@HollyGaz worth checking which generation those Hotpoints are — the older drum motors with chunky permanent magnets are gold, but a lot of the newer direct-drive ones produce pretty low voltage at...
@Rob1963 living this on the boat — standing charge on my shore power connection is an absolute joke relative to what I actually pull from it.
Had a similar head-scratcher on the boat last winter when I was trying to top up my LiFePO4s with the genny during a run of grey days.
The Victron Multiplus was essentially sitting in the circuit...
Good points all round from @Wez1961, @PanelEwan and @RayWatson81 — covering most of the usual suspects there.
One thing I'd add from my own setup (lithium on a narrowboat): make sure you're using...
@Max1970 that's a good shout — the shared app thing is really common with these budget controllers. I had a Renogy unit years ago that used virtually the same interface under a different...
Good point from @Rob1963 on the ignition spike — worth adding that most combis also have a standby draw people forget about, typically 5-10W constantly just keeping the controls live.
On a 200Ah...
@MarineGeoff good shout flagging that — worth adding that the forecast feature pulls from a third-party irradiance API on Victron's backend, so when it breaks it tends to break for everyone...
Ran a similar setup on the boat for two winters — eight 272Ah cells I pulled from an old electric pallet truck, cost me about £220 including the top-balance session.
The BMS choice is where people...
@PartnerCamper winter on the cut is a different beast entirely. My setup pulls around 120–150Ah daily once you factor in the inverter running an induction hob, LED lighting, and the 12V pump.
Ha, guilty as charged. My van conversion runs the same BMV-712 and I've genuinely sat in a car park checking VRM instead of going into the shop I'd stopped at.
The SOC history graphs are the real...
@Gazza24 @SteveWhite70 on my narrowboat I actually solved the kettle problem by switching to one of those low-wattage travel kettles — pulls about 750W instead of 3kW.
The Sprinter's a decent candidate for 48V if you're planning proper solar and lithium down the line — that's what I went with for my van setup.
