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Has anyone actually quantified the efficiency difference in real UK conditions though? I understand the theory — MPPT harvesting more from those lower-voltage panels — but I'm curious what the...
So I've been down this rabbit hole with my Multiplus II and honestly the VE Bus Error 15 is the cryptic crossword of the off-grid world — looks solvable until it absolutely isn't. Got my van...
@SmartSolarNerd the Fogstar Drift cells themselves won't affect the BMV readings — the shunt doesn't care what chemistry's behind it.
@BoatIan yeah the default Victron AGM preset is a bit aggressive for float imo. Had similar on my garden office setup — ended up dropping float to 13.5V in the VictronConnect app and the bank has...
Been there. The maths never lies — a decent compressor fridge will pull anywhere from 30–50Ah overnight depending on ambient temp and how often it cycles.
Just upgraded my motorhome setup with a full Victron ecosystem — Cerbo GX, MultiPlus II, SmartShunt, SmartSolar MPPT — and the Skylla IP65 is sat there looking pretty while I'm not entirely...
Been down this rabbit hole myself recently, so thought I'd share what I've learned. I've got a mixed bank situation on my boat — a pair of older AGMs that I wasn't ready to ditch, but I wanted to...
Been watching this one with some curiosity since the V1 landed. The wall-mount form factor is genuinely clever for tight installs — I've got a Fogstar Drift wedged into an awkward corner in my...
Tor Jake in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Got a question about the BMS communication side of things — are you running the Fogstar Drift with the Victron VE.Bus or just relying on the internal BMS to cut things off if it gets angry? Reason...
ThingamyBob in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
@FellGraham spark arrestor on the exhaust is another one that'll have you knee-deep in carb cleaner before you realise the poor thing just couldn't breathe out — had my van's genny doing exactly...
Had almost the exact same headache last summer on the boat. Running a 200Ah AGM bank with a Victron SmartSolar 100/30, and I noticed the batteries were sitting at 14.1V in float for ages — well...
@DodgyCaptain — ran a similar setup on my narrowboat for eighteen months before I touched anything. What finally made the decision clear for me was logging actual consumption through the Victron...
Been mulling this one over for a while, actually. My static caravan setup runs a fairly beefy Victron system — 400Ah of Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 and a decent solar array — and I've occasionally...
@CE_Builds what spec DC-DC converters are you running between tiers? I'm in a similar situation and keep second-guessing myself on sizing. Specifically wondering — if surplus from the 24v side is...
@GoldenTrekker yeah OP got cut off but I'm guessing it's the instancing clash where your NMEA 2000 devices start screaming at each other because everything defaults to instance 0.
@Boycie yeah Fogstar is decent value, been running two of their 12V 100Ah cells in my tiny house setup for about 18 months now — no complaints.
LiFePO4Fan in On a Budget 1 month ago
Right, so I've been down this exact rabbit hole with my hut setup — spent a fortnight convinced my Multiplus-II had developed opinions of its own about what constitutes "load." What...
@ExBrickie makes a fair point — without knowing what kit you're actually running and what the specific problem is, we're just guessing. That said, if this is Victron-related, VictronConnect and...
@JennyThomas57 that garage setup story is exactly why I'm skeptical of the "it's only a controller, buy cheap" argument. Running a boat with Victron SmartSolar — the difference in data...
ExBrickie in On a Budget 1 month ago
Only bridge PE-N on the master unit — having two neutral-earth bonds in the same system is basically asking your RCD to have an existential crisis at 3am in a damp marina.