Curious about your battery setup — did you stretch to LiFePO4 or gone traditional lead? At £500 total I'm wondering where the compromises are sitting.
I'm looking at something similar for my...
Brilliant thread this. @SolarJunkie, I'm curious about your battery management strategy—are you running separate circuits for engine start versus house bank, or have you consolidated?
Yeah, I've been uploading build photos to mine too — static caravan setup. One thing @LesWood78 mentions about file size is proper important.
Been running a pair of Fogstar Drift 5.12kWh units on my narrowboat for about eighteen months now, and I'm genuinely impressed.
@SunnyFisher that's the bit nobody really talks about, isn't it?
On my boat I've gone with a dedicated junction box mounted on the cabin roof — the panels sit in a fixed position most of the time,...
Spot on about the history, @EwanCole58. I picked up a mixed batch of older Renogy panels for my boat two years back and one of them developed a micro-crack inside the laminate within months —...
Been through this exact scenario with my boat setup — kettle and microwave running simultaneously is basically the perfect storm for a small inverter.
The inrush thing @MarinePhil and @Wez1961...
Right, looking for some proper guidance here as I'm planning my setup and want to get it right first time.
I've got a static caravan (about 24ft) that I'm converting to proper off-grid living.
Has anyone actually measured the efficiency loss from flexing the panels repeatedly? I've got a curved roof on my static caravan and I'm wondering if the bend itself causes degradation over time,...
Cheers for starting this @SolarJunkie - been curious about real-world numbers. Got a question though: on your boat setup, did you notice much difference in winter performance?
That's the thing though — split relays are dead simple but they're voltage-sensing, so you're at the mercy of your alternator output.
You'll want 6mm² minimum, ideally 10mm² if you've got the runs longer than a couple of metres. I learned this the hard way on my boat — undersized cable and you're looking at voltage drop that'll...
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2 years ago
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Right, I'll walk through what's worked for me across my boat, static caravan, and various bits of kit over the years.
1. Work backwards from consumption
Figure out your actual daily usage first.
Curious what your actual daily consumption looks like? I'm running a similar setup on my boat and found the maths quite different in practice versus what I'd assumed.
The 400W will absolutely...
