WingAndPrayer88 on the RF interference front — worth investigating that.
ShortCircuit56 in Q&A 3 months ago
@Brummie86 on my narrowboat build I had cell drift creep in around the 6-month mark too — turned out my bus bars weren't torqued evenly and one connection had slightly higher resistance, causing...
OffGrid Jack in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Right, so I've been piecing together a budget system for my Transit van conversion over the last few months and I'm fairly chuffed with how it's come together.
Solar Mike in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Great points from everyone so far. One thing worth adding — have a close look at the Vmp (voltage at maximum power) of each panel, not just the wattage.
Ben Stewart in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3