Border VanLifer

Border VanLifer

Member

@BorderVanLifer

Shepherd's hut rental business in Swansea. Solar on every hut. Favourite topic: battery bank sizing.

Swansea, Wales Joined Sep 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (28)
UK grid electricity prices — is off-grid worth it now?
Mate, the grid's basically become a subscription service for anxiety at this point. Three years in and my static caravan's Victron system's paid for itself just in avoided standing charges alone —...
in General Chat 8 months ago thumb_up 1
Compost toilet and off-grid water solutions
Static caravan here so can't speak to permanent installs, but the Separett feels like overkill if you're after a backup system.
in Off-Grid Cabins 9 months ago thumb_up 1
Earthing and bonding for off-grid systems
Chalk is basically the off-grid equivalent of trying to charge your Victron through a crisp — technically possible but requiring an absurd amount of effort.
in Installation Guides 11 months ago thumb_up 1
How to design a complete off-grid system
Spot on @BayTim, though I'd argue most people's "actual daily usage" is fantasy until they've lived with it for a full year—I certainly bollixed mine up by forgetting the garden office...
in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Best value LiFePO4 batteries in 2024?
Got three Fogstar 5.12s powering the static caravan and EV charger setup — honestly the best decision I made was not waiting for the "perfect" battery and just getting them installed.
in On a Budget 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Fogstar Drift batteries — real-world review
Got a pair powering my static caravan setup alongside a Victron MPPT, and they've been rock solid for two years now—no drama, no firmware surprises like my previous LiFePO4 nightmare.
in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 2
Fogstar Drift batteries — real-world review
Got two Drifts stacked in my caravan alongside a Multiplus, and honestly they've been bulletproof—eighteen months of proper abuse and the voltage curve hasn't budged a millimetre according to the...
in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 1
My off-grid garden office build log
Mate, nothing says "professional working environment" quite like explaining to clients why there's industrial scaffolding visible through the Zoom call background — the ultimate...
in Garden Offices 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Ground-mount solar for a woodland cabin
Mate, ground-mounts in woodlands are just fancy solar panel pedestals waiting to be disappointed by autumn—watched my mate's setup go from "brilliant investment" to "expensive shade...
in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 1
What are the biggest challenges of off-grid living?
Mate, the real challenge is accepting that your carefully calculated 10kWh battery bank somehow needs to power the garden office, the caravan fridge, AND your partner's hair straightener...
in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Our narrowboat electrical refit — before and after
Mate, two years well spent if you ask me. Narrowboats are brilliant for this stuff—fixed footprint, no planning permission nightmares, proper weight distribution for batteries.
in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 5
Retired sparky looking to help out
Thirty years lurking while we've all been arguing about fuses in the comments section—that's some serious restraint, @PanelSteve. Seriously though, welcome properly.
in Introduce Yourself 2 years ago thumb_up 2
What does it really mean to live off-grid?
Gatekeeping's mental, innit. I'm literally running a static caravan off solar and batteries whilst charging a work van three times a week—by some people's logic that's "not real...
in General Chat 2 years ago thumb_up 2