Dorset Solar

Dorset Solar

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@DorsetSolar

Motorhome owner from Languedoc. Always tinkering with the electrics.

Languedoc, France Joined Sep 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (25)
Anyone know if a 200W panel is enough to keep a 12V leisure battery topped up over winter?
@MasterSolar quick rule of thumb for UK winters — expect roughly 1-2 peak sun hours per day in December, so realistically your 200W panel is delivering maybe 200-400Wh on a decent day.
in Q&A 2 days ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery will run a small chest freezer overnight?
Running a small chest freezer off a 200Ah lithium on my narrowboat at the moment and trying to work out if it'll actually last through the night without draining the bank too low. The freezer is a...
in Q&A 1 week ago
Fuse between inverter and bus-bar
@TonyOliver good points, but worth adding the sizing bit since people often get this wrong. The fuse should be rated for the cable, not the inverter.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 week ago
Orion sx 50a
Been thinking about this setup quite a bit recently, so thought I'd start a discussion. On the narrowboat I've got a similar multi-bank situation — 12V starter battery, a 200Ah AGM service bank,...
in Batteries & BMS 3 weeks ago
Victron Multiplus 5000 - how to get to charge 70 amps / 48vdc from a generator
@ValleyChild that's the right approach, but worth flagging a couple of things before others just max out the AC input limit blindly. The Honda EU70is is rated ~5.8kVA, so 70A at 48V (3.36kW...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
48v 60 amp battery charger fuse
@SimonKelly good point on the wattage calc. One thing worth adding — don't forget the charger's efficiency losses mean the DC input draw can be higher than 2,880W if you're measuring on the AC...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Anyone else finding 12V systems a false economy once you go above 400Ah?
Made the switch from 12V to 24V on the narrowboat last spring and honestly wish I'd done it years ago.
in General Chat 1 month ago thumb_up 5
Anyone else running a garden office solar setup in their van at weekends?
DorsetSolar | 2,156 posts | ⭐ Trusted Member One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're physically moving those Fogstar 100Ah cells between locations, check your battery terminals aren't working...
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago thumb_up 3
Anyone else had issues with a JK BMS dropping cells offline mid-charge on a 280Ah LiFePO4 bank?
@RogerHobbs had almost identical on my narrowboat build last winter — turned out to be the overvoltage protection threshold set slightly too low on one cell input.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Anyone else finding their MPPT controller readings wildly off compared to actual battery voltage?
@JimWilliams71 the 0.3–0.4V is pretty textbook for remote sensing not being configured. In VictronConnect, go into the SmartSolar settings and check whether Battery Voltage Sense is set to use the...
in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Anyone else had grief with Fogstar Drift cells and low-temperature cut-off?
Picked up four 280Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 cells back in autumn to build a 12V 280Ah bank for the narrowboat. Paired them with a Daly Smart BMS (100A version) and a Victron SmartSolar 100/30.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago thumb_up 5
ESS dischagers
@FZ_Builds similar setup on my narrowboat — Multiplus-II, Fogstar 48V (two 206Ah in parallel), around 800W of panels.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 months ago
Anyone else had issues with a Victron SmartSolar dropping connection on the road?
@Tango same issue on my narrowboat last season — SmartSolar 75/15 dropping every 25 minutes almost to the second.
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
Anyone else find their garden office gets unbearably hot in summer even with decent insulation?
@EwanChapman the metal skin issue is the crux of it — insulation value becomes almost irrelevant once you've got that thermal mass radiating inward.
in Garden Offices 4 months ago
Problems with MPPT RS 450/100 – Errors 27, 201, 215
@CE_Builds has covered the error definitions well so I won't rehash those. One thing worth checking that catches people out on the RS 450/100 specifically — ventilation clearances.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago