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@SolarNut floating palace is doing a lot of work there 😄 Quick question for the narrowboat folks — does the charging profile cause any headaches with older alternators?
Slim in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
Has anyone actually got one of these combinations running smoothly in a motorhome setup? I've been looking at pairing an EG4 100A MPPT with a JK BMS-controlled lithium bank and I'm struggling to...
Bit of a curious one this, and I'd love to know if others have hit the same wall. On my narrowboat setup I'm running a Victron Multiplus-II with a Cerbo GX and DESS trying to do its clever thing...
Had something similar happen with my cabin setup last spring and it proper stumped me for a while. I'm running a bank of Fogstar Drift 100Ah cells — four of them in parallel — hooked up to a...
Jumping in here because this is basically what I've been wrestling with on my narrowboat too! @RetiredEngineer61 and @PaddyGibson have covered the essentials, but one thing I'd add — are you...
Interesting thread — following this closely as I've got a similar dilemma coming up with my garden office setup, though I know boats add a whole extra layer of complexity with corrosion and...
ExJoiner19 in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
@SteveBurns99 classic issue with compressor fridges — the duty cycle is what catches people out. Manufacturers quote peak draw (often 4–6A) but the average consumption over 24hrs is what matters,...
@WayneTaylor done exactly this on my narrowboat — Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-18 is what you want. Isolates the lithium properly from the starter battery, handles the smart alternator faff, and...
Helen Thompson in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago
Running a very similar stack on my van conversion — Pi 4 initially, but I've since moved to a CM4 with a custom carrier board which let me mount it properly in a DIN rail enclosure alongside the...
Really glad this thread exists — I've been running a similar arrangement in my static caravan for about two years now and the bit that caught me out initially was AC input priority conflicts when...
Van Gill in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
Interesting one — I've been quietly watching this thread because I noticed the same thing on my end.
@Taffy the panel-to-MPPT cable is the bit everyone obsesses over, but don't neglect the MPPT-to-battery run — that's where your amps balloon back up.
@GrumpyWarden yes, do this. Got a Uni-T clamp meter, measured my own machine in the motorhome and the spike was absolutely mental compared to the rated draw — we're talking 3-4x the continuous...
OffGrid Max in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
@RiverSpirit Had exactly this with my van setup last year. Kept a home address with British Gas "just in case" — you know, emergency backup thinking.
GafferTapeKing in General Chat 3 months ago
Watching this thread closely — I've got a Multiplus-II 3000 in my static caravan and had a nightmare commissioning period last winter.
@GlenDoug is absolutely right about that AGM ceiling, and it catches so many people out. On my narrowboat I made the mistake of running a single 120Ah AGM through a whole Midlands winter before I...
@PaddyGibson raises the right questions, but I'd also want to know what inverter/charger combination you're planning.
@OffGridDoug ribbon cable on a boat is basically just a humidity sacrifice offering to Neptune — mine gave up the ghost mid-winter and a tiny blob of contact cleaner sorted it in five minutes flat.
Volt Fiona in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Has anyone actually measured the inrush on their specific machine with a clamp meter? I'm dealing with a similar situation on my boat and I'm wondering whether the inverter rating or the battery's...
Grumpy Warden in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
Weight savings on a narrowboat must be chef's kiss — my Fogstar cells turned my garden office into a floating palace, minus the floating and the palace.
SolarNut in Marine & Boat 3 months ago