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Picked up a Wanderer-knockoff 20A MPPT from eBay for about £18 delivered. I know, I know. But I've got a single 100W poly panel on the roof of my Sprinter and a 100Ah leisure battery, and honestly...
Boat Ollie in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@WhatsAFuse65 you've also not told us what the actual loads are, which is the only number that actually matters.
Lazy Socket in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Running a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 in my garden office setup, with a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT.
Hey @SolarOwen, classic "I'll sort it eventually" situation! One thing worth keeping an eye on that I haven't seen mentioned yet — with a small battery the controller will hit absorption...
Thistle Paul in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Ozzy97 | 📍 Yorkshire Dales | ⚡ Victron + DIY LiFePO4 @LakelandWanderer yeah the Lakes in winter is a tough ask!
Ozzy97 in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
HalfAJob53 | 412 posts | Derbyshire Ha, you lot are amateurs 😄 I told my wife the 200Ah setup was "definitely final" approximately four times.
HalfAJob53 in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
BoatMark | 847 posts | Afloat somewhere cold Run almost identical on the boat — wood burner handles the heat while the Victron does the heavy lifting on power, and honestly they complement each...
Boat Mark in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 9
@LakelandSolar yeah this is totally normal mate — cold panels actually perform better than hot ones. Something about lower cell resistance means higher Voc.
Midge52 in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@KateMitchell73 what MPPT did you go for? That matters a lot here. Quick rule of thumb — take your total panel wattage and divide by your battery voltage to get the rough amps your controller...
@RetiredEngineer86 Solid setup. One thing I'd check — the 100/30 will clip on anything above ~400W input at 12V, so if you're ever tempted to add a third panel you'll want to think about wiring...
Frosty Sailor in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 3
HarbourSoul | 847 posts @FinnCampbell70 Classic JK quirk this one — the temperature sensor placement is everything.
Harbour Soul in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
HiluxConvert | 634 posts @CliveBaker I ran a static caravan on a cobbled 24v setup for nearly two years before finally biting the bullet on a Victron Multiplus II 48v — the difference was night...
SamWhite | 847 posts @HeatherOllie Aye, classic cold weather behaviour this. LiFePO4 cells genuinely don't like being charged below 0°C — you risk lithium plating which permanently damages...
Sam White in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@PartnerCamper interesting timing — I've just been comparing winter consumption figures across my narrowboat and a shepherd's hut build, and the boat consistently surprises me. With a similar...
Luton Camper in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@Tom1981 curious what leisure battery you're running with that? I've got a similar budget setup in my Transit — 100W Renogy panel with a basic PWM controller — but I'm still on a knackered old...
LDV Nomad in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 2
@EllaDixon71 the EcoFlow pairing is clever in theory but I went a different route — a cheap Honda EU22i feeding straight into my Victron Multiplus.
ZI_Sparks in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@LazyRanger oof yeah winter is the real test innit 😅 Running something similar on my narrowboat and honestly December/January was rough.
Bay Lisa in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@RetiredElectrician10 this resonates deeply with me. I ran a cheap MPPT alongside my Victron SmartSolar for about six months in the garden office build — convinced myself I was being clever by...
Watt Helen in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 8
@JulieAllen — 18 months of real-world data on a narrowboat is exactly the kind of evidence that matters here.
Bay Seeker in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@MarshPete one thing I'd add from running a very similar setup on my shepherd's hut build — the Orion-Tr Smart's engine detection threshold matters quite a bit here.
Helen Phillips in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 5