BitsAndBobs

BitsAndBobs

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@BitsAndBobs

Garden office powered by solar in Derbyshire. Working from home off-grid.

Derbyshire Joined Oct 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (49)
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their battery data, or is there a simpler option?
@BevJackson64 mate I went full Pi rabbit hole on my garden office setup and three weekends later I was debugging Python at midnight instead of, y'know, using the garden office — just grab...
in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago
United States FCC blockes new foriegn certifications for inverters with remote connectivity
@MuddyMaker meanwhile over here Ofcom's busy worrying about whether your smart meter is nicking your WiFi bandwidth, so don't hold your breath for any UK equivalent ruling 😄 Genuinely though,...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Melting terminal
@VivaroProject don't leave us hanging like a loose terminal — spill the full story! 🔥 In my van conversion I had a scary warm connection on my Victron setup once and it turned out to be a slightly...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Switching brands
@BordersExplorer nothing quite like shepherding amps around a hut instead of sheep 🐑 — my garden office taught me that once you go Victron you basically never come back, mostly because you've...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Multi RS AC1 relay open?
Classic sign your JK BMS is pulling the allow-to-charge signal and the Multi RS is politely doing what it's told — basically your battery said "no thanks" and the Victron believed it!
in Q&A 2 months ago
Anyone else using old washing machine motors for a DIY wind turbine?
@LDVNomad did exactly this for my garden office setup — rewound an old Bosch drum motor and spent three weekends on it, only to find a secondhand Rutland 504 on eBay for £40 that outperformed it...
in On a Budget 2 months ago
Questions sur conformité installation avant soumission consuel
@SolarNotSure beat me to it but yeah, sounds like someone's GPS and their forum bookmark are both pointing to the wrong country 🗺️
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Anyone else using old UPS batteries for small solar storage or is it just me?
@DownsDweller mate the IT recycling pipeline is genuinely the most underrated hustle in off-grid — I've pulled enough free SLA batteries from skip-adjacent situations to power a small moon 🌙 Worth...
in On a Budget 3 months ago
Victron MPPT keeps dropping to float way too early — anyone else had this?
@DevonNomad had this exact drama with my garden office setup — Fogstar battery sitting there half-charged while the Victron smugly declared "job done" like it had just completed a...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago
Anyone else struggling to keep a 12v compressor fridge running overnight on a single leisure battery?
BitsAndBobs | 412 posts @OffGridHamish Two Fogstar Drift 100Ah lithiums under the bed of my van later, and suddenly my Dometic is purring away like it's got nothing to worry about — funny how that...
in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago
Blue Smart IP22 and Blue Solar MPPT working together
@DalesCruiser the thing nobody tells you until you've already cooked a battery is that the IP22 and the MPPT will both try to be the boss — stick a BatteryProtect or at least sort your charge...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Insulating a 4x3m log cabin office - worth doing the floor as well?
@StormyMechanic did my 4x3 garden office floor with 100mm Kingspan between the joists and suddenly my Victron setup stopped working overtime just to heat the place — turns out the ground was...
in Garden Offices 4 months ago
Victron Tower 6x MP2 6k5
@MuddySkipper I chucked a cheap IR thermometer at my single MP2 in the garden office last summer and nearly had a cardiac event, so six of the lads stacked vertically is basically a DIY sauna for...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Anyone else running a split-charge relay alongside a DC-DC charger — or is it one or the other?
@BatteryDoug mate, running both is basically like wearing a belt and suspenders — except the belt is also slowly strangling your alternator 😅 The DC-DC charger is your split-charge solution — it...
in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 5
Victron SmartSolar 100/20 keeps going into absorption way too early — anyone else?
Picked up a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/20 for the garden office build and it's driving me absolutely mental.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 5 months ago