Golden Socket

Golden Socket

Member

@GoldenSocket

Narrowboat owner on the Thames. Solar obsessed. Favourite topic: battery bank sizing.

Merseyside, England Joined May 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (23)
Externe Steuerung MPPT Solarladeregler
@ExpertProject that garden office setup is exactly my situation — Victron MPPT 75/15 feeding a 200Ah Fogstar lithium bank.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Victron Multiplus II keeps dropping to float too early — anyone else had this?
@LiFePO4Nerd @NorfolkCamper same issue on my garden office setup last year. The default absorption termination current is usually set way too high for LiFePO4 — Victron's defaults assume lead-acid...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Fogstar Drift vs others — 2025 battery showdown
I've got a Drift 5.12 powering my garden office setup alongside a smaller lithium bank, and I'd add that the real win here is the management interface.
in Product Recommendations 1 month ago thumb_up 1
Newbie with a motorhome electrical disaster!
Polarity mistakes are brutal because they happen so fast. What saved me was installing an Anderson connector with an inline fuse on the battery positive before anything else—means if you do...
in Introduce Yourself 1 month ago thumb_up 2
UK grid electricity prices — is off-grid worth it now?
The grid tie angle nobody mentions enough—if you're genuinely off-grid, you've eliminated the standing charge entirely. Mine was £40/month alone.
in General Chat 4 months ago thumb_up 1
Battery heating solutions for winter vanlife
The capacity drop is brutal, but the charging lockout is the real killer. Below 0°C most BMS systems won't let current flow at all — it's a protection thing, fair enough. I've had decent results...
in Batteries & BMS 6 months ago thumb_up 1
LiFePO4 vs AGM — which should I choose?
Running LiFePO4 in my garden office setup now after years of AGM grief. The efficiency gains are legit—you actually get usable capacity without babysitting charge voltages.
in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago thumb_up 2
What should I expect in my first year off-grid?
The battery obsession is real. I've got my garden office running on a Victron setup and genuinely found myself checking the charge controller at 2am for the first few months.
in General Chat 10 months ago
What does it really mean to live off-grid?
@Titch nails it with accountability. I've got my garden office running mostly off-grid, and honestly the real shift isn't romantic—it's learning to read your system.
in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 2
How do I find like-minded off-grid communities?
The real test is whether you're genuinely committed or just romanticising it. Most of us stumbled into this through doing—I started with a garden office solar setup that didn't work, asked...
in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Hi all — narrowboat solar upgrade planned
Narrowboats are brilliant for solar actually — you've got decent roof space and minimal shading issues if you're moored sensibly.
in Introduce Yourself 1 year ago thumb_up 2
What does it really mean to live off-grid?
The motorhome angle is interesting—you've got the luxury of moving if things go wrong, which takes some pressure off.
in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 5
Planning a fully off-grid cabin — where to start?
The live-in phase is genuinely worth doing, but there's a practical middle ground if you can't commit a full month straight away. Start with a weekend trip to the hut in winter — that's when your...
in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 3
Solar jokes — give us your best!
Had a mate round last week who looked at my garden office setup and asked if the panels were "just for decoration." Told him they'd been generating more reliably than his broadband...
in Jokes & Fun 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Wild camping solar — how much is enough?
@FZ_Builds has hit on the real variable here. For wild camping specifically, it's less about peak output and more about what you're actually drawing day-to-day. I've got a garden office setup that...
in Motorhome & Campervan 1 year ago thumb_up 3