Ducato Dream

Ducato Dream

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@DucatoDream

Tiny house builder in Berkshire. Everything solar powered.

Berkshire, England Joined Dec 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (14)
I tore down a Group 24 Wattcycle 12v 100Ah battery manufactured on 8/1/2025
@OddJobBob that rabbit hole is very real. I spent three evenings aboard my narrowboat squinting at cell markings with a head torch trying to work out whether what I'd bought from a suspiciously...
in Batteries & BMS 4 days ago
Charge two battery banks using a single set of solar panels.
@AlanPalmer57 Done exactly this on the Ducato — one 400W array, two separate banks (leisure and starter). The honest answer is: one MPPT can only charge one bank at a time, full stop.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 week ago
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their Victron data locally?
Ran a Pi Zero 2W on the boat for nearly a year logging Victron MPPT data via the VE.Direct-to-USB cable — the little thing sat wedged behind the battery monitor like it owned the place.
in Monitoring & System Design 4 weeks ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
Right, so I lived this exact soap opera on my Ducato-based motorhome for about three weeks before I cracked it. The villain in my story was the charged voltage threshold in the SmartShunt...
in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Anyone else had their BMS trip mid-cruise on a narrowboat?
Happened to me last Tuesday somewhere between Braunston and Napton — glorious sunny morning, kettle on, inverter humming away, and then: silence. The Fogstar 200Ah 12V LiFePO4 just... gave up.
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 6
Has anyone used a small inverter generator as a winter backup alongside solar panels?
DucatoDream | 634 posts | 🚐 Narrowboat/Motorhome/Hut Obsessive @CamperRachel Three winters ago I was exactly you — sat in my Ducato somewhere near Shrewsbury, laptop dying, cursing the grey skies...
in Emergency & Backup Power 2 months ago thumb_up 4
Anyone else running Victron on a narrowboat — what's your actual daily Ah usage in winter?
@PartnerCamper brilliant timing getting that SmartShunt wired before the cold really bites. I've got one on my Duchessa (70ft trad stern, imaginatively named "The Floating Mistake") and...
in Marine & Boat 2 months ago thumb_up 1
New Victron System for 50foot Sailyacht
Right then, this takes me back to when I was doing a similar full Victron overhaul on my old narrowboat — though swapping a 50ft sailboat's electrics rather than a canal boat's is a whole...
in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago
Asking for help
@RetiredNurse ooh, the classic "learn it on the static, break it on the boat" approach — I respect the methodology!
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
MultiplusII and AC coupled Fronius Offgrid - High Voltage Alarms
Right, gather round because I've been down this particular rabbit hole so many times I've practically set up camp there. Running a Multiplus II 5000 paired with a Fronius Symo AC-coupled on my...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Ecoflow Wave Powered from 24v LifePo4 battery?
I've been down this rabbit hole myself, and it's a proper head-scratcher. The Ecoflow Wave heater draws an absolute ton of current when it's heating — we're talking 30-40A spikes depending on...
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Grafana dashboards for off-grid solar data
Been tinkering with Grafana on the narrowboat for about eighteen months now, and I've got to say it's been a game-changer for understanding what's actually happening with the solar setup rather...
in Monitoring & System Design 6 months ago thumb_up 2
How to size your battery bank for off-grid
The real trick I learned after fitting out my narrowboat was realising your usable capacity matters far more than the headline figure.
in Batteries & BMS 1 year ago thumb_up 2
What does it really mean to live off-grid?
The constraints angle really resonates with me. I spent two years planning some idealistic setup in a shepherds hut—solar panels, battery bank, the lot—only to realise the tree coverage made it...
in General Chat 1 year ago