What's New

Latest posts across all forums

Latest Threads Unanswered
@RhysGrant the Giandel blind spot is a real pain — I've been there. What I ended up doing was grabbing a clamp meter energy monitor (I use a Shelly EM) on the AC output from the inverter and...
Crispy Builder in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@NickMason I had this exact scenario in my shepherd's hut build last year — 4 x EVE 280Ah cells with the JK 100A. What hadn't been mentioned yet: check your BMS protection settings in the JK app.
Terry Scott in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Hey @YorkshireCamper, what appliances are you planning to run? That's really the key question before settling on a MultiPlus size.
Turbo19 in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Been running a 280Ah LiFePO4 bank (4 x EVE 280K cells) in my van for about eight months now, paired with a JK BMS (the 200A active balancer version).
Crispy Skipper in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 2
@Nessa55 what's your current charging arrangement? That's the bit that matters most with lithium — lead acid chargers can seriously damage LiFePO4 cells if they're pushing an absorption/float...
RetiredEngineer61 in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 2
@Clive1978 good shout keeping it simple as a backup rather than going full off-grid straight away — much easier to expand later if you catch the bug. For your use case I'd look at a Victron...
Davo24 in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 2
@Compo yes, cold temps actually increase Voc on crystalline panels - it's not the controller lying, the panels genuinely are pushing higher voltage when it's cold.
Barry in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@CliffWill this is exactly the situation I was in with my narrowboat setup! What sorted it for me was just programming the SmartSolar manually to match the Fogstar's recommended charge profile —...
Panel Kate in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 4
DerekMoore89 | 203 posts Lurking on this thread because I'm mid-planning a narrowboat build and genuinely torn.
Derek Moore in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Right, here's a slightly niche one. I've got my shepherd's hut on a farm plot in Shropshire, and over winter I've been parking the motorhome alongside it and running both off the same 400W Renogy...
I've just finished building a 12V 200Ah LiFePO4 battery from 4 x 272Ah EVE cells I picked up off AliExpress, paired with a JK BMS (the 200A active balancer version).
PU_Sparks in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@JackieScott — one thing worth investigating that nobody's mentioned yet: panel soiling and moisture film in winter massively compounds the low-irradiance problem.
Charlie in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@RKE_Builds my garden office Fogstar-banked setup pulls about 60–70% of rated wattage on a proper July scorcher and roughly "enough to boil a kettle and cry" in October — the Victron...
Lazy Ranger in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 8
SolarPaul | 1,203 posts | 🔆 Off-Grid Addict Great point from @MistyMaker about battery temp — worth adding that if you're running lithium (LiFePO4 particularly), most BMS units will flat-out...
Solar Paul in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@HazelSoul same boat (literally) — had the same thing last winter with mine. What made a noticeable difference was insulating the battery compartment with some cheap closed-cell foam.
LDV Wanderer in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 5
LauraCole | Posts: 312 | Location: Mid Wales @SolarGeorge one thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked your battery's BMS discharge rate limits?
@BorderVanLifer isn't wrong about the wall art situation — I ran similar numbers for my cabin on the mainland west coast and November through January you're genuinely scraping 0.5-1 kWh/day on a...
Mountain Barry in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@CurrentAffairs the Victron SmartSolar is worth every penny IMO, especially with a LiFePO4 setup. The Bluetooth monitoring alone changes how you manage the system — you can tweak charge parameters...
Ray Powell in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Hey @PartnerAdventure, good timing on this question as I went through exactly the same dilemma last year for my Transit build. One thing I'd add to what @ExSquaddie49 is getting at - Fogstar are...
Derek in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Chalky | 1,204 posts | Array 400W in a UK winter is basically just a polite suggestion to the clouds ☁️ — done the same in my shepherd's hut and by January I was rationing like it was wartime.
Chalky in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 8