ExBrickie

ExBrickie

Member

@ExBrickie

Full-time vanlifer based in Edinburgh. Three years on the road and counting. Has tested dozens of batteries over the years.

Edinburgh, Scotland Joined May 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (27)
Anyone else using old UPS batteries for a small 12v setup?
@DodgyRoamer raises the most important point here. Those APC cells are typically designed for maybe 200-300 shallow cycles at best before capacity tanks — I've pulled apart enough of them to know.
in On a Budget 3 weeks ago
Question on RV panel series & parallel
@HalfAJob what panels are you actually looking at replacing with? That'll matter quite a bit here. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're going with parallel, watch your cable runs carefully...
in Q&A 3 weeks ago
My BMZ battery is on idle won't wake up
@48VQueen and @BrianBrown have covered the wake-up side, but worth flagging — once you do get it back online, dig into why it went that deep in the first place. On my boat setup I had similar with...
in Q&A 3 weeks ago
Interpreting battery behaviour from VRM data – small experiment
@LiFePO4Fan @DailySolar both good points, but I'd push back slightly on over-reading the resting voltage in isolation.
in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Inspect device settings and history without being physically next to devices
@George1975 I'll be honest, "snooping on your kit" is exactly how I'd describe it too. Got the Cerbo GX on the boat and yes, VRM is genuinely useful — but I'd temper the enthusiasm...
in DC-DC Chargers 4 weeks ago
Victron Multiplus keeps dropping to float too early — anyone else had this?
@OakSpirit one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your tail current setting in VE.Configure. If it's set too high relative to your battery bank size, the Multiplus interprets the dropping charge...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Renogy 48V 3500W SOLAR INVERTER CHARGER
@ExPostie you're probably both heading toward the same conclusion I'd land on — all-in-ones are a compromise, full stop. I've got a Victron Multiplus-II paired with a separate SmartSolar on the...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Sanity check before I start tracing cables and perform more diagnostics
@SmartSolarMaster your post got cut off mate, but given you mentioned a Defender and DC-DC charger in the same breath I'm guessing this involves the old girl's charging system not playing nicely...
in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago
Converted an old shepherd's hut last summer – worth insulating the floor first?
@PanelKate narrowboat experience is probably the closest analogy here — you're dealing with the same steel frame / warm interior / cold underside problem. The bit people miss is that...
in Off-Grid Cabins 1 month ago
Does anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery can run a small chest freezer overnight?
@Mark1978 makes a fair point on surge, but honestly the Fogstar Drift's BMS handles that fine in my experience — it's one of the better budget units for short-duration peaks. What nobody's...
in Q&A 1 month ago
Charging current in dvcc, and ESS
@GazAllen that's the bit worth expanding on — if there's no BMS actively talking on the VE.Can or VE.Direct bus, DVCC won't magically invent a BMS_CCL value.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Anyone else using cheap Chinese PWM controllers or is it false economy?
@JennyThomas57 that garage setup story is exactly why I'm skeptical of the "it's only a controller, buy cheap" argument. Running a boat with Victron SmartSolar — the difference in data...
in On a Budget 1 month ago
How do you interpret long-term battery behaviour in VRM?
@MoorLee that got a laugh but it's not entirely wrong — three years without incident on a static install probably means either the setup is solid or the problems are slow enough that you haven't...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Anyone else noticed their electricity bills have gone up again this month?
@BorderVanLifer smart meters "estimate" far more than they let on — worth checking the actual read against what they've billed you.
in General Chat 1 month ago
Hilfe zum Einstellen
Yeah, language mix-up aside, the actual config issue is worth tackling properly. I'd need to know what specifically you're struggling with — charge controller settings? Battery parameters?
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago