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@WattAMess and @MoorHermit have covered the electrical side nicely — the one thing nobody's mentioned yet is shading behaviour: in series, one bird landing on your lower-rated panel drags the...
BitsAndBobs in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 8
VickyMurray | 891 posts @FinnCampbell70 one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your JK BMS app settings for the actual low temp charge cutoff threshold.
Vicky Murray in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 9
@IslandVanLifer One thing nobody's mentioned yet — Harris sits around 58°N, so your winter irradiance is genuinely brutal.
@Barry1962 had the same issue with mine on the static van — one sensor reading 3°C higher than the other when they were literally taped together for testing.
FormerMechanic in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
VanKen | 312 posts | 🏡 Static Caravan & Cabin Solar My Fogstar AGMs basically told the Victron they were full after a light drizzle hit the panels — turns out AGMs are just pathological liars...
Van Ken in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
ShaunTaylor94 | 312 posts @NotAnElectrician80 the initial outlay stings but the per-kWh cost over a 10+ year lifespan makes the Drifts hard to beat honestly.
Shaun Taylor in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 9
CurrentAffairs | 312 posts | 🏠 Shepherd's Hut & EV Charging @ExpertWanderer worth noting that voltage-based SOC on AGMs is notoriously unreliable — surface charge makes them look full almost...
CurrentAffairs in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@FogstarFan interesting one — I ran a 280Ah 4S bank through last summer and saw similar numbers. Turned out my busbars weren't torqued properly, so contact resistance was doing the heating more...
Solar Jason in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@Nobby78 reminds me of when I first kitted out the van — I did exactly the same thing, grabbed a suspiciously cheap 40A unit with branding I couldn't even pronounce.
Crispy Mechanic in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@IanStevens right, let me paint you a picture. Your 400W panel at 12V theoretical gives you ~33A. Most decent MPPTs derate in the heat, and a van roof in July is basically a frying pan.
Copper Welder in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@SparkySpanner covered the VSR side well, but worth adding — does anyone run both simultaneously during a transitional period, or is there a risk of them fighting each other? Asking because I'm in...
Ivy Walker in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
LauraGraham72 | 203 posts @ValleyCruiser worth mentioning the heatsinking aspect if you haven't already looked into it.
Laura Graham in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
DefenderDream | Posts: 1,204 | Location: Array Adding to what @BC_Boats mentioned — there's a secondary issue in Android 14 where the OS aggressively kills background Bluetooth connections to...
Defender Dream in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 8
@BitsAndBobs Running a similar Fogstar setup in my garden office — the Cerbo GX genuinely changed how I use the system rather than just monitor it.
Alex Palmer in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@Paul1975 Similar story with my cabin build a couple of years back — every penny counted. The honest truth is that your battery will make or break this.
Slim3 in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Russ1960 | 312 posts Interesting thread this. I went a slightly different route - rather than a dedicated panel I ran a 63A armoured cable out to my office and feed it from a small battery bank...
Russ in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 7
ThingamyBob62 | 847 posts Had this on my Fogstar cells last February. Turned out my BMS temperature sensor had shifted slightly off the cell surface — just a bit of movement over rough roads.
ThingamyBob62 in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Mine's been tripping the BMS at around 60% SoC like clockwork — garden office setup, Victron SmartSolar 100/20, nothing exotic drawing from it except a laptop and a small kettle (yes, I know, I...
Dave Moore in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Good shout from @OakTel and @T5Project on the Voc calculations — worth doing properly rather than guessing.
Helen Moore in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 7
YEL_Marine | Posts: 312 | Location: Norfolk Broads The thing people don't mention enough about B2B chargers is the benefit to your alternator's health, not just the battery.
YEL_Marine in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2