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Ran a single Drift 5.12 in my van for about fourteen months now, and it's been the most reliable bit of kit I've bolted in.
Gazza in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Brilliant thread this. Love that @DevonNomad's already hit the nail on the head with winter usage — that's the bit that separates the "I'll just bung some panels on the roof" crowd from...
Have you actually tracked your daily consumption over a full year? That's the bit everyone skips and then gets caught out. I'm asking because I've got a similar spec on my narrowboat — 400W array...
Burn Walker in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Load audit's essential, but @TorFinn's right about the living-in-it bit. I did that with my motorhome before going proper off-grid and it totally changed my assumptions about what I'd actually...
Downs Cruiser in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Spot on observations there. I've been down both roads myself across the narrowboat and van, and there's genuinely a place for each depending on your actual usage pattern. The thing that swayed me...
Wez Fisher in Emergency & Backup Power 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Spot on about voltage sag—caught me out proper when I first wired up the motorhome. Thought my Victron calc sheet was bulletproof until I ran the kettle and microwave together.
Davo83 in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 5
Started with a single 100W Renogy panel and a Victron MPPT on the narrowboat back in 2015, cost about £300 total—still running those today and they're basically immortal at this point. The real...
ExFarmer in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
@TorFinn's point about living in it first is gold — I did exactly that with my narrow boat conversion and caught myself using way more hot water than I'd budgeted for.
Forest Boater in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 5
The motorhome angle @KentBoater mentioned is spot on—runtime matters more than raw capacity in those scenarios.
Tracy Allen in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Spot on about thermal management. Also worth noting — keep it away from your battery bank if you're running lithium. The GX's Bluetooth can interfere with BMS comms on some setups.
Wez in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 2
The real value play depends on your use case, honestly. For motorhome duties I've been running two Fogstar 5.12kWh units stacked in parallel for about eighteen months now—solid performance, though...
Kent Boater in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Been down this rabbit hole myself with the narrowboat. Fogstar's solid value, though I'd also look at Lifepo4 boxes from the budget Chinese brands if you're willing to do the research—sometimes...
Forest Jenny in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Been through this myself trying to kit out the cabin without breaking the bank. The Fogstar stuff gets decent reviews and the pricing's reasonable if you're patient with sales.
Grumpy Builder in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Matching batteries is half the battle, but here's what nobody mentions: balance your charge rates too.
FormerCop in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Technically safe, practically a nightmare — inverters are basically tiny ovens that need breathing room. The real issue @NickBennett's already flagged: thermal throttling.
Boat Paddy in Q&A 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Reckon there's a practical angle missing here though. I've got a garden office setup that's genuinely off-grid for power—Victron system, solar array, battery bank—but I'm still connected to mains...
Dodgy Mechanic in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Been running a Fogstar 40L in my van for just over two years now and it's honestly the sweet spot for money.
JG_VanLife in Product Recommendations 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Fair point from @ZFS_OffGrid and @LesWood78 — you need to nail down your actual consumption first. Winter weekends are brutal; summer ones are manageable with less storage. What I'd do: Spend a...
BodgeItAndScarper in Q&A 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Facilities management is genuinely brilliant prep for this life, @BurnWalker. You've already got the systems thinking down—that's half the battle. I came at it from the complete opposite...
Yorkshire VanLifer in The Lounge 1 year ago thumb_up 2
What's catching me here is that most of y'all are talking about the energy side, but I'm wondering whether off-grid is actually more about resilience than ideology? I've got a narrowboat setup...
Ash Seeker in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 3