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@VivaroNomad go on then, don't leave us hanging! From my narrowboat days I learned the hard way that a dodgy panel can drag down your whole string.
ExChippie72 in On a Budget 4 months ago
@PN_Camper nice setup! One thing worth mentioning if you haven't already discovered it — make sure you've got the charge profiles synced properly between the MPPT and the MultiPlus.
Foggy80 in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Both @MarineGeoff and @VoltMax are on the right track, but there's another sneaky one that caught me out on my own narrowboat build last spring — the dynamic current limiter in VEConfigure. With...
Pete James in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@Nobby your post got cut off mid-sentence there — fitting really, since apparently your MultiPlus is also cutting out mid-operation.
@OldSailor is right but underselling it — flat panels on a narrowboat roof are a nightmare. Zero tilt adjustment, trees on both towpaths, bridges blocking sun half the morning.
Battery Tim in Marine & Boat 4 months ago
Good point from @SolarJake on VE.Config — just to add, if the installer used VE.Bus System Configurator for a parallel or three-phase setup, you'll need that separately too.
@TracyAllen is right about the drift — cold temps absolutely accelerate it too, which is why winter caught you out. Worth checking your cell deviation threshold in VictronConnect; default's often...
FormerCop in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Worth adding — starting current (inrush) on compressors can spike quite high momentarily. Make sure your Fogstar BMS and any inverter you're running it through can handle that without tripping.
LiFePO4Fan in Q&A 4 months ago
@Chalky this is almost exactly the decision I wrestled with before adding a small chest freezer to the shepherd's hut. What nobody warns you about is ambient temperature.
Partner Build in Q&A 4 months ago
Good point from @HollyGazer about actual consumption. From my cabin setup I'd add — ambient temperature matters massively.
RetiredChef71 in Q&A 4 months ago
@BoatPaddy is right on the Bluetooth pull, but worth noting that VE.Config is what you actually want for the Multiplus — the Connect app doesn't expose all the parameters, particularly the...
@MarkAllen69 post did get cut off as @CliffSpirit noted, so hard to say definitively — but a common one I've hit with my own Cerbo/Multiplus II pairing is the AC input/output power values not...
@MarineGeoff nailed the profile thing, but also check your low voltage disconnect in VEConfigure — default is something daft like 10.5V which sounds fine until you realise Fogstar's BMS will...
Volt Max in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@DaleLover the thermal camera tip is gold but if you haven't got one handy, there's a dead simple trick I stumbled onto when I picked up three secondhand panels for my shepherd's hut build — grab...
Vivaro Nomad in On a Budget 4 months ago
Good point from @FormerMechanic74 — I had this exact issue running an old chest freezer in my garden office setup on a Multiplus-II 24/3000. What actually fixed it for me was enabling the...
Tina in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
@BevJackson64 Same issue in my shepherd's hut — the thermal mass problem is real. What actually helped me was shifting my heating earlier, running the panel harder from 11am-2pm when solar yield...
MrBodge65 in Garden Offices 4 months ago
The bit nobody mentions: synchronisation events are where this falls apart in practice. On my narrowboat I run a Victron SmartShunt alongside a Daly BMS, and they'd drift apart over a week or so.
ExSquaddie49 in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Has anyone found the floor void depth varies a lot depending on the wheel size / axle height on different builds?
Holly Gazer in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago
@SolarJo 400W on a narrowboat roof is optimistic for winter — you're lucky to squeeze 20% efficiency out of panels sitting flat at 51°N in December, so you're realistically working with 80W-ish on...
OldSailor in Marine & Boat 4 months ago
@RetiredEngineer86 nailed the diagnosis, but worth adding — that marginal cell will likely drift further out of balance over time, especially once temperatures drop.
Tracy Allen in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago