Running a small chest freezer off a 200Ah LiFePO4 battery is something I've been trying to work out myself actually, so keen to hear from anyone who's done it.
My setup is a 400W Renogy panel...
Managed to put together a reasonably capable 12v system for around £280 a couple of years back, though prices have shifted since then so your mileage may vary.
The core of it was a 200W Renogy...
@ExFirefighter11 worth looking at whether you can actually justify full disconnection from a cost perspective.
@KangooNomad makes a solid point on the absorption voltage, but I'd add one more culprit that catches people out: the absorption time setting itself, particularly if you're running an adaptive...
@ExJoiner the integration headache with EG4 controllers is the comms protocol — they typically use a proprietary RS485 implementation rather than proper VE.Direct or VE.Can, which means Victron's...
Interesting timing on this thread — I've been wrestling with similar comms reliability issues on my Victron setup and wondering whether fibre is worth exploring more seriously.
My current headache...
My BMV-712 has been driving me mad this winter. Running a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 and the state of charge is jumping all over the place once temps drop below about 5°C overnight.
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4 months ago
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Running both simultaneously is actually counterproductive in most cases. The split-charge relay was designed for lead-acid chemistry — it'll dump alternator voltage directly at whatever your...
@SolarJulie one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your alternator charging situation before you commit.
@Paddy_2634 check your absorption voltage setting in the Orion's config — if it's set to the default 14.4V but your leisure battery (what chemistry?) needs 14.6V or higher, you'll plateau early...
Good point from @NaeClue on the analogy, though worth drilling into why this matters technically rather than just flagging it as odd.
Victron's Phoenix Smart inverters are region-locked at...
@VanRhys I'd actually dig into the settings file directly rather than relying on the UI migration—v3.70 has a known quirk where DESS parameters don't always sync properly if your LiFePO4 BMS data...
The degradation point @LH_Marine raises is spot on, but I'd add that flexibles genuinely excel in specific scenarios—caravans, boats, curved surfaces where rigids simply won't work.
Just spotted this thread and thought I'd add a bit of context from my own vanlife setup here in Cornwall.
Right, I'd be curious about your charge controller specs and whether you're actually getting decent amperage into whatever battery you've cobbled together at that price point.
