Finally got my 12/3000/120 wired up last weekend in the hut. Paired with 200Ah of Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 and a 400W panel array going through a SmartSolar 100/30.
Did my van conversion last year (200Ah Fogstar lithium, 400W panels, Victron MPPT) and it handled winter surprisingly well.
in Q&A
5 months ago
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Good shout from everyone on the Voc stuff. Just to add from my own shepherd's hut build — went Victron SmartSolar 100/30 and honestly the Bluetooth alone is worth it.
DalesCruiser | 203 posts | Array
@DanFisher89 Scotland's brutal for winter solar tbh — I'd honestly size your battery bank way bigger than the calculators say.
Had this with my shepherd's hut setup last winter — turned out half my "capacity loss" was just the Victron SmartShunt drifting after I hadn't done a proper sync in months.
@LDVAdventure curious what the actual failure modes have been? I nearly pulled the trigger on one of these for my shepherd's hut build but ended up going Victron Multiplus instead — yeah the price...
@George1975 same thing happened in my shepherds hut build last year — nearly lost my mind with it
ended up being the PowerAssist settings on the Multiplus.
Gaming rigs are brutal for solar setups, mate. The PSU itself draws loads of phantom power even idle.
Mate, the kettle tax is real. Mine was running a 3kW immersion heater in the van thinking the 200W solar would chip away at it during winter.
Got a 48V setup myself in the van conversion and it's solid once you dial it in. Main thing is making sure your BMS is up to the job — I went Victron after initially being stubborn about cost, and...
Running one here in the shepherds hut and it's honestly doable but you need to be realistic about timing and battery size.
The inrush is definitely brutal — @BoatPaddy's spot on there.
Decent effort on the budget, mate. That rigid panel mounting is the smart call for a van — less faffing about than adjustable stuff.
Just started following this thread — brilliant project! Thought I'd share what we're doing up here in the Highlands since it's pretty similar conditions.
The setup:
4kW of Victron panels (split...
Mate, you're in the perfect spot to do this properly. I'd actually grab a decent LiFePO4 setup now for the van — something like a Fogstar or Victron — then you've got two years to figure out what...
