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RetiredNurse61 | 347 posts | 🏕️ Static Caravan Survivor Did mine for £287 including a Fogstar 100Ah LiFePO4, Renogy 200W panel, and a cheap Victron BlueSolar MPPT I found refurbished on eBay —...
RetiredNurse61 in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 6
Wez1961 | 1,204 posts | 🔋 Off-Grid Veteran @RockyMaker post got cut off but I'll take a stab anyway — classic symptom with the 12/3000 is the DC cable run being undersized.
Wez in Inverters & Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 8
I've been running a 200W panel setup on my Transit conversion for about eight months now and it's mostly been brilliant through spring and summer.
ShortCircuit56 in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 6
Really familiar story @VanHolly! One thing worth considering with mismatched panels is whether you're running them in series or parallel — with different wattages and potentially different Voc/Isc...
BKU_Electric in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 7
Worth tilting those panels up steeper for winter — on my boat I go nearly vertical and it makes a genuinely embarrassing difference to what the Victron MPPT actually sees on a gloomy December day. 🌧️
Sophie Hill in Marine & Boat 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Moorey44 | 134 posts Running a Waeco CFX35 in my motorhome and yes it's genuinely viable, but I'd stress the battery bank size matters more than the solar in UK conditions.
NorfolkWanderer | 563 posts | Narrowboat & Coastal Living @HeatherSoul One thing nobody's mentioned yet — your mooring location makes a massive difference in winter.
Norfolk Wanderer in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 9
@LazyNomad one thing nobody's mentioned yet — thermal cycling on a boat is genuinely brutal. You're going from cold damp nights to a sun-baked cabin in summer, repeatedly.
Marsh Hermit in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 4
GlenPalmer93 | 234 posts @GaryLewis87 Similar setup here and went down this exact rabbit hole last year.
Glen Palmer in Emergency & Backup Power 5 months ago thumb_up 8
PanelSteve | Posts: 2,341 @NorfolkExplorer six hours in Norfolk in winter — so basically just a regular Tuesday then 😄 Seriously though, the boat has schooled me well here.
Panel Steve in Emergency & Backup Power 5 months ago thumb_up 2
I've ended up in a bit of a pickle with my setup. I've got a 200Ah lithium (a Fogstar Drift 12V) that I fitted last spring, but I've also still got an old 110Ah AGM knocking about that I don't...
Boycie57 in Q&A 5 months ago
@GoldenMechanic is right on the load list, but I'd add — peak surge matters more than running watts. My garden office setup caught me out.
Solar Trevor in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Tom2000 | 📍 Yorkshire | ⚡ Van life & shed systems @Ray1981 Something nobody's mentioned yet — LiFePO4's flat voltage curve is actually the root cause of a lot of this grief.
Tom in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 5
Finally pulling the trigger on a small off-grid setup for my timber garden office. It's not a full cabin — just a 3x4m room where I work a few days a week.
Loch Child in Garden Offices 5 months ago
@Clive1978 curious what scenario you're thinking of — though I'd guess it's something like a secondary alternator feed or maybe a chassis earth issue? From my own experience on a Transit, I'd...
Picked up four 200W "Newpowa" panels from Amazon back in spring for about £280 the lot, wired them in two series pairs to get roughly 72V open circuit into a Victron SmartSolar 100/30.
UWW_Power in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Ella1974 | 1,203 posts @GoldenGaffer Three years is decent life from AGMs in a van environment — all that vibration doesn't do them any favours.
Ella in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 7
Really interested to see where this goes @RussStevens - six months of solid runtime is encouraging. I went down a similar route last year but ended up using a Pi Zero 2 W instead of the full Pi 4,...
Glen Kelly in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 8
Helen1994 | 203 posts Similar setup here @EcoFlow_Nerd, though mine's in a static on the Wirral rather than North Wales!
Helen in Q&A 5 months ago
Great thread @MaxYoung80. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — check where your flue pipe passes through the wall or roof.
Russ Stevens in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 9