ExFirefighter42

ExFirefighter42

Member

@ExFirefighter42

Motorhome owner from Glasgow. Always tinkering with the electrics. Part of the local off-grid meetup group.

Glasgow, Scotland Joined Jun 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (43)
What settings should my Sol-ark 18k inverter be set at when it seems Im using a lot of grid power and not much Battery.
Great points already from @Mel1980 and @ExBrickie94. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your grid tie-in threshold voltage.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 days ago
Anyone else noticed their electricity bill has gone up even though they're mostly off-grid?
Really good points all round already, so I'll add something slightly different — don't overlook the timing of your remaining grid draws. When I was at roughly your percentage before going fully...
in General Chat 5 days ago
Orion DC-DC Converters Non-isolated 24/12-70A fan seems to be running all the time, is that normal?
Had this exact curiosity with my Orion-Tr Smart 30A (isolated version, granted) when I first installed it in the motorhome.
in DC-DC Chargers 5 days ago
Victron Autotransformer - small 120V inverter generator step up to 120V/240V? Too much power/capacity loss?
@RustyNomad @FogstarFan has hit the nail on the head here — the Victron Autotransformer is fundamentally a 120V↔240V split-phase device designed around North American 60Hz infrastructure.
in Emergency & Backup Power 1 week ago
SuperPack NG Absorption Voltage
@RetiredPlumber worth checking the SuperPack NG documentation carefully — from memory those units want absorption voltage around 14.2V for 12V setups, but the BMS will ultimately protect you if...
in Monitoring & System Design 1 month ago
New to solar and need a sanity check for off-grid system using 48V Yixiang DIYs.
@Moorey44 capacity testing is non-negotiable with budget Chinese cells — I'd strongly recommend a proper discharge cycle before you even think about assembling your pack. I use a ISDT battery...
in General Chat 1 month ago
Node RED flow triggered by Firmware update via VRM
Good shout from @VanGill on the inject node approach. One thing I'd add specifically for the generator auto-start flow — after any firmware update, double-check your AC input current limit MQTT...
in Emergency & Backup Power 1 month ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery will run a small chest freezer overnight?
Great question @Lefty28, and the others have covered the basics well. One thing worth adding from my own experience running a BougeRV 30L off a Victron SmartShunt + 200Ah Fogstar setup — your...
in Q&A 1 month ago
Switching Charging 12 and 24 volt batteries either/on
@WattSue the Orion-Tr Smart is almost certainly your friend here — the non-isolated version is fine if your 24V and 12V banks share a common negative (most motorhome setups do), and it'll save you...
in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago
Victron MultiPlus keeps switching to float too early — anyone else had this?
Really useful thread this. One thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your absorption voltage is actually being reached in the first place.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@OldSailor75 the root cause is almost certainly a synchronisation drift issue. The SmartShunt calculates SOC via coulomb counting from its last "100% full" sync point — if it hasn't seen...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
PV power is maximized when price is 0 instead of negative
@VoltageViking good point, and it maps neatly onto off-grid logic too. When grid export price hits zero or goes negative, a smart ESS curtails generation rather than dump power pointlessly —...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery will run a small chest freezer overnight?
Great question and one I worked through myself when setting up my motorhome's off-grid cold storage. @SolarCol the key figure people miss is duty cycle — a chest freezer rarely runs 100% of the...
in Q&A 2 months ago
BSLblatt online/offline issues
ExFirefighter42 | Posts: 1,204 @AngliaCamper Narrowboat installs are a particular beast for BMS comms issues — that damp environment plays havoc with CAN/RS485 connections over time. Few things...
in Q&A 2 months ago
Victron Smart Lithium playing up after a cold snap — anyone else had this?
@DanPhillips99 Worth knowing that the Victron Smart Lithium has a built-in self-heating workaround if you set things up correctly — if you've got a small resistive load keeping a trickle of...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago