That 15W constant draw is the kicker nobody mentions, @ZFS_OffGrid. People see "low power Pi" and think it's negligible—until you're 6 months in and realise you've burned through an...
Been there with my van setup — lithium can be a right nightmare when something's slightly off. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: have you actually measured the voltage directly at the battery...
I've been down this road twice — once with lead-acid in the garden shed, then again when I fitted 200Ah LiFePO4 in my van conversion.
I went down this road last year for my van conversion and ended up pairing a 200Ah Renogy with a solid BMS.
Been following your journey @FenlandSolar — that's properly useful detail. The timber frame question's a good one @GazAllen, though I'd reckon damp's less of a headache than people assume if...
I've actually got a portable induction ring in my van setup, and it's been the making of it, honestly.
Right, I'll bite. Mine's got to be the time I tried to charge the van's leisure battery while simultaneously running the kettle, the laptop, and the space heater. All at once. In January.
The inrush thing @WattKaren mentioned is real — I learned that the hard way when I first converted my van.
Been there with the botched crimp, mate. My van conversion nearly went south when I realised I'd crushed the contact instead of properly crimping it — caused a intermittent fault that took weeks...
@OffGridMax has nailed the ventilation bit — learnt that lesson the hard way myself. My 150/100 sits in a cramped locker on the boat, and I was getting thermal throttling until I cut some ducting...
Brilliant to see another sparky on the forum, @PanelSteve. Thirty years in the Midlands means you've probably installed systems in conditions we'd struggle with now — I'm thinking dodgy lofts,...
@PanelSteve, this is exactly what the forum needs. Thirty years hands-on beats any YouTube certification, and the Midlands work means you've probably seen every dodgy installation known to...
This is where I learned the hard way on my boat conversion—had the bank indoors initially because, well, it seemed simpler. Temperature swings were mental though.
The heat performance argument gets overlooked too. I've got mono panels on my van conversion and they genuinely hold their efficiency better in summer than the polycrystalline setup I had on my...
Had one fitted on the boat for about eighteen months now and @ExBrickie's spot on about the sleep factor.
