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@Cleggy—absolutely. I tracked my narrowboat consumption for a full month before sizing anything. Kettle, fridge, heating, lights, laptop charging—the lot. Real data beats guesswork every time.
OffGrid Jack in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Honestly, if you're not utterly skint, the Fogstar 5.12s are proper value — I've got two in the motorhome and they're solid as they come.
FogstarFan in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Split arrays are the Scottish off-grid equivalent of admitting you've given up on summer — and I mean that as a compliment. Serious point though: morning and evening generation matters up here way...
FormerCop in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The romanticising bit resonates—I've seen plenty of folk show up with Pinterest pictures of off-grid cabins, realise there's actual work involved, and vanish within a season. What's worked for me...
WingAndPrayer in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Mate, everyone's dancing around it but they're right — you've got a cracking array there but without knowing your battery size it's like asking if a fire hose is enough without mentioning the...
FormerCop in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Had this exact dilemma when setting up my garden office a couple of years back. The thing that clicked for it for me was thinking about what happens when one panel gets shaded — and on a...
Crispy Wanderer in Q&A 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Been through this myself with the motorhome setup. Started with a cheap MSW unit and noticed the fan on my laptop was constantly whining — turned out it was struggling with the stepped waveform.
Salty Grafter in Inverters & Chargers 1 year ago thumb_up 2
@Mark1978's spot on about Homestead Rescue — the power systems stuff is genuinely useful, even if the rest is a bit dramatised.
SolarJunkie in The Lounge 1 year ago thumb_up 4
The efficiency argument gets overstated, but there's a subtler benefit worth considering: the II's improved transformer design means better performance at partial loads, which is where most of us...
LDV Camper in Inverters & Chargers 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Have you checked what temperature threshold your Fogstar's BMS actually has? Mine's set to 5°C, which is annoying but manageable in a van situation. The workaround I've been tinkering with is...
Cleggy in Q&A 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Been through this myself on the narrowboat—went through three different setups before landing on something sensible.
Rusty Spanner in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 year ago thumb_up 3
The consumption audit is spot on, but I'd add that you need to separate your loads into categories: essentials that run year-round (fridge, heating), seasonal stuff (water heating), and...
Lakeland Nomad in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Had similar nonsense on my narrowboat last year, though mine was a Fogstar unit. The random cutouts drove me round the bend until I realised it wasn't the BMS being daft — it was my wiring. Worth...
Pete James in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Worth noting you'll want to test it under load before shipping — even units in storage can develop capacitor issues if they've been sat idle for 12+ months.
Andy Robinson in For Sale 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The real test is whether you're genuinely committed or just romanticising it. Most of us stumbled into this through doing—I started with a garden office solar setup that didn't work, asked...
Golden Socket in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Mate, the real question is whether you're the type to enjoy soldering at 11pm when a cell goes wonky, or if you'd rather pay extra for someone else's 3am panic attack.
MrBodge73 in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The shaking is usually poor jaw alignment rather than tool quality — check your crimper isn't bent. That said, for MC4 and battery terminals, you really need a proper ratcheting crimper...
Devon Dweller in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 3
@LuckySkipper spot on with the belt and braces. I use VRM plus a cheap 4G dongle with a Pi running a custom dashboard—gives me actual peace of mind.
Lefty in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The ModBus TCP setup is basically "follow the manual to the letter or spend three days debugging why your inverter won't talk to anything," but once it clicks you'll be automating...
Brook Lover in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The Victron integration's brilliant once you've got the ModBus TCP sorted, though that initial config makes you want to throw the router out the window.
FormerCop in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 2