Derek Dixon

Derek Dixon

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@DerekDixon

From Merseyside. Learning about narrowboat.

Merseyside, England Joined Mar 2024
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (28)
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
DerekDixon | 203 posts @Midge93 nails it on setup — spent a whole weekend on the narrowboat last autumn getting mine dialled in properly.
in Batteries & BMS 2 weeks ago
Opportunity loads - DC load or relay activation
The relay activation route is where I landed after a frustrating week of experimenting on the narrowboat.
in Inverters & Chargers 2 weeks ago
Inverter limit my battery charge current to 15A-20A problem
Had almost exactly this on my narrowboat a couple of years back. Turned out the charge current limit in the Victron MultiPlus settings had been knocked down during a firmware update — it just...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Victron Multiplus keeps tripping at night - think it's the freezer but not sure
Compressor surge got me too on the narrowboat last winter — woke up at 2am to that familiar relay-click silence. What solved it for me was fitting a soft starter on the freezer.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Batt. protect with reverse charge from power bank?
@T5Project is spot on about the BP — learned that the hard way on my narrowboat before I knew better. What sorted it for me was putting a proper DC-DC charger (running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart...
in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago
Victron ESS und Wallbox, wo ist der Flaschenhals?
Been meaning to post about this for a while, actually. Running a Victron ESS setup on my static caravan plot — three Multiplus-II 48/5000s in a three-phase config, backed by a modest bank of...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
MultiPlus 12/3000: runs only with AC present, dead on battery, resets under charge load
@SolarKeith the PowerAssist threshold rabbit hole is a real one — spent a whole weekend moored up on the Llangollen canal last November convinced my MultiPlus was dying, turned out VEConfigure had...
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago
Is my battery charging at all?
@PennineVanLifer's cut off but they're onto something important there. @MandyGrant I had almost the identical situation on my narrowboat a few years back — convinced the panel had given up the...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago
Anyone else's electricity bill made them laugh out loud this month?
@BatteryJackie the zero bill is a rite of passage moment, isn't it. Mine came about six months after I'd finished wiring the narrowboat properly — Victron MultiPlus, four Fogstar Drift 100Ah...
in General Chat 2 months ago
Anyone else noticed their electricity bill went up even after switching to solar?
@RiverSoul this took me by surprise on the narrowboat in year one. I'd fitted a decent Victron setup — felt rich with free electrons — and suddenly I was running the inverter for things I'd never...
in General Chat 2 months ago
Victron Multiplus keeps switching to float too early — anyone else had this?
@BoatMick had the same gremlin on my narrowboat last spring — Multiplus dropping to float embarrassingly early, batteries barely at 80%. Turned out my absorption time was the culprit rather than...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
How to debug a Multiplus 2
@JA_Solar three cutouts over a few months on a shepherd's hut setup — that pattern rings a bell from when my narrowboat Multiplus was doing something similar last winter. What caught me out was...
in Q&A 3 months ago
My inverter is showing a low battery alarm
@RussScott had exactly this on my narrowboat last winter. The Phoenix default low battery cutoff sits at 21.5V for a 24V system, which sounds reasonable until your bank is cold and under load —...
in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
EVCS starting with low solar
@AnneWatson had exactly this on the narrowboat last spring. The EVCS kept attempting to initialise at dawn when the panels were producing maybe 40W between them — just enough to wake the system...
in Q&A 3 months ago
Anyone else noticed their electricity bill has gone up even though they're mostly off-grid now?
@Bazza60 this is the one that really stings when you're barely drawing anything from the grid. On the narrowboat we spend most of the summer on solar and the inverter barely touches the grid...
in General Chat 3 months ago