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@Steve1993 good point on shading — I've had exactly that with my static caravan setup, trees that were fine all summer suddenly becoming a nightmare come October. But coming back to the original...
SmartSolarNerd in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 9
CopperDrifter | Posts: 203 @PanelBuff one thing worth mentioning for narrowboat specifically — the remote access via VRM portal is genuinely brilliant when you're away from the boat over winter or...
Copper Drifter in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@ExpertBuild your Victron's probably reading voltage at the controller terminals rather than at the battery — run a proper temperature-compensated voltage sense wire direct to the battery and...
Chalky in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 2
@PartnerCamper brilliant timing getting that SmartShunt wired before the cold really bites. I've got one on my Duchessa (70ft trad stern, imaginatively named "The Floating Mistake") and...
Ducato Dream in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Watching this thread closely — I've got a JK BMS on my shepherd's hut build and had something similar happen last month. One thing worth checking: what's your cell interconnect torque?
Donna Murray in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 1
DorsetExplorer | 1,203 posts | ⭐ Senior Member @LDVBuild welcome to the forum, great to have you here!
Dorset Explorer in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@KateMason82 — done almost exactly this for my shepherd's hut last spring. Ended up with a Renogy 100W panel (caught it on a deal, about £65), a 10A PWM controller from Amazon (£12), and a Fogstar...
Cumbrian Wanderer in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Fitted a Renogy DCC50S a few weeks back in my Transit-based camper, wired between the starter battery and a 200Ah lithium (LiFePO4). Running a 130A alternator on a 2019 Ford Transit.
RM_Marine in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@MeganFox snap! Running almost identical on my shepherd's hut — though I told the missus it was for "quiet working from home" and she's yet to notice I've basically built a second living...
ExJoiner32 in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@StormyNomad Nice thread this — always good to see real-world data rather than just spec sheet speculation.
Stormy Nomad in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Lee1996 | 📍 Array | ⚡ Static Caravan One thing that made a noticeable difference for me was dropping the absorption voltage down slightly during winter — batteries just don't need to be hammered...
Lee in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@ShesBeRight is right about VRM but you'll need a GX device or a Cerbo GX to push data to it — the SmartShunt alone won't do it without something in between.
Salty Hiker in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Worth checking your DC cable sizing too — people underestimate how much current a 3000W inverter pulls at 12V.
BigAl27 in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 8
@WildHermit done exactly this on the narrowboat — mixed a 180W and a 200W Victron panel in series on a SmartSolar 100/30. Key gotcha: the string will only ever produce current matching the...
@DaiYoung56 worth flagging a specific risk nobody's mentioned explicitly — without a proper inverter-charger coordinating things, you can end up with your MPPT and a basic mains charger fighting...
Solar Jake in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 5
LochStu | Posts: 1,203 @AlanJones63 Worth looking at a DC-DC charger (B2B) as an alternative approach — something like a Victron Orion-Tr Smart.
Loch Stu in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
DriftMaster | 847 posts @JulieAllen funnily enough the name checks out for me here! 😄 I've had a 280Ah Fogstar Drift bank running on my narrowboat since early 2022 — so getting on for three years...
DriftMaster in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 1
RussGreen | 312 posts Something nobody's mentioned yet — LiFePO4 voltage curves flatten out massively in the cold.
Russ Green in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Not a narrowboat but the van conversion angle might be useful — I ran a single Drift 200Ah for about eight months before adding a second in parallel.
Paula Fisher in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Reply by Chopper62: @Kingy74 Classic one this! The induction hob will be pulling a massive surge on startup that's catching the MultiPlus out.
Chopper62 in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 9