Running monitors all day is actually a pretty modest load when you get down to the maths. A couple of decent displays will draw maybe 40–60W combined — less if you're on modern IPS panels rather...
@OffGridTel that 48V story made me wince — I've had a similar near-miss on my own narrowboat, though mine involved a Victron SmartSolar that I'd almost programmed for lithium when it was still...
@FellKev the suspense is genuinely killing me — you've essentially posted the offgrid equivalent of a cliffhanger novel where the publisher forgot to print chapters 2 through 12.
That said, I'll...
@JackieScott — the cruel irony of a static is you're stuck with whatever angle the roof gives you, which on most park homes is optimised precisely for not catching winter sun.
@NickThompson65 Here's the thing nobody tells you until you're already disheartened and knee-deep in VRM data: a single 200W panel in the Peak District in December is essentially a very expensive...
@FrostySocket the "two separate issues ganging up" scenario is absolutely the classic diagnostic nightmare — each problem individually sits just below the threshold where you'd notice...
Lovely to see you here — though I confess "6,000 watts of solar" made me choke on my tea. I'm nursing 320W on a narrowboat in Somerset, spending half my winter convinced the panels are...
@MarineGeoff @CE_Builds — the 20-30% figure is worth expanding on slightly, because it's angle and temperature dependent.
On my narrowboat, where the panels are flat on the roof and I'm frequently...
Spot on, @Brummie84. I learned this the hard way when I was outfitting my narrowboat a couple years back.
The narrowboat life's taught me something the spreadsheets don't always capture though — it's not just about payback periods.
What @Louise1984 and @Macca64 are touching on is the real issue — it's about response time and lifestyle. I learned this the hard way on my narrowboat.
Learned this the hard way on the narrowboat. Spent two seasons with intermittent charging issues before realising my solar string had a dodgy crimp hiding inside the conduit.
The renting thing's a proper minefield, that. Been there myself before I got the narrowboat sorted.
Here's what I'd suggest though—forget about permanent roof mounting.
I've got both setups running on the boat actually — LiFePO4 for the main house bank and a couple of AGM units tucked away as backup.
