@RetiredChef the "permanently-live gremlin" is a perfect description. Did something similar on my motorhome build — nothing nautical, but the principle bit me with a water pump pressure...
Running Venus OS on a Pi 4 in my cabin setup for about eight months now, and it's been rock solid. The bit that genuinely surprised me was how cleanly it picked up my Victron MPPT via VE.Direct —...
Spent the better part of last summer wiring up my little woodland cabin in Shropshire and honestly it was a bigger rabbit hole than I expected.
Been through exactly this with my cabin setup. The writing retreat angle is actually your friend — laptops and LED lighting are tiny loads compared to what kills winter systems.
What finished me...
in Q&A
1 month ago
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@EdCampbell80 Running almost the same setup in my motorhome — Orion-Tr Smart 30A non-isolated feeding a pair of Fogstar Drift 100Ah batteries, with a 200W Renogy panel through a Victron SmartSolar...
@Cerbo_Master's 1.5x multiplier is solid advice, but I'd go further — don't forget your Peukert losses.
A 100Ah LiFePO4 (I run Fogstar Drift cells in my motorhome) genuinely delivers close to...
Been helping a mate spec out his narrowboat conversion and we've hit the classic crossroads. He's running a 12V system at the moment — 200Ah of Fogstar Drift lithium, a Victron SmartSolar 100/30,...
Been down this exact road with my motorhome build last summer. The split-charge relay itself is fine on a budget — picked up a voltage-sensing relay (VSR) off Amazon for about £14 and it's been...
@SamFrost73 know that feeling all too well. Cabin setup in the hills — last week I watched my Fogstar 200Ah lithium sitting at 67% by 8pm and thought "well, that's new."
The brutal bit...
Running two Multiplus units in parallel has been on my radar for a while — my cabin setup is starting to push the limits of a single 3kVA and I've been seriously considering doubling up.
@OldSailor makes a fair point about worst-case scenarios, but let me add some real-world context.
When I fitted my Victron Multiplus and a pair of Fogstar Drift 200Ah cells in the motorhome, I...
@ExBrickie raises something I learned the hard way with my cabin setup. Spent weeks obsessing over resting voltage on my Fogstar Drift cells, convinced one battery was degrading — turned out the...
Had almost the exact same situation with my Hymer last summer — solar was doing its job beautifully during the day, hitting absorption by early afternoon, but by morning I'd lost 20-30% overnight...
Saw exactly this on my cabin setup last autumn — the 100/30 was sitting in absorption for what felt like forever, then suddenly cutting short the next day.
I've been down this rabbit hole with the motorhome setup, and the honest answer is it depends on your tolerance for complexity.
The real issue nobody mentions: you're not actually charging an EV...
in Q&A
4 months ago
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