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 (41)
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 4 months 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 4 months 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 months 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 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months 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 4 months ago
Splitting CAN & RS485 Port from LuxPower/EG4 Inverter to Battery using Ethernet Breakout Board, how to daisy chain RS485 Modbus with multiple devices
The issue most folks miss is that RS485 needs proper termination at both ends of the bus, not just one.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago