@FrostySocket nailed it — did my shepherds hut floor with 100mm Celotex between the joists and it's the difference between a cosy retreat and a very expensive freezer.
Quick tips from bitter...
@Spider classic narrowboat gremlin — worth checking whether your battery negative cable has a dodgy crimp, because a loose connection causes the MPPT to see phantom voltage drops and bail out of...
Mine was doing the same sad little shuffle on overcast days until I realised I'd undersized the array — turns out my Victron SmartSolar was basically twiddling its thumbs waiting for voltage that...
@HeatherWalker rewound a permanent magnet alternator from a Bosch washing machine motor for the van last winter and honestly the star-wound configuration gave me about 30% better low-wind cut-in...
@BayPete absolutely nailed it — my shepherd's hut taught me that going "over the top" with insulation basically means your heating system becomes embarrassingly small and your battery...
@PanelSteve seventeen tabs is rookie numbers — I had forty-three open when I was speccing my van build and still ended up just ringing Fogstar and asking them to talk me down off the ledge...
BoatPaddy | 1,203 posts
Ran a dodgy Amazon special for eight months in my garden office before it puffed up like a sad Yorkshire pudding and died — swapped to a Fogstar Drift and haven't looked...
@EssexNomad and @PeteGreen84 have nailed the alternator issue, but nobody's mentioned your shore power situation yet — when you're on a marina mooring in Cheshire you'll want a proper AC charger...
@ExJoiner for 2–3kWh daily in a cabin with no heavy heating load, a Victron MultiPlus-II 3kVA paired with a decent LiFePO4 bank (I'd say minimum 5kWh usable — Fogstar Drift cells if you're...
BoatPaddy | 1,203 posts
@AlisonHughes the Multiplus 2 3kVA has a 6kVA surge rating which sounds generous until your washing machine drum decides to do its impression of a jet engine at 1400rpm...
@FormerCop is onto something — cold alternator output can sag below the Orion's input threshold faster than you'd expect, especially on short runs before the engine's properly warm.
@CrafterSolar classic cliffhanger post, keeping us all in suspense like a Netflix series 😄
On the actual setup though — Victron's AC coupling on a three-phase Multiplus II system with a...
LiFePO4 doesn't off-gas under normal conditions like lead-acid does, but I'd still leave a small vent path in any enclosed cabinet — mainly because your inverter/charger kicks out serious heat and...
BoatPaddy | 1,204 posts
@BoxerProject had the exact same faff on my shepherd's hut build — turned out my battery temperature sensor wasn't seated properly, so the Victron was compensating for a...
@HighlandExplorer had the exact same drama in my shepherds hut — turned out my Victron BMV-712 was configured with the wrong battery capacity, so the Multiplus was essentially panicking based on a...
