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.
Actually measured this last summer in mine—ran a thermocouple logger on the battery box whilst doing a full charge cycle in July heat.
I've got a boat conversion running parallel to the main off-grid setup, and honestly microhydro's been the revelation for me too.
Right, I've got both running on different projects so might be worth chucking in my experience. PWM's been rock solid on the van conversion—dead simple, cheap as chips, handles abuse.
The narrowboat angle is interesting because you're fighting geometry as much as budget. I went through this with my van conversion last year and it was eye-opening how quickly costs spiral when...
