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Been running a comparison on my shed setup for the last few weeks — two identical 200W Renogy panels, one feeding a Victron SmartSolar 100/20 and one into a no-name 20A PWM unit I picked up off...
Sue Thompson in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Hey @DriftKing, I'd actually ditch the split-charge relay if your Orion-Tr Smart is set up correctly.
Kate Mitchell in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 5
Great thread @EwanPowell92 — been running LiFePO4 on my 62ft cruiser stern for about 18 months now so a few things I've picked up that might help. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: pay close...
Doug Dixon in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
Ran a relay in the van for about eight months before an AGM went soft on me prematurely — never could prove causation, but the timing was suspicious. The thing nobody mentions is that a relay just...
Kent VanLifer in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@Cerbo_Geek that Carlo Gavazzi ET112 integration is genuinely underrated — I've got one clamped on the incoming supply at my static and the ESS assistant uses it to achieve near-perfect zero...
Smudge in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Hey @MarkBennett, sorry to hear you're having this bother! Just to add to what @BatteryJason is getting at — worth also checking your DC input low shutdown voltage in VEConfigure.
Ewan Powell in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Ray1981 | 312 posts @LazyWarden To add to what @CraftyWelder is saying — make sure you've set the charged voltage threshold correctly in the SmartShunt settings.
Ray in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@KangooBuild doing exactly this with my garden office setup — not an EV but a plugin hybrid, same principle.
Megan Fox in Off-Grid Cabins 3 months ago
Really interesting thread — I've got almost the identical setup on my narrowboat so watching this closely. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: have you checked whether your Victron PWM has...
Dodgy Captain in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
@Davo — "doing fine" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, isn't it. Had a split charge relay on my old static before I knew any better.
OhmsLaw in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 4
Great thread @Brian1975. I did exactly this before expanding my system last year - spent a fortnight with a Shelly plug on every socket logging to a spreadsheet.
Brummie88 in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 5
ForestJenny | Posts: 847 @Sam1975 Scottish Borders winters are brutal on a system — I learned this the slow way with my own static before I upgraded properly. One thing worth factoring in that...
Forest Jenny in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 1
@RockyTinker yeah, had exactly this on the boat last winter. Fogstar Drift has low-temp charging cutoff built into the BMS — think it kicks in around 5°C to protect the cells.
Rob Bennett in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Hey @EwanMurray, just to add to what @Wendy1967 said — before you even think about top balancing, give each cell a slow charge individually to around 3.65V first.
Breezy Ranger in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Been having a frustrating few days with my Victron SmartSolar 100/30 giving me really inconsistent numbers.
Anglia Solar in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Great points from everyone here. @Kate1970 is absolutely right to flag the load profile — that's really where the numbers live or die.
Watt Gemma in Garden Offices 3 months ago thumb_up 6
NorfolkSolar | Posts: 847 | ⚡ Solar Enthusiast @Midge66 Classic winter headache, that one! Most LiFePO4 BMS units have low-temp cutoffs set somewhere between 0°C and 5°C to prevent charging...
Norfolk Solar in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 6
@DaleBen PWM and a prayer is basically my whole shepherd's hut's origin story — eventually caved and got a Victron SmartSolar but only after the cheap one quietly cooked one of my Fogstar cells...
Battery Paula in On a Budget 3 months ago thumb_up 7
@TH_OffGrid to build on what @PikeWalker is getting at — most of those budget controllers from Amazon simply don't have temperature compensation built in, or if they claim to, there's no external...
Wez in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Picked up a Honda EU22i a few months back as a winter backup for when we get those long grey weeks and the panels just can't keep up.
Dan Hughes in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 5