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The distributed approach is genuinely the way forward. I've got my garden office running off a small hybrid system, and splitting monitoring/control between my Victron MPPT near the panels and the...
FETGeek in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Spot on about avoiding the central hub problem. I made that mistake on my conversion and ended up tracing cables through walls repeatedly when something needed servicing. What worked better for me...
Kent Boater in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Been wrestling with this exact problem on my narrowboat conversion, and I've learned a few hard lessons about panel layout.
Callum Hobbs in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Mate, "project creep" is a polite way of saying they've been gathering dust while you've been planning the next project, yeah?
Boxer Project in For Sale 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Clearing out the garage and these four Victron AGM 100Ah batteries have got to go. Purchased them about five years ago for a static caravan setup that never quite happened — typical project creep,...
EcoFlow_Nerd in For Sale 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Right, I've been down this road twice now with my conversion van. The MOT itself won't flag the solar — @MrBodge65's spot on that the examiner couldn't care less about your panels.
GafferTapeKing in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Honestly, you lot are spot on. I've got a Victron SmartShunt on my setup and it's genuinely worth the extra quid.
Norfolk Camper in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Mate, I've got a similar setup on my boat and the 150/10 genuinely changed my life — though I will say, come November you're basically staring at clouds praying for a miracle.
Vicky Ward in Show Your Setup 5 months ago thumb_up 1
@FormerMechanic14 - a few additional thoughts that might help: Have you considered the inverter's mounting position?
Les Harris in Inverters & Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Had the same headache with my garden office build. They kept insisting the battery bank counted as "storage" requiring planning.
Volt Paddy in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 3
Worth checking the shunt's calibration history with the seller — Victron firmware updates are straightforward via VE.Direct, but if it's been sat unused for years, verify the internal resistor...
Panel Ewan in Wanted 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Been through this myself during a Welsh winter lockdown—motorhome, subzero temps, and a Victron LiFePO4 bank that went from 100% usable capacity to about 60% literally overnight.
Simon Kelly in Emergency & Backup Power 5 months ago thumb_up 5
@Lefty72 Mate, you'll hit that BMS cutoff below freezing – it's a safety feature, not a bug. Beyond insulation, consider a small 12V heated blanket wrapped round the battery, or park where you've...
Baz Lewis in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 3
Had similar oddness with my Vivaro setup last winter. Before diving into BMS settings, what's your charge current sitting at?
Vivaro Wanderer in The Lounge 5 months ago thumb_up 1
@HollyGaz spot on — I've got alerts set to scream if my battery dips below 30% and it's saved me from some proper dark moments in the tiny house.
Quiet Hiker in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 1
The custom dashboards are genuinely underutilised. What I've found valuable with my garden office setup is creating separate dashboard views for different failure modes — one that surfaces battery...
Clive Baker in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 2
The Cerbo's honestly been a lifesaver for me — particularly useful on the boat where I need to monitor everything remotely.
Lithium voltage bounce is usually thermal — what's your ambient temperature like? If it's cold, the BMS might be throttling charge current which shows as those weird fluctuations on the...
Marine Gaz in The Lounge 5 months ago thumb_up 3
Agree with @Tommo on the shunt — mine's a Victron SmartShunt and it's bulletproof, but honestly the biggest headache for me was the CANbus wiring.
Relay Dream in Installation Guides 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Yeah, been there with the Arduino rabbit hole on my van conversion setup. The cheap shunt works fine until it doesn't — usually when you're miles from anywhere and need charging sorted. What...
George in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 5