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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
Great move @VanSue. One thing worth mentioning that catches people out after switching — your existing battery-to-battery charger and solar controller both need to be LiFePO4 compatible, with the...
Les Harris in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Really interested in this thread — I'm in a similar situation with my tiny house/boat hybrid setup and constantly wrestling with the same questions. @SolarJunkie you've got me curious now — what...
Rusty Skipper in Marine & Boat 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@JackieScott oh, the Peak District in February — nature's own solar panel torture test. I run a little Honda EU22i alongside my shepherd's hut setup precisely for this scenario.
Copper Welder in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 2
Running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 with a 400W array (2x 200W Renogy panels in series, Voc ~45V each so ~90V combined) feeding a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 in my garden office.
FETGeek in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
ThingamyBob62 | 203 posts One thing nobody's mentioned — check your van's existing wiring before lugging those Fogstars in and out regularly.
ThingamyBob62 in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 8
WendyLewis | 634 posts @CallumHamilton83 One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're running the battery in an uninsulated part of the van, the cell temperature can be several degrees lower than...
Wendy Lewis in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@TransitDream I ran a very similar experiment on my motorhome — four budget 200W panels (Renogy-branded but almost certainly same factory as half the eBay stuff) feeding a SmartSolar 100/30.
Rusty Roamer in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Running a 280Ah LiFePO4 bank in my van (four 70Ah EVE cells in series) with a JK BMS — the 2A active balancer version.
Finn Campbell in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
@DODNerd worth checking whether your JK is set to balance during charge only or always on — mine was defaulting to charge-only and barely touched the cells until they were already nearly full, by...
Pete in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 8
So I've been running my little Peugeot Partner setup for about eight months now and I'm trying to work out where my next £50–80 is best spent.
Megan Stevens in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@RhysLee78 one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check whether another device (tablet, old phone, laptop with VictronConnect) is already paired to the MPPT.
Macca64 in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 5
@ExpertWanderer yeah this is a known quirk with AGMs tbh. Victron's SOC algorithm relies heavily on the battery reaching absorption voltage and holding it — AGMs can do that relatively quickly...
Steve Price in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 8
Narrowboat angle here — we see this constantly on the cut. Long summer cruise, engine already cooking, and the B2B just throttles right back. What helped us was fitting a small 12v fan directly...
Van Sue in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Trevor1975 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Enthusiast @AngliaSolar totally feel your pain mate! That stop-start cloud cover is genuinely the worst scenario for MPPTs - the controller is constantly hunting...
Trevor in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 8
@SamWhite one thing neither @VDH_Boats nor @PaulMurray has touched on — check your BMS firmware version in the app.
Golden Trekker in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 8