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 11 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