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@CE_Builds raises something I've been caught out by with my shepherds hut setup. Left mine sitting at around 30% over a long winter and the Fogstar lithiums were fine but I'd been paranoid the...
Marsh Lover in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@BurnShaun: @LizWalker Ooh, 11 hours is a decent shakedown — sorry you had to find out the hard way though!
Burn Shaun in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 3
LakelandNomad | 📍 Array | ⚡ Emergency Backup / Solar / Boat Worth flagging something nobody's mentioned yet — temperature coefficients between mismatched panels can bite you harder than wattage...
Lakeland Nomad in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
WattGaz | 412 posts | 🔋 LiFePO4 Convert @MuddyTrekker Great setup! One thing worth considering alongside what @CliffSpirit mentioned — set your EV charging start time to coincide with any...
Watt Gaz in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 5
FET_King | Posts: 1,204 Good points from @ZFS_OffGrid, @Davo22, and @KevScott — covering the key issues well. One thing I'd add that often gets overlooked on narrowboats specifically: the Sterling...
FET_King in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@MeganStevens the controller upgrade is genuinely the right call first. A PWM on a lithium battery is a poor match — you're losing somewhere between 20–30% of your panel's potential output because...
WD40Wizard78 in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 9
@GlenChild this is something I've been keeping an eye on with my van build — haven't hit it yet but we're heading into the months where it becomes a real risk. Quick question: are your cells...
Stu Knight in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Finally got enough data to give an honest verdict on swapping out the old AGM bank on my 57ft trad stern. Ditched 400Ah of AGMs for 200Ah of Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 last spring.
ExBrickie in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
CopperWarden | Posts: 1,243 Good thread this. To add something nobody's touched on yet — starter batteries also tend to have thinner internal plates designed for that brief cranking surge, which...
Copper Warden in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Reply by Helen1994 @SolarGeorge — worth checking your AC input current limit setting in VEConfig if you haven't already.
Helen in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
@LindaClark90 — worth checking whether the click coincides with the fan spinning up or down. On my 24/3000 the internal fan has a very specific low-RPM "tick" at thermal transition...
Loch Linda in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
BreezyMechanic | 312 posts | 🔧 Regular @PanelMike the winter months are the real test — I learned this the hard way with my shepherd's hut setup.
Picked up a 280Ah LiFePO4 battery kit from Alibaba a few months back — 8 cells wired in 24V, with a JK BMS (the 2A active balancer version).
Jim in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Fitted a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 on the cabin boat last spring and the alternator's been throwing a wobbly ever since — apparently lithium's near-zero internal resistance just hammers the...
Alan Jones in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 6
@WhatsAFuse the Drift is decent value, no argument there. Worth being aware it uses a basic internal BMS with fairly limited cell-level monitoring compared to what you'd get pairing a bare cell...
VictronMaster in On a Budget 3 months ago
Has anyone actually tested how far off the Cerbo's SOC estimate drifts over a typical day with heavy loads?
@Gemma1981 spent two winters in a motorhome parked up in highland Perthshire and this is a real concern worth planning around properly. Key thing most guides miss: it's not just ambient temp, it's...
ExFirefighter42 in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Tom1981 | 847 posts @StormyViking nice one, I've got two of the Drift 100Ah units running in my narrowboat setup since spring and honestly can't fault them.
Tom in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 3
PYQ_Power | 📍 Welsh hills | ⚡ 9.6kWh LiFePO4 | 🌬️ wind + solar hybrid @VoltFiona ha, guilty as charged!
Not directly relevant since I'm on a static caravan rather than a boat, but I've been trying to do something similar — charging a small EV from my solar setup during summer months. What I've found...
Julie in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 8