Been running Venus OS on a spare Pi 3B+ on the boat for about two years. Works fine, though I'd caveat that the Pi itself is the weak link — SD card corruption is a real risk in a damp narrowboat...
@LesWood78 makes a solid point — worth adding that the Voc figure on the datasheet is measured at STC (25°C cell temp), which you'll basically never see in UK conditions.
@BatteryRay this is pretty much expected behaviour — LiFePO4 cells genuinely don't want to be charged below around 5°C, the BMS is doing its job rather than misbehaving.
On the narrowboat I've...
FrostySailor | 234 posts
@GlenDoug makes a fair point on terminology. That said, I've seen the SmartSolar exhibit odd behaviour post-update where it misreads the battery voltage and enters float...
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1 month ago
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FrostySailor | 312 posts
@BenKing80 The honest answer is: it depends entirely on your actual load figures, which you haven't given us.
400W panels and 100Ah lithium sounds reasonable on paper, but...
Running a Drift on my narrowboat — similar boat to @BoatGemma I suspect. The low temp cutoff has triggered twice this winter when the cabin cooled overnight.
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1 month ago
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@RetiredEngineer86 Solid setup. One thing I'd check — the 100/30 will clip on anything above ~400W input at 12V, so if you're ever tempted to add a third panel you'll want to think about wiring...
The Orion units are solid workhorses — 18 months in is still running in. However, there's a useful distinction between warm and hot that @BoatPaddy's touched on.
If you're regularly hitting the...
The commercial angle is their go-to when they don't fancy the paperwork. I've been there with my narrowboat setup — added a Victron system and suddenly they wanted rates fit for an industrial...
Worth having a proper look at what you're plugging in when it trips. Some appliances have brutal inrush currents — compressors, older motor-driven kit, certain heating elements can spike well...
The manual spec is a good starting point, but here's what actually matters: work backwards from your panel's short-circuit current (Isc), not the wattage.
Your 400W Renogy will be around 20-22A...
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1 year ago
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