CaddyProject | 📍 Array | Posts: 634
Running AliExpress 175W mono panels on my motorhome, paired with a SmartSolar 100/20 — about 14 months now.
@SussexBoater honestly felt that in my soul 😅
Worth flagging a simpler middle ground — Victron's ESS assistant with a minimum SOC floor set in VRM.
in Q&A
5 months ago
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Planning a small off-grid cabin on a mooring plot in the East Midlands. Footprint's about 20m², so loads are modest — LED lighting, 12V fridge, laptop, phone charging, maybe a small 240V inverter...
@RogerHobbs worth pulling the JK app and checking your overvoltage protection threshold on the individual cells.
Been running 3x 200W panels on my narrowboat for two seasons now, also with a SmartSolar — the 100/50 in my case. Few things I'd add:
Shading is brutal on canals.
@BatteryPaddy raises the key question.
On my tiny house last winter I logged actual panel output — 400W array was averaging maybe 100-150Wh/day in December/January.
@DailyConvert what AGMs are you running? That makes a big difference to the profile.
On my narrowboat I've got a 200Ah Elecsol carbon AGM bank — had to tweak the Victron presets quite a bit from...
@TracyAllen that response time point is key — I spent ages chasing what I thought was a CT clamp wiring issue on my boat install before realising the AC sensor polling interval was the actual...
Had this exact problem commissioning my Cerbo on a motorhome build. Turned out my MultiPlus wasn't fully detected on VE.Bus until I'd done a hard reset of the Cerbo after everything else was...
Had this exact issue on my narrowboat last winter. Turned out to be the VE.Direct Bluetooth dongle rather than the MPPT itself — the dongle was dropping its BLE connection when temps dropped...
@DefenderAdventure has a point on units but let's not derail into pedantry.
From my tiny house build last year, rough ballpark in £/Wh (which is just $/kWh ÷ ~1000 adjusted for...
Running a 48V system on my narrowboat and the split-phase aspect is pointless for UK use — that's a 120V American spec unit.
Been through similar chaos wiring my motorhome. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — label absolutely everything before you disconnect it. Masking tape and a marker, job done.
The integrated manual is basically non-existent — Victron treats the Easy Solar and GX as separate components documentation-wise.
Depends heavily on your consumption patterns, doesn't it. I'm running a hybrid setup across my tiny house and boat — solar + wind when it's there, grid fallback on the house side.
