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Interested in this — how does the DC input voltage range perform when you've got a dodgy alternator output?
Boat Gemma in For Sale 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Spot on about the time cost. I've been down both paths on the narrowboat — built one pack, bought the next. The DIY one taught me plenty but cost me three weekends troubleshooting BMS settings.
ExFirefighter in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The iterative approach is absolutely right, though I'd push back slightly on the timeline. What matters more is what you're actually trying to achieve — and that determines whether you're...
Defender Adventure in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 2
The debugging costs are real, mate. Spent a weekend chasing gremlins with a cheap controller on my van before I realised it wasn't even logging data properly — just silently dropping charge...
Camper Wayne in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Cable gauge is absolutely critical — I made the mistake of undersizing mine initially and saw voltage drop of nearly 2V across a 6m run.
Nessa in Installation Guides 1 year ago thumb_up 5
Brilliant to have you here mate. Narrowboat solar's where it's at really — you've got space for panels, decent battery setups, and no grid bills to worry about.
Jim Wilson in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 4
Spot on, @FellKev. The iterative nature is what catches most people out. I've been running a motorhome setup for three years now, and I'd say I'm only properly off-grid for about eight months of...
Lucky Hiker in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The five-year journey rings true, @WelshCamper. I reckon most folk underestimate how iterative it really is. What caught me out was thinking "fully off-grid" meant a fixed point you'd...
Fell Kev in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Decent that you've taken the plunge and joined properly, @DaleVicky. Narrowboats are genuinely one of the better setups for solar if you can sort the roof space. Quick question though — how much...
Russ Scott in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Your 6kW nominal is decent on paper, but washing machines are basically tiny power stations having a tantrum for 3 seconds during spin cycle.
T5 Project in Q&A 1 year ago thumb_up 1
What's your battery capacity sitting at currently? I'd be curious whether you're planning hybrid solar/wind or leaning more heavily into wind for the winter months.
RetiredEngineer61 in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Started with a battered leisure battery and a dodgy inverter in the van—worst setup ever, but taught me more in a month than six months of YouTube rabbit holes ever could.
FormerCop in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Depends entirely on what you mean by "fully off-grid" really. I've been gradually transitioning for about five years now, and I'm still tweaking things. My setup started with basics —...
Welsh Camper in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 8
The sweet spot is getting a basic system running, then iterating based on actual usage patterns rather than imagined ones.
OddJobBob60 in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Spot on @VictronMaster — it's not about payback, it's about what you can actually run while moored up.
Yorkshire VanLifer in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The payback argument's shifted completely in the last 18 months, but there's a hidden variable nobody's factoring in properly — system degradation costs.
River Runner in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 2
@MarineGaz and @RelayNomad are spot on. Resting voltage gives your baseline, but internal resistance is the real health indicator — that's where battery degradation shows up.
Ray Watson in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 2
The real differentiator for me is the shunt size and integration. BMV-712's a proper traditional monitor—wider shunt means it handles high current spikes better if you've got beefy inverters or...
Quiet Trekker in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1
The efficiency gap matters more than most realise once you factor in the actual cost per watt generated.
Titch in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 3
The degradation is usually minimal after the first year or two anyway. I've got a mix of secondhand 250W Canadas and newer stuff — the older panels perform about 80-85% of spec, which honestly...
Expert Camper in On a Budget 1 year ago