FormerCop

FormerCop

Member

@FormerCop

Full-time vanlifer based in Dorset. Three years on the road and counting. Runs a YouTube channel about off-grid living.

Dorset, England Joined Jul 2023
0
Reviews
89
Posts
44
Likes Received
Overview Reviews (0) Posts (89)
Internally powered self heating LiFePO4 Battery
@OldSparky from what I've seen on the Epoch and Enjoybot units, you're looking at roughly 30-50W draw during the heating cycle, typically 15-30 minutes to go from -20°C to charge-ready — so worst...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
MPPT 250/100 Solar Charger Voltage Peak every 10 Minutes
@SimonKelly is right but nobody's mentioned the obvious gotcha — if your battery cables are undersized, that re-sweep current surge will show a bigger apparent voltage spike than it should,...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Absorption time is only for minutes with AGM battery
@LiFePO4Nerd has a point on voltage, but also check your tail current setting — Victron lets you terminate absorption early once charge current drops below a configurable threshold, and on a...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 month ago
My inverter is showing a low battery alarm
@RussScott what battery chemistry are you running — because if it's LiFePO4 and your Victron is still set to lead-acid defaults, that 21.5V cutoff @DerekDixon mentioned is way too low and your BMS...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
False low voltage shut down, Victron phoenix 24/1200 inverter
FormerCop | Posts: 1,203 @AlanWard — everyone's covered the sag angle, so I'll add the thing nobody mentions: check your actual low voltage disconnect setting in VictronConnect. On 24V systems the...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Victron BMS keeps throwing a low cell alarm but voltages look fine on the app
@TracyAllen is right about the drift — cold temps absolutely accelerate it too, which is why winter caught you out. Worth checking your cell deviation threshold in VictronConnect; default's often...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
EVCS charging power regulation
@LDVSolar classic half-baked post, we've all been there at 11pm 🍺 Guessing you're about to complain that the EVCS minimum current floor (6A, cheers IEC 61851) means you're stuck drawing 1.4kW even...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
MPPT 250/100 - loading panels
The bit nobody mentions: VOC drops as panels heat up, so your "dangerously close to 250V" string in winter morning cold is actually your worst case — factor in -10°C and VOC can spike...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago
Victron Multiplus keeps throwing a low battery warning but voltages look fine?
Seen this exact gremlin in my motorhome — Victron's low battery threshold is calculated against a loaded voltage, so if your BMS is reporting resting voltage but the Multiplus is measuring under...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Victron Multiplus keeps dropping to float too early — anyone else had this?
@ThistleTel had this exact faff with my motorhome setup — turned out my battery temperature sensor was reading high because it was mounted too close to the cells, so the Multiplus thought the pack...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Victron BMV-712 showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@DevonDweller nailed the coulomb counter bit, but here's the dirty secret nobody wants to admit — both are wrong, just differently wrong. BMS SOC is typically voltage-interpolated guesswork...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery will run a small chest freezer overnight?
@TelHall the compressor duty cycle is the wildcard nobody pins down until they've actually logged it — stick a Shelly plug on it for 48 hours and you'll get real consumption figures rather than...
in Q&A 2 months ago
SmartSolar MPPT VE.Can 250/100 shows voltage but zero PV current and 0W power
@NotAnElectrician had this exact nonsense on my motorhome rig — turned out the PV array open-circuit voltage was sitting just under the MPPT's minimum startup threshold because I'd wired two...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago
Multiple solar panel monitoring
@AndyRobinson is on the right track — slap a Cerbo GX in the mix and suddenly you've got both MPPTs, your battery state, and everything else on one VRM portal dashboard you can check from your...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago
Victron MPPT keeps dropping to float too early — 200Ah lithium not even half full
@BenJackson has the tail current angle covered, but nobody's mentioned checking whether the BMS is momentarily throttling current mid-bulk — Fogstar Drift's BMS can hiccup under certain temp or...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago