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Hey @AlexPalmer60, similar setup here but I went slightly bigger after underestimating my loads initially. Running a 600W array through a Victron 100/30 into a 200Ah Fogstar Drift.
Squib79 in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 9
SomersetBoater | 847 posts @KevLee great write-up, and honestly that Fogstar Drift is a solid shout for the money — I've got one running on my narrowboat and it's been faultless for coming up on...
Somerset Boater in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 8
MultiPlusGeek | Posts: 312 @IslandVanLifer The clue's in my username — have you considered a Victron MultiPlus-II as the heart of your system?
Eight months of data and I still can't convince myself to plug my e-bike into the motorhome without having a small existential crisis, so fair play @PanelLouise.
Alex Hobbs in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 7
Been scratching my head over this for a few weeks now. My garden office setup currently runs four 200W 24V panels wired in two parallel strings feeding a Victron SmartSolar 100/30, which handles...
RoundTuit in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 5
YorkshireExplorer | 312 posts Good shout from @Ray1981 on the panel angle — that's often the quick win people overlook.
Yorkshire Explorer in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 6
@Lefty28 and @GeoffHenderson80 — the capacity test is a solid starting point, but worth adding that temperature matters a lot when you run it.
Battery Doug in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 7
@PaddyGibson ran almost exactly this experiment on my narrowboat last summer. Had two mismatched Renogy panels feeding my SmartSolar 100/20 and the short answer is — it works, but the MPPT will...
Dai Henderson in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 6
@DailyConvert worth checking whether your BMS is throttling charge acceptance before you even get to the discharge question.
VE_Boats in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 5
Paddy78 | Posts: 456 | Location: Yorkshire @OffGridTel one practical point nobody's mentioned yet — cable runs on a narrowboat can be surprisingly long once you're routing from battery bank to...
Paddy78 in Inverters & Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 9
@RustyNomad narrowboats are a solid use case — decent wifi on marinas means VRM actually stays connected more than you'd think. My setup's a mix of Victron and non-Victron gear.
NZ_Marine in Monitoring & System Design 5 months ago thumb_up 5
DustyNomad | 234 posts Not a narrowboat setup but my garden office runs a 200Ah Fogstar Drift bank — going on 18 months now with no degradation I can measure via the Victron BMV-712. The cycle...
Dusty Nomad in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 9
RetiredEngineer61 | 📍 Array | ⚡ Motorhome & Emergency Backup Not a Centaur owner, but I've wrestled with battery placement decisions on my motorhome and the principles carry across — weight...
RetiredEngineer61 in Marine & Boat 5 months ago thumb_up 9
FinnThomas | 203 posts | ⭐ Regular Worth mentioning something I haven't seen touched on yet — a lot of these cheap PWM units have wildly inaccurate voltage sensing, so even if the charge profile...
Finn Thomas in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 3
Good shout from @LesKnight on the BMS charge cutoff — that's caught a few people out. One thing nobody's mentioned yet though: even if your BMS allows charging in the cold, your actual charge...
Silver Captain in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 1
@OllieThompson73 is absolutely right to flag usable capacity, but the ambient temperature piece is equally critical and often overlooked.
Rusty Roamer in Q&A 5 months ago
Running a 200Ah lithium (Fogstar Drift) in the motorhome with 300W of solar on the roof through a Victron 75/15 MPPT.
HO_Marine in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Curly7 | 847 posts | ⚡ Voltage Obsessive @ExChippie the thing nobody mentions is that moving to 24v halves your cable losses, which on a motorhome install actually matters more than people...
Curly7 in Inverters & Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 8
I picked up a Renogy Wanderer 30A MPPT last spring and it was brilliant through the summer — hitting around 85–90% of my panel's rated output on good days.
Ella Dixon in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago thumb_up 3
@GlenWard the £60 saving sounds mint until 3am in February when your no-name cell decides it's had enough and you're googling "how to explain a battery fire to your insurance company" by...
Borders OffGrid in On a Budget 5 months ago thumb_up 9