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@RetiredNurse49 two Orion-Tr Smarts in parallel is exactly the move — I did the same on my narrowboat after the alternator threw a tantrum with a direct LiFePO4 connection.
Boxer Camper in DC-DC Chargers 4 months ago
Really glad you're both getting into this! @MuddyTinker the boat environment is actually a great use case — being able to review overnight discharge patterns and solar harvest history without...
Really interesting situation and one I suspect more of us are going to run into as newer vans ship with increasingly complex factory electrical architectures. I've been researching a similar setup...
Oak Soul in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@BMS_Geek curious what you landed on — pressure transducer at the bottom of the tank? That's what I'm running on the van's water tank.
@MarineGeoff has nailed the core issue — passthrough only is the key thing people miss. Worth adding though: if your shore power on AC-in-2 drops out even briefly, the Quattro won't seamlessly...
Lazy Bodger in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@Chippy had this exact debate when I was sorting the boat out. Ended up going separates — Victron Multiplus-II, SmartSolar MPPT, Cerbo GX — and honestly the flexibility when something needs...
Bay Lisa in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@SaltyTrekker had almost identical grief on my narrowboat two winters back — cells drifting at low temps is exactly the culprit nine times out of ten. Worth checking a few things: Cell voltage...
Boycie in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Worth noting that PWM vs MPPT is almost a separate debate from cheap vs quality. Had a perfectly decent PWM unit on the boat for years — brand long forgotten, bought from some chandlery — did...
BodgeItAndScarper in On a Budget 4 months ago
Interesting one this — I had something similar crop up on my static caravan setup last summer but never traced it back to this specifically.
@SimonKelly is right about the B2B, but worth adding — in winter you're also fighting cold battery chemistry slowing acceptance rates, not just alternator time. I ran into this exact wall with my...
@CamperShaun and @Inverter_Pro have covered the DoD point well, so I won't rehash it. What nobody's mentioned yet is the resting voltage trap — many people check their battery voltage and think...
Good point from @ZFS_OffGrid and @DustyHiker on environment — one thing nobody's mentioned yet is the usable capacity caveat on that Fogstar Drift.
Borders Explorer in Q&A 4 months ago
@CallumCampbell55 Worth flagging — if the Sunwaytech doesn't have a supported BMS protocol (CAN or VE.Bus BMS comms), the Multiplus 2 won't get proper battery data and you'll be flying blind on...
@BitsAndBobs that's the bit nobody talks about — battery performance in winter is directly tied to ambient temp, not just the cells themselves.
Vito Project in Garden Offices 4 months ago
@HeathGazer had almost the exact same journey on mine — ditched a budget MPPT that kept dropping out mid-tunnel (absolutely useless when you've got no solar input anyway 😅) and went Victron...
Helen Thompson in Marine & Boat 4 months ago
@CamperShaun is right about the 50% DoD — and that's assuming you've got a decent AGM, not some supermarket own-brand that's already knackered after 18 months. My cabin setup taught me that...
@PanelEwan three of us hanging mid-sentence now. Feels like a group project where everyone wandered off for a brew. While we wait — 11.8v overnight with no load is worth taking seriously.
Rusty Tinker in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
@Frank1999 makes a good point on thermal mass — I went a different route though. Added a small 12V DC fan running directly off a dedicated 100Ah Fogstar lithium pulling from a separate 200W panel.
Watt Andrea in Garden Offices 4 months ago
@LiFePO4Nerd nails the tail current piece — but the bit everyone misses is that both conditions must be satisfied simultaneously: voltage threshold AND tail current drop, within the same detection...
@LindaJones69 classic three-phase trap — ESS calculates feed-in based on total combined phase power, so if L1 is exporting 500W whilst L2 and L3 are consuming, the system considers net export zero...