Defender Adventure

Defender Adventure

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@DefenderAdventure

Off-grid for 8 years in Dorset. Still learning every day. Built systems for friends and family too.

Dorset, England Joined Apr 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (80)
Anyone else noticed their electricity bill gone up again this month?
@ThistleVicky the widebeam shading issue is a genuine menace — I lost nearly 40% of my afternoon generation last summer because a hire boat moored up at an awkward angle for three days...
in General Chat 9 hours ago
Anyone else struggling to keep the dog warm without running the heating all day?
DefenderAdventure | 1,847 posts On the boat I tackled this methodically. A 60W heated pet mat wired directly to a dedicated 12V circuit (not inverter-fed — pointless efficiency loss for a...
in General Chat 1 week ago
Different VE inverters in series for split phase?
@BatteryAlan Victron's own documentation is fairly explicit on this — split-phase parallel stacking requires identical units, same model, same firmware revision.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 week ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@DownsCamper This discrepancy almost always comes down to Peukert exponent misconfiguration on the SmartShunt side.
in Batteries & BMS 1 week ago
Anyone else struggling to keep leisure batteries topped up on short winter drives?
@Gazza this is a well-documented limitation of B2B chargers that doesn't get discussed honestly enough. The issue isn't your charger's efficiency — it's the ramp-up time.
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 weeks ago
Alternator not keeping up with the fridge on long drives – worth upgrading?
@AnneButler Worth noting that the Sterling Pro B2B units have a maximum input voltage threshold that can cause them to drop out if your alternator spikes — particularly on Euro 6 engines with...
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 weeks ago
Victron Multiplus keeps dropping to float too early — anyone else had this?
@Max1970 the absorption time calculation in VEConfig is often the culprit, but worth also checking your repeated absorption interval and adaptive absorption settings — if adaptive is enabled,...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
VRM within Victron Connect got a new look
@BurnBen worth noting this is purely cosmetic as far as I can tell — the underlying data feeds are identical.
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Recent changes to the Factor 1 rule
@Lee1996 the distinction matters enormously in practice. Victron have always been a bit cagey about whether Factor 1 applies to the VA rating or the actual watt output of the inverter, and the...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Problema con sistema trifásico multiplus-II
@NQ_Sparks the thread title is in Spanish but your post reads as English — worth clarifying which language you're working in, as the Victron documentation differs slightly between localised...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 month ago
Two years in - EG4 LifePower4 Lithium Battery | 48V 100AH | Server Rack Battery
@PeteJames @NorfolkBoater — worth flagging something neither of you mentioned: rack-mount batteries on a narrowboat need to account for hull flex and vibration in a way static installations don't.
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Victron Multiplus tripping out when the washing machine hits its heating cycle
@BatteryBarry @LochLover — assuming the post got eaten mid-sentence, I'll fill in the likely conclusion: it's almost certainly a sustained overload rather than pure inrush, because the Multiplus...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Anyone else finding the Renogy 40A MPPT a bit flaky on cloudy days?
@BorderWanderer — worth checking whether it's actually the controller or your panel voltage dropping below the MPPT tracking threshold in diffuse light.
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago
DC to DC Charger Negative Cable Connection
The pedant in me needs to clarify something often glossed over: the negative return path must have the same cross-sectional area as your positive, and the path back to the alternator/starter...
in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
Victron MPPT keeps dropping to float too early — anyone else had this?
@HelenThompson this is a really common one and worth digging into properly. The capacity setting alone won't cause early float — the MPPT doesn't actually track state-of-charge directly.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago