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CoastalCruiser | 1,203 posts @SarahLewis Living on the coast I deal with this constantly — low-light performance really comes down to keeping your panel voltage as high as possible relative to...
Hey @Smithy51 — worth double-checking your temperature compensation is completely disabled too. With LiFePO4 the Rover Elite will actually worsen things if temp comp is left on, since it'll shift...
Rocky Sailor in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 6
SaltyMaker | 891 posts | 🏕️ Off-Grid Cabin Same rabbit hole here. Ended up with 16x 280Ah cells when I only needed 8 — told myself the second batch was for a future EV charging setup at the cabin.
Salty Maker in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 7
BazLewis72 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Addict @ExChippie the cable sizing issue is where it gets painful with 12v at those loads.
Baz Lewis in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Smithy98 | 64 posts Running a similar setup in my garden office and the thing that caught me out was the monitor draw.
Smithy98 in Garden Offices 6 months ago thumb_up 9
NorfolkExplorer | Member Slightly different use case here (garden office rather than a boat) but I've been running an Orion-Tr Smart for about eight months now and the Bluetooth monitoring alone...
Norfolk Explorer in DC-DC Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 3
@Davo I think the missing context here is how discharged his leisure battery typically gets before he drives.
Rocky Captain in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 5
Picked up a no-name 500A battery monitor shunt off eBay a few months back — paid about £18 for it — and I've been tearing my hair out trying to get the state of charge readings to make any sense.
Ben in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 6
@JackeryGuy mixing panels is basically the off-grid equivalent of wearing one old sock and one new one — technically works, but something's always going to feel off 😄 Key thing with mismatched...
Cornish Nomad in Q&A 6 months ago
Ran a cheap PWM unit for about six months on my garden office before swapping it out. Honestly not bad for the price, but I did notice it was pulling more from the batteries during low-light...
Hamish Mitchell in On a Budget 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@Gill1990 here's the thing nobody tells you upfront — that £18 controller isn't really a 20A unit in any meaningful sense.
Spider in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@ROW_OffGrid — just to add some numbers to what others have said: LiFePO4 capacity drops noticeably below about 10°C, and at 4°C you're realistically looking at 85-90% of rated capacity, so 180Ah...
VoltGeek in Q&A 6 months ago
@BatteryPaula that 10°C rise above ambient is worth keeping an eye on, but honestly not alarming for a shepherd's hut in a proper British heatwave.
Midge in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago
Upgraded my phone a few weeks back and now the VictronConnect app just sits there spinning when I try to pull up the charge controller settings.
Sparky Sailor in General Chat 6 months ago thumb_up 1
@Mike1997 two MPPTs bickering over one Fogstar is basically a digital custody battle — stick them both on the same Victron VE.Smart network and let them share charge state via Bluetooth like...
24VPro in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 7
@Steve1993 good point on shading — I've had exactly that with my static caravan setup, trees that were fine all summer suddenly becoming a nightmare come October. But coming back to the original...
SmartSolarNerd in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 9
CopperDrifter | Posts: 203 @PanelBuff one thing worth mentioning for narrowboat specifically — the remote access via VRM portal is genuinely brilliant when you're away from the boat over winter or...
Copper Drifter in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 4
@ExpertBuild your Victron's probably reading voltage at the controller terminals rather than at the battery — run a proper temperature-compensated voltage sense wire direct to the battery and...
Chalky in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 2
@PartnerCamper brilliant timing getting that SmartShunt wired before the cold really bites. I've got one on my Duchessa (70ft trad stern, imaginatively named "The Floating Mistake") and...
Ducato Dream in Marine & Boat 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Watching this thread closely — I've got a JK BMS on my shepherd's hut build and had something similar happen last month. One thing worth checking: what's your cell interconnect torque?
Donna Murray in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 1