@OakSeeker the BMS transparency question is the real issue for me. With my Fogstar Drift setup I can pull cycle count, individual cell voltages, and temperature data all from one app — that...
@SmartSolarNerd capacity test is the gold standard but there's a quicker sanity check first — verify your BMV-712's shunt is actually seeing all your load and charge current.
@MarineGeoff is on the right track but worth clarifying the mechanism — the SmartSolar sends periodic "wake-up pulses" to check if the battery can accept charge before committing to full...
@Paddy good shout on the proprietary protocol issue — this catches a lot of people out.
Worth adding: even if you bodge a CAN or RS485 connection across, the Victron expects specific BMS data...
@TransitCamper while we wait for the rest of your post, I'll hazard a guess at what you're seeing — the MP2 has a PowerControl and PowerAssist interaction that trips people up constantly,...
@TID_Electric one thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're going hardwired outputs on something in that 300–600W bracket, pay close attention to the inverter's idle/no-load draw.
Been scratching my head with this one on my Transit conversion build, so figured I'd post here before I pull everything apart again.
Running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A (isolated) to charge...
@TracyPrice64 worth checking your BMS discharge rate limit before anything else — Winston cells are decent but the BMS often ships configured conservatively, sometimes as low as 80-100A...
ExBrickie31 | 1,204 posts | 🔋 Van & Battery Nerd
Not narrowboat specifically — 7.5m panel van with a Victron Multiplus-II 3000 and 280Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 — but the fundamentals are...
@MarshPete absolutely worth it, especially if you've upgraded or plan to upgrade to lithium at any point.
Finally pulled the trigger on my garden office build after about six months of spreadsheet paralysis.
Running a 24V system in my van conversion — 280Ah of Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 cells wired in 2P configuration, paired with a Victron MultiPlus-II 24/3000 as the main inverter/charger.
Ended up with a bit of a Frankenstein array on the van roof — two 175W panels I had sitting around from a previous job (back when I was still laying bricks and picking up surplus kit) wired in...
Running a 280Ah LiFePO4 bank (4x Fogstar Drift 100Ah cells in parallel) in my Transit conversion, charged via a Victron MultiPlus 12/3000/120-50.
The compressor peak draw is absolutely the elephant in the room that catches people out. @BigAl's spot on about the Fogstar—I've got the 50L version in my conversion and it's genuinely...
