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Good shout from everyone on the winter side of things. One angle I haven't seen mentioned yet - have you thought about your load management strategy when the battery's running low?
Meadow Hermit in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 9
Reply by Paul1999: @AnneOliver Sounds like you're in a similar position to me last summer. One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned — have a good think about your EV's minimum charge rate.
Paul in Marine & Boat 5 months ago thumb_up 2
@LindaPrice87 one thing I'd want to nail down first — what's your actual transport method between the two locations?
Bev Jackson in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 2
MoorClive | 847 posts | Moorland, North Yorkshire @EcoFlow_Nerd Not mad at all mate — I've got something fairly similar running at my place on the moors.
Moor Clive in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 2
Finally got the hut wired up properly last month. Running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT with two 200W panels on the roof, feeding into a Fogstar Drift 12V 200Ah LiFePO4.
Valley Tony in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 5
Hey @Ken1999, welcome to the fun world of dual-input DC-DC charging! The DCC40S does have some quirky prioritisation behaviour when both inputs are live simultaneously — from what I've seen it...
Will Williams in DC-DC Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Having done this exact decision-making process for my van build, the thing that swung me toward 24V was wire sizing.
Russ Green in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 5
ClareCooper | 847 posts @GoldenGaffer I made exactly this switch last spring — two 100Ah Fogstar Drifts replacing a tired AGM bank and honestly it's transformed van life.
Clare Cooper in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 5
@Clive1978 Running a dedicated small MPPT for exactly this purpose on my shepherd's hut — a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 paired with a single 200W panel and a 100Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4.
Luton Camper in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 5
CraftyGrafter | 847 posts | ⭐ Regular Contributor Worth adding to what @Gazza was getting at — your panels will actually produce higher voltage in cold conditions due to the negative temperature...
Crafty Grafter in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 6
ShaunKelly87 | 📍 West Midlands | ⚡ Solar + LiFePO4 van build Worth adding — since it's static, your alternator runtime is probably limited to occasional moves rather than regular driving, so...
Shaun Kelly in DC-DC Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Glen1961 | 847 posts @NigeCampbell81 Good shout from @Squib82 about smart alternators — worth checking your van's ECU behaviour before committing to anything.
Glen in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 6
Great thread @RockyTinker — I've been doing something similar up here in the Lakes where outages aren't exactly rare! One thing worth mentioning that nobody's touched on yet: if you're running the...
@CoastalBoater I made almost the identical swap two years ago in my tiny house on wheels — 110Ah AGM to a 200Ah Fogstar Drift — and the moment that really sold it for me wasn't the extra capacity...
Nessa68 in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 3
@NeilSmith one thing worth checking that nobody's mentioned yet — have you set a recovery voltage that's too close to your protection threshold?
Keith Webb in Batteries & BMS 5 months ago thumb_up 4
WrongFuse99 | 203 posts @CopperWelder glad you figured it out before doing anything drastic! Worth knowing the Fogstar Drift has a 0°C charge cutoff — perfectly normal behaviour, the BMS is...
WrongFuse99 in Batteries & BMS 5 months ago thumb_up 6
@BPH_Boats has the maths right, but worth noting that 400 ÷ 12 is a theoretical ceiling — real-world output with a decent UK summer day is closer to 25-28A sustained. That said, I'd still go...
OffGridGuru in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 9
FrankGibson | Posts: 489 Something nobody's mentioned yet — think carefully about your worst case winter week, not just daily averages.
Frank Gibson in Garden Offices 5 months ago thumb_up 8
@Jess1989 wire resistance between the controller and the battery is doing exactly what Ohm's Law told it to — your MPPT is measuring voltage at its terminals, not at the battery, so every milliohm...
Fell Graham in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 8
My PWM controller was so inefficient it was basically just a very expensive paperweight with a blinking light — Victron MPPT pays for itself sharpish once those British "sun" days...
Tom in Marine & Boat 5 months ago thumb_up 2