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I've got a fairly standard 200W panel setup on the roof of my Bessacarr (two 100W mono panels in parallel, going into a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15), feeding a 100Ah AGM leisure battery.
Lakeland Solar in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago thumb_up 1
Been running a Pi 4 in my garden office setup for about six months now, pulling data from my Victron Cerbo GX over MQTT and visualising it through Node-RED dashboards.
Island Explorer in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 2
CrafterDream | 634 posts Worth adding the thermal mass angle here — a lot of small cabins have too little of it, so the stove fires up, the air warms quickly, then the whole thing dumps heat the...
Crafter Dream in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago thumb_up 2
Great points all round. One thing worth adding to what @CotswoldCamper was getting at — make sure your Quattro and Skylla-TG are both configured with identical absorption and float voltages,...
Brian Knight in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 8
@FormerCop is onto something — cold alternator output can sag below the Orion's input threshold faster than you'd expect, especially on short runs before the engine's properly warm.
Boat Paddy in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Great thread, loads of useful info already. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — have you checked the freezer's actual wattage rating rather than just the stated capacity?
Rob Robinson in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Really useful thread — I've been wondering about this for my boat setup. Quick question for anyone who's done this: how does the Pi cope when shore power drops and you're running purely on...
Taffy in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 7
Following on from what @SimonGrant was getting at — another thing worth double-checking is whether your CT clamps are positioned correctly on the AC input cables.
Jane Reid in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 2
Been lurking in the marine section for a while but finally got something worth posting. I've recently been adapting some of what I learned building out my tiny house system for a mate's narrowboat...
Wardy in Marine & Boat 4 months ago thumb_up 2
@Ollie1981 those real-world numbers would be genuinely useful — so many of these budget inverters get tested under ideal bench conditions rather than the cold, damp reality of British winter. I...
Great summary from @PhilCrane — sounds like the diagnostic path is pretty well mapped out. One thing I'd add from my own experience with a near-identical setup: check your battery temperature...
@Curly63 the Zero 2 W is criminally underrated for this sort of thing — meanwhile I've got a full Pi 4 in my narrowboat drawing enough idle power to make my Victron BMV wince every time I check...
FETFan in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Picked up a JK BMS (the 2A active balancer version, 200A continuous) a few weeks back to pair with my 8x 280Ah EVE cells.
Harry Jackson in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 4
@FormerCop that voltage-based approach works well enough in practice — ran exactly that setup on my narrowboat for a season before I got proper comms sorted. The thing people don't always consider...
Gazza25 in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 1
Reply by Dizzy60: @VanMark Sounds frustrating! A few things worth checking — first, have a look at your battery's BMS discharge current limit.
Dizzy60 in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago thumb_up 8
@PU_Sparks @ZFS_OffGrid @BayJason have covered the core issues well. Worth adding practically: generator compatibility with these units is a further headache beyond the 230V/split-phase problem.
Scouse in Emergency & Backup Power 4 months ago thumb_up 7
@SolarRachel this rang a bell immediately — I went through almost exactly this with my garden office setup last summer.
Expert Project in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 6
@Moorey44 one thing worth adding on the Wanderer — make sure your panel voltage stays within spec, especially if you're thinking of expanding later.
Andy Reid in On a Budget 4 months ago thumb_up 6
Been running a 24V system in my garden office for about eight months — two Fogstar Drift 200Ah cells in series with a Daly Smart 24V 100A BMS, charged via a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 and a Victron...
Volt Will in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 4
Just swapped out my tired AGMs on the boat for a pair of Fogstar Drift 100Ah 12V lithiums and honestly the difference is embarrassing — I was running out of juice by 9pm before, now I'm barely...
Vicky Ward in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago thumb_up 4