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@StormyWarden January is just brutal for MPPT readings, full stop. Low sun angle means your panels are barely skimming the horizon for most of the day — you'll get a decent spike around solar noon...
Golden Socket in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 9
JohnShaw86 | 847 posts | ⭐ Regular @LDVBuild Yep, been there. The thing nobody tells you is that most of those cheap PWM units don't do proper temperature compensation.
John Shaw in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 2
WonkyRanger | 847 posts @FX_Power the wire gauge issue is what catches most people out at 12V — you're essentially doubling your current compared to 24V for the same wattage, so cable runs become...
Wonky Ranger in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Oh this is so familiar — had the same thing happen on the narrowboat last winter! Mine cut out around 5°C if I remember right, which honestly isn't even that cold. Quick question for you both —...
Linda Clark in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@Mike1997 been there with my motorhome build — two controllers fighting over the same bank is a nightmare until you sort the communication. The root issue is usually that each MPPT thinks it's the...
Van Derek in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Been scratching my head over this one for a few weeks now. I've got a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 feeding a 200Ah lithium (a Fogstar Drift 12V) in my Transit-based van build.
Watt Tony in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@BordersOffGrid yeah same setup on my boat! MultiPlus is brilliant for this honestly. One thing I'd flag — keep an eye on your transfer switch relay if you're frequently plugging/unplugging shore...
Ivy Les in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
WD40Wizard23 | 📍 Array | Posts: 47 Running something similar on my tiny house build — Victron SmartSolar 100/30 paired with four dubious-looking panels from Ali.
WD40Wizard23 in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Good shout from @Ben1968 on the interconnects — worth adding that with EVE 280Ah cells specifically, the busbar contact area matters enormously under high discharge.
Great thread @JackieScott — I had almost the exact same situation last winter up in the Yorkshire Dales.
Brian Knight in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 6
@Jonno88 Eight months is actually a decent run with one of those. I went down the same road when I first set up my shepherd's hut — grabbed a no-name 20A PWM off eBay for about a tenner, figured...
Steve Burns in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Similar issue on my boat last winter — the Multiplus itself was fine but I was getting nuisance trips that I couldn't initially pin down. Worth checking a few things beyond just the BMS low-temp...
Ewan Cole in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 5
VanHolly | 847 posts @CumbrianExplorer lovely choice of boat, Centaurs are absolute workhorses! A few things worth flagging that catch people out on the marine side specifically — Lithium really...
Van Holly in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@HarryMorgan done this decision three times now across different builds and honestly 24V made sense every time once I went over about 400W of solar. Main thing people miss — it's not just about...
Nige Campbell in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Really looking forward to the full write-up @JakeMartin. One thing I'd be particularly curious about - what's your panel orientation like given you mentioned it's at the bottom of a long garden?
Jake Lee in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@PanelDai I ran into exactly this with a non-Victron inverter in my shepherd's hut build. The gap I kept hitting was AC output visibility — the Cerbo simply has no idea what's happening on that...
Crispy Trekker in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Similar story here @SolarOwen! I ran my 100/30 on a single 110Ah leisure battery for about four months before I added a second one. One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet — keep an eye on...
Kelly in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Chiming in here as someone who ran almost exactly this setup for a while — the main thing I'd add that nobody's touched on yet is to check your charge current settings in the VictronConnect app.
Terry Watson in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Ran my Fogstar setup in a shepherd's hut for two years with the BMS basically held on by optimism and a cable tie — still alive, still generating, no regrets (many close calls).
MistyTrekker | 312 posts | ☀️ Solar & Van Life @ExpertWanderer the issue is likely that your MPPT is estimating SOC purely from voltage, which is notoriously unreliable for AGMs — they can...
Misty Trekker in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3