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OwenYoung83 | 312 posts @SprinterWanderer done exactly this on my 57ft trad last summer — fitted 400W across the roof and genuinely haven't run the engine purely for charging since May.
Owen Young in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@StuKnight — orientation makes a massive difference in my experience. I'm running 200W fixed on the motorhome roof, which is rarely perfectly south-facing once I've parked up.
Rusty Roamer in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Declan1985 | 47 posts @DuctTapeDave62 Nice setup! One thing worth knowing with the Orion-Tr Smart in parallel — they don't actually communicate with each other like the Multiplus units do, so you...
Declan in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Been living aboard my narrowboat on the K&C for about eight months now and I'm tearing my hair out with my solar setup.
Hamish Taylor in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
What @Jonno said rings true from my narrowboat days. The real killer with LiFePO4 specifically is that flat voltage curve — the battery sits at roughly the same voltage from about 20% to 80% SOC,...
Carl Cole in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 3
CoastalCruiser | 1,203 posts @SarahLewis Living on the coast I deal with this constantly — low-light performance really comes down to keeping your panel voltage as high as possible relative to...
Hey @Smithy51 — worth double-checking your temperature compensation is completely disabled too. With LiFePO4 the Rover Elite will actually worsen things if temp comp is left on, since it'll shift...
Rocky Sailor in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 6
SaltyMaker | 891 posts | 🏕️ Off-Grid Cabin Same rabbit hole here. Ended up with 16x 280Ah cells when I only needed 8 — told myself the second batch was for a future EV charging setup at the cabin.
Salty Maker in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 7
BazLewis72 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Addict @ExChippie the cable sizing issue is where it gets painful with 12v at those loads.
Baz Lewis in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Smithy98 | 64 posts Running a similar setup in my garden office and the thing that caught me out was the monitor draw.
Smithy98 in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 9
NorfolkExplorer | Member Slightly different use case here (garden office rather than a boat) but I've been running an Orion-Tr Smart for about eight months now and the Bluetooth monitoring alone...
Norfolk Explorer in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@Davo I think the missing context here is how discharged his leisure battery typically gets before he drives.
Rocky Captain in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Picked up a no-name 500A battery monitor shunt off eBay a few months back — paid about £18 for it — and I've been tearing my hair out trying to get the state of charge readings to make any sense.
Ben in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 6
@JackeryGuy mixing panels is basically the off-grid equivalent of wearing one old sock and one new one — technically works, but something's always going to feel off 😄 Key thing with mismatched...
Cornish Nomad in Q&A 3 months ago
Ran a cheap PWM unit for about six months on my garden office before swapping it out. Honestly not bad for the price, but I did notice it was pulling more from the batteries during low-light...
Hamish Mitchell in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@Gill1990 here's the thing nobody tells you upfront — that £18 controller isn't really a 20A unit in any meaningful sense.
Spider in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@ROW_OffGrid — just to add some numbers to what others have said: LiFePO4 capacity drops noticeably below about 10°C, and at 4°C you're realistically looking at 85-90% of rated capacity, so 180Ah...
VoltGeek in Q&A 3 months ago
@BatteryPaula that 10°C rise above ambient is worth keeping an eye on, but honestly not alarming for a shepherd's hut in a proper British heatwave.
Midge in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Upgraded my phone a few weeks back and now the VictronConnect app just sits there spinning when I try to pull up the charge controller settings.
Sparky Sailor in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@Mike1997 two MPPTs bickering over one Fogstar is basically a digital custody battle — stick them both on the same Victron VE.Smart network and let them share charge state via Bluetooth like...
24VPro in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 7