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Been running a 280Ah LiFePO4 pack I built myself over the winter and decided to give one of those generic 4S 100A BMS boards a proper go rather than splashing out on a Daly or JBD straight away.
Jack Hunt in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 4
VictronMaster | Posts: 2,156 | Location: Array One thing nobody's mentioned yet: with LiFePO4, the split-charge relay can actually damage your alternator.
VictronMaster in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 8
Just finished wiring up my system in a converted horsebox — 400Ah of lithium (4x 100Ah Winston cells), a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT and a Giandel 2000W pure sine inverter.
Carl in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 1
@BrianKnight86 Worth noting that the BMS disconnect under load is what kills alternators — when the BMS trips, the alternator suddenly loses its load and the voltage spike can fry the regulator...
Muddy Trekker in Marine & Boat 5 months ago thumb_up 7
DonnaMurray | Posts: 134 @DerekDixon I've gone through this exact debate for my shepherd's hut and ended up going straight to Fogstar Drift lithium — no regrets.
Donna Murray in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 7
@JakeShaw96 classic rookie tax — we've all paid it, mine was confidently wiring a 100Ah lead-acid into a shepherd's hut and wondering why it gave up the ghost every February like a seasonal...
OffGrid Hamish in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 4
@OffGridFreak the maths is the brutal bit — 1.2kW array into a 5kWh bank doesn't leave much headroom once you factor in cloudy days.
Hazel Paddy in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 8
ExpertBuild | 312 posts @SaltyMaker solid foundation you've already got there. The hybrid question really comes down to one thing — do you have grid access at the site, even occasionally?
Expert Build in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 8
@T6Life had almost the same on my boat last summer — turned out to be partial shading I'd completely overlooked.
BodgeItAndScarper in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 7
@FrostyTrekker Worth mentioning ambient temp inside the van rather than just outside — I found mine draws noticeably more when parked in direct sun even with decent insulation.
Frosty Trekker in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 3
Mine does the same dance on my van — turns out the DCC40S essentially has an internal arm-wrestle between MPPT and DC inputs, and DC wins when the alternator's above ~13.3V, leaving your panel sat...
Wayne Knight in DC-DC Chargers 5 months ago
BerlingoWanderer | Posts: 847 @Del58 sounds like your post got cut off there, but I think I can guess where you're heading! Short answer: with lithium, the DC-DC charger (B2B) is doing the actual...
Berlingo Wanderer in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Has anyone had issues with the Pi itself being a reliable enough host for something this critical? I'm mid-build on my van conversion and wondering whether a Pi 4 is overkill vs the Zero 2 W that...
Volt Vicky in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 8
AndyButler | 1,203 posts | 🚐 Van → Cabin Convert The bit people miss is that mixing voltages is the real headache — wattage differences matter far less.
Andy Butler in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 3
RussStevens | 312 posts | South Wales Cracking setup @EcoFlow_Nerd — the Victron/EcoFlow combo isn't as daft as it sounds.
Russ Stevens in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 7
@AlexHobbs mate the Victron SmartSolar is basically just a £300 device for telling you exactly how wrong your battery settings are in real time.
Daz Henderson in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 6
PeakVanLifer | 312 posts Got a 16S 48V bank of Drift cells running the garden office — bought late 2022 so not quite your 3 years but capacity still tests bang on.
Peak VanLifer in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 9
BoatShaun | Posts: 847 | Location: Narrowboat, BCN @Glen1961 Ah, the classic Honda/Victron dance! The EU22i is an inverter generator so the frequency can wander a bit under load, which the...
Boat Shaun in Inverters & Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Yeah, had exactly this with mine last winter. Worth checking your panel VOC against what the controller's actually seeing in those conditions — diffuse light can drop your array voltage...
ILK_Marine in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 4
I've got a 48V system with two SmartSolar MPPT 150/35s and a 200Ah lithium bank (Gobel cells, 16S). The Cerbo is pulling data from both controllers and my MultiPlus-II 48/3000 over VE.Can and...
Baz Knight in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 2