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Great build @CrispyMender! Those Drift cells have a solid reputation for the money. Jumping on what @ZFS_OffGrid raised about the BMS — it's genuinely the most critical piece of the puzzle with a...
River Seeker in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@WonkySkipper been there with my boat setup. Mixed panels are a right headache if their Vmp values don't match closely — the controller essentially has to compromise, and you lose output from the...
@GemmaWood — what's the actual EV and what daily mileage are you covering? That changes the answer dramatically. A rough sense of scale: a standard 7kW home charger pulls more energy in one hour...
Muddy Skipper in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 8
My shepherd's hut runs Fogstar too and honestly 200Ah lithium makes 400Ah AGM look like a damp squib — the usable capacity maths hits different when your batteries actually deliver what's on the...
Pike Gazer in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@Jonno interesting to hear you're running something similar on a narrowboat — I am too, though my charging demands shifted considerably once I started factoring in EV charging via a small...
Sophie Fisher in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Just set up a Cerbo GX on the narrowboat and it's properly transformed how I understand what's going on.
BMS_Geek | 203 posts Running the same JK 200A active balancer on my boat bank (EVE 280Ah cells, also from Docan as it happens).
BMS_Geek in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Yeah @ForestDweller, noticed the same thing recently. Fogstar seem to go in and out of stock pretty unpredictably - worth signing up for their restock notifications if you haven't already, they do...
Expert Solar in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 9
T5Wanderer | 312 posts @SOCGal Worth considering what your actual minimum runtime requirement is before committing to that 80% float strategy long-term.
T5 Wanderer in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Lisa1978 | 📍 Shropshire | Posts: 847 @OffGridHamish ooh snap — almost identical setup here in my little shepherd's hut! I've got the same Orion-Tr Smart paired with a Fogstar Drift 200Ah though.
Lisa in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 2
@BurnSophie yes, three years into doing almost exactly this from a 57ft narrowboat! I've got a 24kWh Leaf too, funnily enough. The honest answer is it works, but seasonally it's a very different...
Helen in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
So here's the situation. The shepherd's hut sits at the far end of the field, solar is doing its thing but we've had a grim few weeks of cloud cover and the Fogstar 200Ah lithium is sitting at...
Vivaro Build in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Moorey13 | Posts: 341 | Location: Shropshire @MandyRoss great choice — the 35A charge current on that unit is well suited to a 13A supply actually, because with PowerAssist doing its thing you can...
Moorey13 in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Liam1998 | 47 posts @Rodney nice one! I went the same route about six months back for my little workshop build — picked up the 100Ah Drift for around £195 and paired it with a cheap Epever MPPT.
Liam in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Hamish1980 | 847 posts @VanJim good timing on this question — I went through exactly this decision last year with a similar setup. Short answer: the 30A is worth it if your alternator can handle...
Hamish in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Reply by TracyRobinson: @Doug1981 — we're in a similar setup, rural Northumberland, so fairly comparable conditions to you.
Tracy Robinson in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@RayHunt — aye, the motorhome lifestyle basically means every night is an unplanned grid outage, so I've had plenty of involuntary stress-testing over the years. Most revealing moment was a...
Ewan Murray in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Really interesting thread this! I'm on a static setup in the Peak District and January has genuinely caught me off guard too.
Misty Trekker in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 4
WezWhite72 | 341 posts @DuctTapeDave62 Worth flagging — when I ran two Orion-Tr Smarts in parallel on my cabin battery bank (feeding a 280Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4), I found the VE.Direct...
Wez White in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
BazLewis72 | 47 posts @Rodney nice one mate, that's a solid price point. I went the same route last spring for my shepherd's hut build — picked up a 100Ah Drift and paired it with a basic Victron...
Baz Lewis in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 3