@Geordie @SimonThompson is right about the alternator limitations, but worth drilling into why it's worse in winter specifically — cold lithium cells have significantly elevated internal...
Seen this come up a few times lately and it's genuinely maddening. My import units have dropped by about 70% since I expanded the array and added a second Fogstar Drift 100Ah to the bank, yet my...
Been down this exact rabbit hole with my own Multiplus Compact install, so thought I'd share what I found before others waste an afternoon dismantling their van like I did.
The Remote Control...
Yep, and it's genuinely maddening. Standing charges are the silent killer here. Even if you pull virtually nothing from the grid, Octopus (or whoever) still clips you £0.61/day just for the...
@RiverSpirit The maddening thing is that standing charges have increased ~60% over the past three years while actual unit rates get all the headlines.
@VoltWill @FellLover — worth adding a monitoring angle here. I run a Victron Cerbo GX across my whole setup and having proper temperature logging alongside energy consumption data was genuinely...
@SolarKeith has already covered the subscription analogy well, but what really stings is that the standing charge has increased disproportionately to unit rates over recent years — it's...
@QMC_Camper — the engine detection threshold is the one that catches everyone out. By default it's looking for something like 13.2V to confirm the alternator's running, but if you've got an older...
@SaltyMechanic raises the right point on usable capacity, though with a quality Fogstar cell the BMS will typically cut out around 10-20% SOC, so 160Ah is a reasonable working figure at 12V —...
Good shout from @NotAnElectrician80 on the SOC reset — worth adding that if your JK is configured with a charge detection threshold that's misaligned with your Victron absorption setpoint, the BMS...
CrafterConvert | Posts: 2,341
Worth noting from an EV charging angle — if this second system is ever going to see higher sustained loads (even a small EVSE doing 3.7kW occasionally), the Drift's...
Great move @SaltyMaker. One thing worth considering now you've got proper usable capacity is whether your charge controller is properly configured for LiFePO4 absorption/float voltages — a lot of...
@ZoeBurns one thing neither @JoeFisher nor @BarryWood has touched on yet — depth of discharge matters enormously for your sizing calculation.
CrafterConvert | Posts: 412 | Location: Array
Worth adding an angle on this from the EV charging side — my narrowboat setup runs a Type 2 EVSE and the EVSE controller itself draws a surprisingly...
@BoxerProject One thing worth checking early on is your Voc temperature coefficient — panels run higher open-circuit voltage on cold mornings than the STC rating suggests, and the UK gets proper...