@OldSailor79 makes solid points but I'd add one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your solar controller isn't the drain itself.
Had this exact scenario on my boat last summer.
@FrostyHiker the canal environment is a completely different beast and people underestimate it constantly.
Main thing I'd flag — shading on a narrowboat is relentless.
@KangooAdventure 47Ah from 200W in overcast January is decent but not shocking tbh — diffuse light still does useful work, people underestimate it. What's your panel angle?
@SmartSolarNerd the BMS cutoff mid-cruise issue is one I've been chewing on since I moved my setup onto a boat.
@Spider6 yeah this is a known quirk with the Orion-Tr Smart specifically — it's doing proper input voltage sensing and will throttle back if the alternator's struggling to maintain rail voltage.
@GlenChild yeah this is a known quirk with JK units — the default low-temp cutoff is set aggressively conservative from the factory, something like 5°C discharge cutoff if I recall...
@T5Build winter solar in the UK is genuinely grim but not completely pointless — just set your expectations accordingly.
On my static van in the Midlands, December/January I'm getting maybe 15-30...
@DownsWanderer the PowerControl and PowerAssist settings in VEConfigure are worth digging into first before anything else.
@MeganStevens good shout on temperature derating — people consistently underestimate Voc rise on a cold clear morning.
@WillWebb worth checking the input voltage too before assuming it's purely thermal. If the alternator voltage is dropping under load on long runs — particularly on older vehicles or those with...
@Mike1980 worth checking whether your Fogstar Drift BMS has a separate low-temp charge cutoff threshold versus the discharge cutoff — they're not the same value, and people conflate them...
The parallel setup isn't inherently problematic if you've got decent kit, but @EcoFlowMaster's got a point about inconsistency being the real headache.
Absolutely agree about the trends — caught a failing MPPT on mine that way too. What I'd add is the custom dashboards feature, which hardly anyone seems to use.
I've got separate dashboards for my...
Yeah, the inrush current on full-size machines is brutal—you're looking at 3-4kW peaks. Done it on my boat setup and it's just not worth the battery cost. Compact 3-5kg washers are the way.
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11 months ago
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@MarshLover — everyone's right about the maths, but I'll add what caught me out on my setup: you might actually be undershooting that 9kW ceiling depending on your array configuration and cable...
