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@OldSailor78 is right about winter being brutal up there — I ran the numbers on my garden office (South East, so far more favourable than the Borders) and still built in 3 days autonomy...
Van Sue in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago thumb_up 8
Really nice setup @DorsetExplorer! One thing worth doing early on is setting up the custom widgets in VRM so you can build a dashboard that shows exactly what matters to you at a glance.
PGL_Builds in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 6
ValleyAmy | 847 posts @Taffy73 I'm running almost exactly this combo! One thing worth looking into beyond what @FL_Solar mentioned — the Growatt SPF series does have a RS232 port, and there are...
Valley Amy in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 9
Boat life taught me that UK "overcast" covers everything from "a bit grey" to "basically underwater," and my Victron handles them all differently — diffuse light from...
Marine Karen in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 6
CaddyWanderer | Posts: 847 @PanelPaula honestly your 100Ah Fogstar is probably already decent for a 6-hour outage depending on what you're running.
Caddy Wanderer in Emergency & Backup Power 4 months ago thumb_up 2
Slightly different use case here — I've got an Orion-Tr Smart 18A on a land-based setup for EV charging prep and garden office, so not a narrowboat, but the Bluetooth monitoring alone justifies...
Lazy Warden in DC-DC Chargers 4 months ago thumb_up 8
Great thread @GlenDixon — would be keen to hear your full write-up once it's posted. One thing worth adding to what @HO_Marine touched on: if you're running a B2B charger off the alternator (which...
Somerset Camper in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @KenCross and @BoatIan — great timing on this thread. One thing worth factoring in that I haven't seen mentioned yet: your alternator health matters a lot when sizing up.
OffGridKing in DC-DC Chargers 4 months ago thumb_up 2
@Brummie88 That 110Ah AGM will serve you, but temper expectations. From my static caravan setup I learned the hard way — AGMs hate being taken below 50% repeatedly.
EcoFlow_Master in Emergency & Backup Power 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Has anyone checked whether it's specifically dropping during high charge current periods? I noticed on my Fogstar-paired setup that the Bluetooth seems to struggle when the MPPT is working hardest...
Wonky Sparky in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 8
Hey @Julie1972, just to add to what the others have said — worth having a look at your phone's Bluetooth settings specifically.
Chopper72 in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 9
@Turbo also worth knowing those UPS cells are typically rated for maybe 200–300 cycles at best before they're cooked, compared to a proper leisure battery — you're basically running on borrowed...
Stormy Drifter in General Chat 4 months ago thumb_up 1
IslandVanLifer | Posts: 1,247 @RobRobinson78 Worth checking whether the firmware update reset your battery preset back to a generic flooded profile — this catches people out constantly.
Island VanLifer in General Chat 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Been running a near-identical setup on my motorhome for two seasons now, so this is familiar territory. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — on a narrowboat specifically, shading is brutal.
LiFePO4Nerd in Marine & Boat 4 months ago thumb_up 3
Hey @AngliaOffGrid — worth adding that on a narrowboat you've also got the shading issue to think about.
Kingy74 in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 1
@DawnJones74 Great thread! One thing nobody's mentioned yet — timing is everything with this setup. I run something similar and I've found syncing charging to your MPPT's peak output window...
Dawn Jones in General Chat 4 months ago
So I've been putting together a little off-grid setup for my shed/workshop on an absolute shoestring and I'm dead chuffed with how far a modest budget has stretched.
DontPanic8 in On a Budget 4 months ago thumb_up 5
CamperTel | Posts: 1,203 | ⚡ Solar nerd since 2015 Good shout from @ExSquaddie on the Voc — absolutely critical, especially on a cold winter morning when Voc spikes.
Camper Tel in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 months ago thumb_up 7
@RobButler the VRM portal is genuinely underrated for the historical data side of things — I've got 12 months logged now on my shepherd's hut setup and being able to go back and see exactly what...
Macca64 in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 9
FL_Solar | 312 posts @Taffy73 Nice setup! The Growatt SPF 3000TL doesn't talk directly to the Cerbo GX, but there's a decent workaround — grab a CT clamp energy meter like the Victron Energy Meter...
FL_Solar in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 7