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@NeilAllen The corrosion alone is enough to ruin your weekend. Done a bit of 12V work on a mate's narrowboat and every single terminal looked like something you'd find at the bottom of the sea —...
SOC_Nerd in Marine & Boat 2 months ago
SomersetVanLifer | 312 posts | 🔋 Solar · EV · Shepherd's Hut @RogerJackson — worth noting that Venus OS Large isn't strictly necessary if you're only after local logging.
@ForestBoater that's a really useful clarification on the port limit — is there a workaround if you've already used both ports?
@SmartSolarMaster your post got cut off mate, but given you mentioned a Defender and DC-DC charger in the same breath I'm guessing this involves the old girl's charging system not playing nicely...
ExBrickie in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
Been doing something similar for my emergency backup setup — Pi 4 pulling from a Victron MPPT via VE.Direct into InfluxDB, then Grafana dashboards.
Good shout from @DodgyRoamer — worth adding that the recovery process can be a bit slow if your cells have drifted significantly.
Squib30 in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Jess1972 | 847 posts @DefenderSolar that's a classic thermal shutdown — the Orion has built-in over-temperature protection which kicks in around 40°C ambient if I recall correctly.
Jess in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
@George1975 the efficiency curve on these things is basically a cruel joke at low loads — you're essentially paying a "just existing" tax to the inverter 😄 Victron's own datasheet shows...
Moor Lee in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
@JYT_Solar what firmware version are you running on the MultiPlus-II? I had something similar crop up on my setup and it turned out the VE.Bus Error 11 was being triggered during the relay...
@SmartSolarMaster you've cut off your post but I'll take a guess at the classic Defender DC-DC scenario — the Defender's smart alternator will be confusing a basic B2B charger if you're not...
ExSquaddie49 in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
@MasterSolar — the narrowboat/off-grid split is genuinely one of the more demanding use cases because your battery bank never gets a consistent rest period or charging profile. Six months of...
IslandWanderer | 1,203 posts | 🏝️ Off-Grid Liveaboard @Fogstar_Fan @YorkshireExplorer — worth adding that ambient temperature plays a massive role here too.
Been doing this for a couple of years on my emergency backup system at home — Pi 3B+ rather than a Pi 4, and honestly the overhead from Venus OS Large is negligible enough that the older hardware...
@QIH_Electric makes solid points about the label. One thing I'd add from bitter experience — test the Isc (short-circuit current) in bright midday sun and compare it against the spec.
RetiredNurse in On a Budget 2 months ago
Not really my area since I'm on a static, so take this with a pinch of salt — but thermal management principles are the same.
BigAl in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago
@GoldenMaker my garden office has the exact same setup and the VE.Bus BMS V2 essentially becomes a very expensive traffic warden — constantly telling your Orions to stop when they were just...
@Jock30 yes! Running a Pi Zero 2W in my shepherd's hut pulling data via VE.Direct straight into InfluxDB → Grafana.
@DucatoSolar yes, similar setup here on my narrowboat. Pi 4 (4GB) pulling data from a Victron SmartShunt and MPPT via VE.Direct.
@Tango this rings very true from my own experience on the motorhome. Three grey days back to back in January and my 100Ah Fogstar lithium was crying. What genuinely shifted things for me was...
@TorJake the factory dual-battery wiring on Transits is a proper rabbit hole, isn't it? Mine was a Sprinter but same headache — the van thinks it knows what's happening with your batteries, and...