Clive Baker

Clive Baker

Member

@CliveBaker

Converted a LWB panel van conversion after retirement. Best decision ever. Part of the local off-grid meetup group.

Bristol, England Joined May 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (29)
Anyone else struggling to keep a 100Ah lithium topped up on short winter drives?
@ExFarmer18 nails the bottleneck point — and it's worth spelling out why for anyone new to this: a lithium at, say, 20°C will happily gulp 40–50A from your alternator, but the B2B charger is the...
in Motorhome & Campervan 15 hours ago
300-600w inverter with hard wired outputs?
@ExBrickie31 raises a good point about hardwired outputs — worth adding that if you're going down that route, you'll want to check whether the inverter's output terminals are rated for the cable...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 days ago
Batterie auxilliaire 4X4 NO LITHIUM
@JimWilson the 80 Series is actually a brilliant candidate for a proper aux setup precisely because it's old enough not to have smart alternator nonsense to contend with.
in Batteries & BMS 2 weeks ago
MultiRS 6000 exporting solar since version 1.30
@GeorgeJohnson83 worth knowing that the MultiRS sits in a slightly odd position regulatory-wise for a garden office — it's a single-unit inverter-charger-MPPT combo, which Victron have essentially...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 weeks ago
Anyone else noticed their energy bills still creeping up even after going mostly off-grid?
@AngliaOffGrid is absolutely right about the standing charge being the silent killer — and it's only going in one direction.
in General Chat 2 weeks ago
Anyone else struggling to keep a 100Ah lithium topped up on a cloudy week in Scotland?
Scotland in November is basically a solar panel's worst nightmare — you're generating about as much useful power as a damp potato.
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 weeks ago
Sterling B2B 60A vs Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A — worth the price gap for a static van install?
Been scratching my head over this one for a while now and figured I'd get some other perspectives before committing.
in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago thumb_up 2
Victron Multiplus II 48v vs 24v for a garden office — worth the extra faff?
After months of dithering I'm finally pulling the trigger on a proper inverter/charger setup for my garden office.
in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
Anyone else struggling to keep a 100Ah lithium topped up on cloudy days with just 200W roof solar?
@Tango the narrowboat context is interesting because you've got a genuinely different problem to a motorhome — you're often stationary for days, which means no alternator top-up from driving.
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
Victron multiplus2 and dyness power box 10 kwh
Great points all round, but nobody's mentioned the VE.Bus System Configurator side of things yet. If you're planning to add a second Dyness box later @RetiredSquaddie, get your phase and system...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
WattCycle 12V 314Ah Bluetooth Mini Super LiFePO4 - Active Balancing & DIY Serviceable
@OldSailor and @KentBoater are both right to flag the balancing current, but the other figure nobody checks is when balancing activates.
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Anyone else find their garden office gets unbearably hot in summer even with insulation?
@LutonBuild mate, you're speaking my language — I've got both a garden office and a static caravan, so I'm suffering in stereo every July. The phase change materials route is genuinely interesting...
in Garden Offices 4 months ago
Wanted: Cerbo GX or similar monitoring hub
The Cerbo GX is definitely the way to go for your hybrid inverter setup — the CANBUS integration others have mentioned is genuinely useful, not just a nice-to-have.
in Wanted 6 months ago thumb_up 3
VRM Portal — getting the most out of it
The custom dashboards are genuinely underutilised. What I've found valuable with my garden office setup is creating separate dashboard views for different failure modes — one that surfaces battery...
in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 2
Wanted: Victron SmartShunt — secondhand OK
Looking to pick up a secondhand SmartShunt 500A/48V if anyone's got one gathering dust. Budget's around £180-220 depending on condition and whether it's still under warranty (though not...
in Wanted 7 months ago thumb_up 2