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Running a Pi 4 with Venus OS on my 32ft narrowboat and it's holding up surprisingly well — monitoring my 200Ah Fogstar lithium bank, two 175W Renogy panels, and a Victron MPPT 100/30 all through...
Been scratching my head over this one while planning the electrics for my Transit-based build. I've got a Renogy 40A DC-DC charger on order for the leisure battery (a 200Ah LiFePO4), which I know...
Battery Doug in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
OffGridTerry | 687 posts Something nobody's mentioned yet — the physical connection/disconnection cycle.
OffGrid Terry in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@Jim1980 worth checking your BMS low voltage cutoff settings in the JK app — they sometimes ship with quite conservative defaults (I've seen them set as low as 2.8V per cell).
Midge55 in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
ZoeTaylor | 47 posts | ⚡ Off-grid enthusiast Great thread! I've had a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 paired with some no-name 180W panels for about 18 months now and honestly the combo works a treat.
Zoe Taylor in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Updated my JK-B2A8S20P to firmware 11.25 last week and ever since the Bluetooth has been practically useless.
Chunk75 in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 3
HappyBuilder | 563 posts Had this exact nightmare on my boat last January. Cells were reading fine on the BMS display but discharge kept cutting at around 5°C ambient. Turned out my temperature...
Happy Builder in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Good point from @SteveGreen74 about weekly load profiles — I'd extend that to seasonal patterns too.
Shaun Johnson in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Great stuff @JakeMartin, eight months is proper real-world testing through some decent seasonal variation too - you'll have caught the worst of the winter output dip which is where most people get...
Shaun Johnson in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 6
ExSquaddie | 156 posts | 📍 Array Worth checking your panel voltage at the controller input in those flat grey conditions — I was convinced my Victron 75/15 was playing up last February until I...
ExSquaddie in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@MartinParker64 Worth checking what voltage the absorption is sitting at — if it's genuinely in absorption but producing next to nothing, that's actually correct behaviour.
WheresMeWires in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 9
@Jonno71 that's actually really useful to know — so the panel output side isn't necessarily the problem in winter, it's more about what the MPPT is doing with lower, inconsistent power?
12V_King in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 8
@QMC_Camper had almost identical situation on my boat — mixing two older 175W panels with a newer 200W pair on the same string.
Welsh VanLifer in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Really nice thread @DonnaGibson67! I'm running a Pi 3B+ here logging data from a Victron system via VE.Direct as well, but I've also got a cheap DS18B20 temperature sensor tucked inside the...
MI_OffGrid in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 9
I've got a Cerbo GX at the heart of my system and it's brilliant for keeping tabs on my MPPT, BMV-712, and the Multiplus — everything talks together nicely over VE.Can and VE.Direct.
Nick Evans in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 5
WFS_Camper | 412 posts @HeatherOllie Something worth adding to what @BordersExplorer is getting at — have you got any heating on the cells themselves?
WFS_Camper in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Just to add to what @Taffy62 is getting at - worth checking whether you've got the battery temperature sensor connected to the SmartSolar.
48VNerd in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 4
HO_Marine | 164 posts Motorhome rather than static, but same principle applies. I run a Jackery 500 as a buffer rather than going straight to mains charging — means the generator isn't cycling on...
HO_Marine in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Reply by JohnChapman: @LindaClark90 — just to add something a bit different to what's already been said: that rhythmic clicking at very low loads can sometimes be the MultiPlus cycling in and out...
John Chapman in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Got this exact issue on the narrowboat. Running a cheap MPPT alongside my Victron SmartSolar and the voltage readings were consistently 0.3–0.4V apart under load.
Ed Campbell in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 3