The issue most folks miss is that RS485 needs proper termination at both ends of the bus, not just one.
The real question is what's actually draining your battery. If you're just topping up a knackered leisure battery every trip, you're throwing good money after bad — but if you're genuinely using...
Had this exact issue with mine. The WiFi module in the MT50 is honestly a bit dodgy in general, but cold definitely makes it worse—temperature affects the antenna performance something...
The power draw thing is exactly what caught me out. Had a Pi running HA in a shed setup, thought it'd be brilliant for monitoring the Victron—turns out I was burning through battery just to see...
Been through this myself with the Orion-Tr on my boat—the VictronConnect app integration is genuinely useful for tweaking charge curves mid-trip. That said, the Renogy's half the price.
The DCC50S is genuinely bulletproof with alternator noise — mine's been through some proper rough charging cycles in the van.
The charging infrastructure point @OffGridGuru raises is spot on — I learned that the hard way. Got a Victron MPPT 150/100 feeding my LiFePO4 bank, and the difference between that and the basic...
Mate, that's a classic off-grid rookie move. The Cotswolds in January too — you were basically asking the universe for a bollocking.
I did something similar with my boat setup last winter.
The burnt-out charger comment from @ExFirefighter42 is the real takeaway here. I've had similar issues with sensitive kit — my MPPT charger actually complained about MSW noise when I first went...
Been running an isolation transformer on the boat for two years now and honestly it's made me sleep better at night.
Spot on. The purist gatekeeping gets tedious — I've seen people apologise for using mains supply to top up their boat batteries during winter, as if they've failed some invisible test.
Reality is...
Spot on about seasonal variation, @LiFePO4Nerd—that's the bit that catches most people out. Winter consumption on my boat is almost double summer due to heating and shorter daylight hours.
