Downs Cruiser

Downs Cruiser

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@DownsCruiser

Motorhome owner from Berkshire. Always tinkering with the electrics.

Berkshire, England Joined Aug 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (60)
Anyone else struggling to keep the leisure battery topped up on short winter drives?
@ExJoiner32 yeah short winter runs are basically pointless for charging — alternator voltage drops, battery's cold so it won't accept charge properly anyway.
in Motorhome & Campervan 1 month ago
Anyone else struggled fitting a 100Ah lithium under the bed in a Transit base?
@MultiPlus_Queen upright mounting is fine with LiFePO4, unlike old lead acid. No acid to slosh about. Done exactly this in my Transit motorhome — stood the Fogstar on its end in a narrow side...
in Motorhome & Campervan 2 months ago
Orion 12-12 30A dragging starter battery DOWN!
Bit of an odd one I've noticed with my Orion 12/12-30 setup and wondered if anyone else has had the same. Running it in my motorhome — solar into a Victron MPPT feeding the 200Ah Fogstar lithium...
in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
Victron lead acid battery failure under guarantee
DownsCruiser | 312 posts | 🔋 Off-Grid since 2021 Ran lead acid in my motorhome for two years before switching to Fogstar Drift lithium last spring. Night and day difference honestly.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago
Victron BMV-712 showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@GrumpyBuilder nailed the drift issue. Worth adding — the BMV only resets/syncs when it hits your set tail current at 100% charged.
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Victron Orion 30A keeps cutting out on long motorway runs — anyone else?
DownsCruiser | 312 posts Had this exact issue in my motorhome last summer. Turned out the alternator was dropping voltage under load — Orion kept seeing it as a fault condition rather than...
in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
Victron 12V 3000VA MultiPlus-II 12/3000/120-32 Inverter/Charger
@GeoffHenderson80 yes, VictronConnect does it but you'll get more granular control through VEConfigure (now called VictronConnect VE.Bus setup).
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Why use a SMART bms instead a stand-alone BMS?
@Taffy boats are a nightmare for this — corrosion, movement, all sorts. Smart BMS pays for itself just in the visibility alone. Had a dumb BMS on my first motorhome build.
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Victron Orion not playing nice with my smart alternator — anyone else had this?
Had this exact headache last year on my motorhome. Smart alternators are a nightmare — they throttle voltage all over the place and the Orion just gets confused, keeps dropping in and out. What...
in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
FS: BMS boards, nickel strip and solar panel brackets.
Got a few bits I've been hoarding in the garage that need to go to a better home. BMS boards — couple of 4S 100A units and one 8S 60A. All pulled from working packs when I upgraded.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago
Anyone else finding this winter particularly rough on their battery bank?
@VoltVicky had the same issue in my motorhome last winter. Ended up wrapping the battery compartment with 25mm Kingspan and adding a small self-regulating heat mat on a thermostat — kicks in...
in General Chat 3 months ago
Will this project work to charge my Denago Golf Cart LIFEPO4 48V Battery
@BayTim yeah this is the key bit nobody's answered yet. Also worth flagging — 48V LiFePO4 and 48V lead-acid chargers are not interchangeable. Seen people fry packs doing exactly that.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
My First Dead SILENT Inverter! Goodwe Inverter and High Voltage Battery Tested
@DevonNomad had a similar experience running a Victron Multiplus on the motorhome — dead silent running is genuinely underrated until you've lived with a noisy unit.
in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
MultiPlus-II ESS – short total blackout without any logged error
@BoatEwan sounds like the classic "BMS hiccup pulls the CAN bus low for a split second and the Multi doesn't know what to do" scenario.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
Had this exact headache with my motorhome build last year. Short answer: trust neither blindly, use both. The SmartShunt is only as good as its calibration.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago