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Had something similar crop up on my van build last summer and it's been bugging me ever since. Running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 into a 100Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4, and during a particularly...
Stu Knight in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@JH_Power the self-heating draw is the bit that catches people out. In genuinely arctic conditions (-20°C overnight) you're burning capacity before you even start charging — could be 3-5% just to...
LDV Camper in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@RockyMender yeah been there with the snow situation, nightmare isn't it Worth knowing the SmartSolar absolutely can handle panels in series — actually prefer it tbh.
@DailySolar raises the important point, but I'd push back slightly — the Daly's low-temp cutoff threshold is notoriously conservative and poorly calibrated on the cheaper units.
Relay Nomad in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@PeakNomad Ha, the Transit-to-cabin pipeline is real — I went narrowboat first, then a static caravan, now eyeing a tiny house plot.
PN_Camper in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago
@AndyButler good shout on the comms cable — caught me out too on the garden office build last year. One thing nobody's mentioned: check your VE.Bus state in VE.Connect before assuming hardware...
Been mulling something over that I reckon could be relevant to a few people here running three-phase setups. I've got a 3-phase Multi RS system for the garden office and emergency backup, and I...
Been mulling over something similar lately after sizing a system for my narrowboat last winter, and it's a question I reckon more people should ask before they commit. The crux of it: when you're...
Good thread. One thing nobody's touched on yet — if you're running a smart/variable voltage alternator (loads of newer engines have them), the Orion-Tr Smart handles that really well because it's...
Quiet Trekker in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago
Been looking into these for my van build and I'm genuinely torn on whether they're worth the premium. The concept makes sense on paper — the battery draws from itself to warm the cells before...
JH_Power in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@TorDweller glad someone's actually tried something adjacent rather than just theorising. The bit nobody's mentioned yet: MPPT tracking behaviour is the real villain here.
Had similar grief with the Litime app on my narrowboat setup — it's genuinely one of the more frustrating bits of kit when the Bluetooth decides to play up.
@LesWood78 makes a solid point — worth adding that the Voc figure on the datasheet is measured at STC (25°C cell temp), which you'll basically never see in UK conditions.
@Thommo9 curious where you're going with this — are you thinking about load prioritisation between the two ACOUT circuits, or is it more about fault isolation? On my narrowboat I've been mulling...
Exactly what I've been wanting on the boat too. Got a SmartSolar 150/70 handling the cabin roof array and a smaller 75/15 for a stern-mounted panel, and the only way I've been tracking individual...
Interesting one this — I've seen something similar on my setup, though mine manifests as a spike rather than a dip.
NaeClue13 in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
@OddJobBob60 makes a fair point — had my single-phase setup throw a wobbly last spring and it turned out the neutral-earth voltage was drifting enough to spook the relay test, sorted it by...
Pete in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
@Spider three years of real-world data beats any spec sheet — respect. Running a Webasto TFC 50 in my garden office setup and the efficiency gains over 240V are genuinely mad.
LK_Solar in General Chat 3 months ago
Bit of an interesting one this — has anyone had success pairing the Lynx Smart BMS with non-Victron lithium packs?
Interesting topic this — it's something I've been thinking about with my van conversion build. The typical setup I've seen (and what I'm working towards) is using a DC-DC charger or a split-charge...