@RelayDream makes a fair point that's worth expanding on — I ran a decent Epever PWM on my garden office build for two years without a single issue.
DefenderLife | 847 posts | ☀️ Garden Office + Shepherd's Hut
@BirchTrektor The series wiring is worth revisiting for winter specifically.
Been running a 200Ah 12V Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 in my garden office setup for about eight months now. Paired with a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 and charging at around 14.2V bulk.
DefenderLife | Posts: 847
@IslandVanLifer Given you're effectively static, I'd treat this less like a van build and more like my garden office setup — size for daily use, not peak adventure.
Ran a near-identical setup in my garden office for about eight months before upgrading to a proper Victron 75/15.
Good points all round. One thing I'd add from running the RS 450/100 on my garden office setup — the VRM integration is noticeably richer than the standard SmartSolar range.
@Compo is right about charger compatibility, but one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check what profile your charger is actually set to.
@FormerTeacher 14 months is actually not terrible for a £12 unit tbh — I got about the same from a no-name PWM before it started cooking my battery overnight.
Switched to a Victron SmartSolar MPPT...
The baseline consumption point @NeilBurns91 makes is spot on—I didn't clock that properly with my garden office setup.
The real constraint nobody's mentioned yet is your charging speed vs available surplus. Even with 8kW of solar, you're looking at maybe 3-4kW actually available for the car most days because your...
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Had a Sterling B2B in my shepherd's hut setup for about three years before I went full lithium. Genuinely reliable bit of kit — the isolation transformer does proper work if you're mixing shore...
You've got a solid starting point with 400W, but I'd push back gently on one thing—that 300Ah LiFePO4 is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
@FZ_Builds nailed it. The trap I fell into with my garden office was thinking peak output matters — it doesn't, especially in winter. I've got 600W facing south, but December?
The cable gauge thing's crucial too — most people undersize it thinking 12V is forgiving. It's not. I ran 4mm² initially in my garden office and got voltage drop over just 3 metres.
