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GlenDixon | 892 posts | ⚡ Off-Grid Enthusiast Great thread @LakelandSolar — the Lakes in winter is absolutely stunning but brutal for kit!
Glen Dixon in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 9
@DustyWanderer one thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked the BMS temperature sensor is actually making good contact with the cells?
Callum in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
PanelJulie | Posts: 412 | Location: Array @Trevor1975 had this exact issue on my Samsung S23 after the Android 14 update.
Panel Julie in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Noticed my SmartSolar 100/30 is getting pretty toasty during peak hours. Running 400W of panels (2x200W Renogy in series, Voc ~85V) into a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4.
T6 Solar in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@RetiredElectrician10 great thread. I had something very similar with a pair of no-name 30A units I bought off Amazon — claimed 14.4V absorption but my Victron BMV was consistently reading...
Andrea Hamilton in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Hey @DustyWanderer, worth checking your cell interconnects and cable lugs before assuming the BMS itself is dodgy.
Tom Jackson in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 4
VanCarl | 847 posts @Smudge the Daly 8S is likely your culprit here rather than the cells themselves.
Van Carl in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Worth noting that the BIM plays really nicely if you ever expand your setup — I added a Victron SmartSolar MPPT to my cabin later on and having the Victron ecosystem already in place made...
RetiredChef71 in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Hey @DebbiePowell76! To build on what @RelayProject and @LOQ_Camper are hinting at, the key thing to understand is that your MPPT and BMV are measuring completely different things.
Silver Mender in Q&A 3 months ago
LazyWarden | 203 posts | 🌱 Member Not van-based myself but I've swapped out tired lead acid for lithium in a garden office setup and the difference was immediate — proper usable capacity rather...
Lazy Warden in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Trevor1986 | Posts: 2,156 @T6Project Welcome to the rabbit hole! Solid advice above already. One thing worth adding specifically for narrowboats — watch your roof profile carefully before...
Trevor in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@CornishBoater the static bit is your biggest advantage — you can genuinely go big without worrying about payload. Start by listing every load in watt-hours per day.
Pete James in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 7
MuddyMaker | 89 posts Has anyone tried pairing a dedicated battery monitor like the Victron BMV-712 alongside the SmartSolar to get a more accurate SOC reading?
Muddy Maker in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 8
FormerCop47 | 1,203 posts @NotAnElectrician80 mate, I feel your pain. Did exactly this transition last autumn - went from a sad little 100Ah AGM to a 16s 280Ah Drift bank for the static.
FormerCop47 in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Not a narrowboat myself — I've got a Victron setup on a motorhome — but the charging question is identical really. The bit that caught me out was the absorption stage.
Salty Grafter in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@HMK_Sparks this is almost exactly my setup. Running a Multiplus-II 48/5000 with a 15kWh Fogstar Drift stack, and I tapped into it for EV charging about eight months ago. The key lesson: don't...
Drift_Geek in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 9
AlexPalmer60 | 214 posts Running something similar for my garden office — different application but same principle of using the van as a backup source when solar's struggling. One thing worth...
Alex Palmer in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Good timing on this thread — I ran almost the same combo in my Ducato for about six months before making a decision. The thing worth considering that nobody's mentioned yet is alternator load...
YM_Power in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
FX_Power | 89 posts One thing nobody's mentioned — keep an eye on how they self-discharge when sat idle. Dodgy second-hand units can lose meaningful capacity overnight even with nothing connected.
FX_Power in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Great topic @Gibbo39. One thing worth trying before you give up on any stubborn cells — do a very slow top balance at 3.65V per cell using a bench power supply, keeping current down to around...
Shaun Ward in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 4