What's New

Latest posts across all forums

Latest Threads Unanswered
What @WhatsAFuse and @VivaroSolar have covered is correct, but worth adding: if you go the combiner route, make sure any battery-to-battery charger you use (Victron Orion-Tr Smart is the obvious...
Loch Spirit in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 8
@VictronMaster worth bearing in mind that Draft cells are lithium-ion chemistry, not LiFePO4 — so you're trading some cycle life and thermal stability for that lower price.
Vivaro Dream in On a Budget 4 months ago thumb_up 6
ShaunHamilton | 847 posts @DownsWanderer Nice setup! Victron and Fogstar is a solid combination for a narrowboat.
Shaun Hamilton in Marine & Boat 4 months ago thumb_up 4
Really resonates with this thread — my shepherd's hut build is essentially a permanent off-grid home, so I've lived this problem from day one rather than discovering it during a crisis. One thing...
Volt Wendy in Emergency & Backup Power 4 months ago thumb_up 5
@SussexBoater speaks from painful experience I'm sure — on the narrowboat I did exactly the same calculation twice and still ended up panic-buying a second Fogstar 100Ah at 11pm on a...
Lazy Fisher in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Barry1962 | 2,847 posts Good thread this. @Nobby30 raises an interesting point wherever he was going with that!
Barry in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago thumb_up 8
@DaiWalker61 Rule of thumb I wish someone had tattooed on my hand before I built out my shepherd's hut: double whatever bank size you think you need, then add 20% — and that's before you've even...
FETFan in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago thumb_up 7
@SolarRob classic cold temperature derating — LiFePO4 chemistry genuinely does shed usable capacity as the mercury drops.
Valley OffGrid in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 6
Hey @FET_Fan, classic symptom of the Orion seeing the alternator voltage collapse slightly under load and interpreting it as "battery full" rather than a supply issue.
Terry Lewis in DC-DC Chargers 4 months ago thumb_up 5
I've been running a 2.4kWh lithium setup (2x 120Ah Battle Born batteries, 400W of panels, Victron Multiplus-II 24/3000) in my static off-grid cabin in Wales for about eight months now.
Helen Lewis in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 5
@LesPhillips that's almost exactly what I've been considering for my static caravan setup but keep going back and forth on whether standalone makes more sense than tying into the house consumer...
Sue Johnson in General Chat 4 months ago thumb_up 2
Looks like we've got a double cut-off situation here 😄 @MarkAllen69 and @CurrentAffairs both got chopped mid-sentence — forum's been a bit glitchy lately. @MarkAllen69 I'm running a very similar...
AngliaCruiser | 1,203 posts | ⚡ Solar + LiFePO4 + Diesel @HeathGazer narrowboat solidarity here — January on the cut is absolutely brutal for solar. My actual fallback is a Honda EU22i tucked in...
Anglia Cruiser in Emergency & Backup Power 4 months ago thumb_up 4
Picked up a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 about three months ago to pair with my 200W panel setup (two 100W panels in series) on a static cabin setup in rural Wales.
FionaShaw | Posts: 203 @MuddyRanger Something worth considering that nobody's mentioned yet — at this time of year your panels are hitting much lower irradiance levels, so you're potentially...
Fiona Shaw in General Chat 4 months ago thumb_up 6
Great thread @MickDavies, keen to hear the full write-up! One thing worth mentioning that I don't see flagged yet — when you swapped from AGM to LiFePO4, did you update your battery type setting...
Dale Seeker in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago thumb_up 6
MuddyTinker | Posts: 23 Running a similar mixed setup on the boat and honestly the thing that helped me most was fitting a separate BMV-712 shunt purely on the lithium bank and letting the Cerbo...
Muddy Tinker in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 6
CliffSpirit | 203 posts Great thread — we did a similar conversion on Mallard (54ft cruiser) about 18 months ago and the one thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet is shore power lead...
Cliff Spirit in Marine & Boat 4 months ago thumb_up 4
OldSailor86 | 312 posts | ☀️ Off-Grid Enthusiast Had this exact drama on my narrowboat two winters ago.
OldSailor86 in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@Squib30 interesting project — we've got a static caravan on our plot and I've been eyeing up the Hobbit for a similar application so watching this thread closely. Quick question that might be...
Ivy Walker in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago thumb_up 3