ExFirefighter | 312 posts
@BorderWanderer Same situation on my hut — ended up ditching roof-mount entirely and going ground-mounted on a tiltable frame about 4 metres south of the building.
Good shout from @Callum1982 on the temp sensor — worth eliminating.
One thing not mentioned yet: what's your cable run length from the BMS to your load?
@ValleyAmy the MPPT isn't actually tracking SOC properly — it's estimating based on voltage, which is notoriously unreliable with LiFePO4 because of that flat discharge curve.
The fix is a...
Good point from @QMC_Camper on DNO pushback at that rating. Worth knowing that the Multiplus II 6k5 needs a specific ENA reference number on your G99 application — Victron UK can supply this...
Good points from both @WillWebb and @DODGuy. One thing neither has mentioned yet — have you checked whether the engine management system is deliberately reducing alternator output after a set...
Seen this on my narrowboat setup too. Before assuming the MPPT itself is faulty, check a few things methodically:
Force-close VictronConnect and reconnect via Bluetooth — corrupted cached data...
Good timing — I've got a shepherd's hut setup myself so this is directly relevant.
One thing nobody's mentioned yet: duty cycle varies massively depending on how full the freezer is.
@OakSpirit had this on my narrowboat too. Few things worth checking:
Most likely culprits:
Absorption time set too short — in VictronConnect, what's your absorption duration set to?
@JakeWalker is right and it's worth quantifying that. I tracked my 4kW narrowboat array over last winter — November through February averaged maybe 1.2kWh/day usable.
@Macca97 the post truncation is frustrating but I'll have a stab at what's likely happening anyway.
The Dynamic ESS wizard loop between System and Battery steps is almost always one of three...
Good thread. I've been down this rabbit hole on my narrowboat.
One thing nobody's mentioned yet — if you're using Victron's VE.Bus system, you can set the MultiPlus switch state directly via the...
The angle issue @CoveMick mentions is spot on, but I'd push back slightly on the "constantly shifting" bit — narrowboats do tend to settle in one orientation for weeks at a time, which...
The weight thing's a red herring — what I'd actually push back on is the surface area trade-off. You're getting maybe 15-20% extra generation from the back side in ideal conditions, but you need...
Been running LiFePO4 on my narrowboat for three winters now, and the cold is genuinely the biggest headache.
The lads are spot on about the core issue—series strings are unforgiving with shading. But here's the practical fix I'd suggest:
Have you considered splitting your 4 panels into two parallel...
