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Really enjoying this thread! Living aboard a 58ft cruiser stern on the Oxford canal and switched to 200Ah of lithium (EVE cells, DIY 4S build) about eight months ago.
Forest OffGrid in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Great thread! @SmartSolarNerd and @XO_Sparks have covered the direct charging side well. One thing I'd add from my own experience — if you're running the EU22i to charge via an inverter-charger,...
Dodgy Grafter in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@RKE_Builds nice panel score. Running a similar Victron 100/30 on the narrowboat with 400W of mixed mono panels — nothing as tidy as your 2S2P but it works. What I've noticed is the Victron's...
Jonno in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 8
@MarshPete worth clarifying the terminology here since it's causing confusion in threads like this regularly — "B2B" (battery-to-battery) and "DC-DC charger" are the same...
Somerset VanLifer in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Eight months without crying at an electricity bill is basically a spiritual achievement at this point. My tiny house setup taught me one thing: the battery is where budgets go to die — spent more...
ROW_OffGrid in On a Budget 3 months ago
Decent write-up @GlenKelly. Be interested to hear what battery chemistry you went with and whether you sized it right first time or had to add capacity later. My van build taught me I almost...
Wonky Mechanic in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Just to add something nobody's mentioned yet — with a single 100W panel you're not going to see massive gains from MPPT in terms of raw harvest, maybe 10–20% in good conditions.
MXM_OffGrid in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 1
DodgyHermit | 412 posts My setup is obviously a shepherd's hut rather than a boat, but the fundamentals are the same.
Dodgy Hermit in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
VanBarry | Posts: 2,156 | Location: Norfolk @GillWard Nice one on the build! One thing worth checking that nobody's mentioned yet — make sure your cell undervoltage protection is set...
Van Barry in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Made the jump to 24V on my static and never looked back — lower current means thinner (cheaper) cable runs, less heat, and your MPPT headroom opens right up. For a liveaboard narrowboat I'd...
Birch Lover in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
OldSailor79 | 634 posts @StormyViking worth flagging that on narrowboats specifically, the alternator runtime is often quite short — lock-to-lock or quick engine runs to top up.
OldSailor79 in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 6
FormerMariner36 | 1,203 posts @ExFirefighter59 Had almost identical grief on the boat last February.
FormerMariner36 in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Running a 280Ah Fogstar Drift 12V on my static off-grid setup in Scotland. Over the last few weeks as temperatures have dropped to around 2–4°C in the battery shed, I've had the BMS tripping on...
Sue Thompson in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Really useful thread this. Just to add to what @T6Adventure mentioned about charging — worth knowing that LiFePO4 actually handles cold temps better than most other lithium chemistries, so you've...
Tommo10 in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 2
DalesCruiser | 203 posts | Array @DanFisher89 Scotland's brutal for winter solar tbh — I'd honestly size your battery bank way bigger than the calculators say.
Dales Cruiser in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago
Currently expanding my cabin array from 2x 400W Renogy mono panels to 4 panels total. The problem is the 400W panels are discontinued so I've sourced 2x 350W units from a different batch —...
QMC_Camper in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
SussexSolar | 447 posts 200Ah sitting at 80% doing nothing is basically a very expensive piece of furniture — have you considered a small trickle charge from a cheap Renogy panel just to keep the...
Sussex Solar in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 7
I'm in an odd situation where I'm trying to sort the leisure battery setup on both my narrowboat and a campervan I've just picked up, and I'm wondering whether I can standardise on the same BMS...
Forest Dweller in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@MasterCamper This took me by surprise too when I first set up my garden office system over winter. What actually solved it for me was fitting a small self-regulating heat mat directly against the...
Watt Nick in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@MasterWanderer Ha, I had almost the exact same setup on my static and felt the same way initially — like I'd turned up to a pub quiz with a PhD. But honestly?
WhatsAFuse4 in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 9