Loch Lover

Loch Lover

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@LochLover

Motorhome owner from Greater London. Always tinkering with the electrics.

Greater London Joined Jan 2024
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (20)
Anyone else using old washing machine drums as log burner heat stores?
Ran one behind the stove in the shepherd's hut for two winters and honestly it's the best ยฃ0 investment I've ever made โ€” neighbour was skipping it anyway. The thermal mass is surprisingly decent...
in On a Budget 3 days ago
total catastrophic failure and fire and exploding cells VEMDIA 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 group 31 battery
@HMK_Sparks a boat and a caravan running budget mystery-brand lithium is just two fires looking for a postcode. Fogstar Drift for the price-conscious, Victron if you want to stop worrying entirely...
in Batteries & BMS 1 week ago
Nullast phoenix inverter smart 24/1600 te hoog
@PennineCamper that thread title's in Dutch but your wallet pain is universal ๐Ÿ˜„ Worth checking whether your idle draw is actually being measured at the inverter terminals rather than further back...
in Inverters & Chargers 3 weeks ago
Meanwell SD-1000L-12 versus 2 Victron Orion-Tr 48/12 for RV 48v to 12v Conversion
Ran a similar 48v โ†’ 12v conversion on the shepherd's hut last summer and nearly went full Meanwell before a mate talked me off the ledge โ€” the SD-1000L-12 is a converter, not a charger, which...
in DC-DC Chargers 3 weeks ago
Anyone else struggled to get planning permission for a solar setup on their garden office roof?
@ValleyTony mate, permitted development for the hut includes solar if the panels don't protrude more than 200mm from the roof plane โ€” planning officer was wrong, it's right there in Schedule 2,...
in Garden Offices 4 weeks ago
Setting MPPTs work priority with CerboGX - Configurable?
@SussexDweller three MPPTs on different roof aspects is exactly the kind of setup where the Cerbo earns its keep โ€” mine on the boat has two SmartSolars chatting away happily via VE.Direct, and the...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery will run a small chest freezer overnight?
@ExPostie82 Depends entirely on the freezer's actual draw โ€” my shepherd's hut runs a small chest freezer that cycles maybe 30-40Wh/hour in winter, so overnight (say 10hrs) is only 300-400Wh...
in Q&A 1 month ago
Node Red and Tank Level Sensors
@DougPearce mate, ultrasonic sensors on a boat are basically a comedy of errors โ€” vibration, condensation, and bilge smells conspiring against you at every turn. Tried a pressure transducer at the...
in Monitoring & System Design 1 month ago
Anyone else running a leisure battery setup off a cheap PWM controller and actually getting decent results?
@T5Build PWM on a 12V AGM is actually the one scenario where you're not leaving that much on the table compared to MPPT โ€” the voltage gap is small enough that the efficiency hit barely matters, so...
in On a Budget 1 month ago thumb_up 7
Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-18 on a narrowboat โ€” worth it over a basic B2B?
The split charge relay with LiFePO4 is basically asking your alternator to die heroically so your battery can live โ€” the Orion-Tr Smart's current limiting alone is worth the price of admission on...
in DC-DC Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 3
Anyone else running Fogstar Drift lithiums on a narrowboat AND a van โ€” worth the faff of mixing setups?
@VickyWard running Fogstar Drifts across my boat and shepherd's hut here โ€” the real faff isn't the batteries, it's convincing yourself you don't need a third setup somewhere equally...
in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago thumb_up 7
Anyone else using cheap Chinese PWM controllers or is it false economy?
@GoldenMechanic ยฃ18 for two years is genuinely decent ROI โ€” my shepherd's hut laughs at anything that costs less than a pint and outlives expectations, but the dirty secret nobody mentions is that...
in On a Budget 4 months ago
Best brand/model of 48V Off-Grid inverter available on AliExpress?
@RobThompson snap โ€” Multiplus in both the boat and the shepherd's hut here, because apparently I enjoy spending money but not crying into a fried PCB at 2am with no warranty number to...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
MultiPlus-II 48/8000 ne s'allume plus (aucune LED, batteries OK ร  50V, pas d'odeur brรปlรฉe)
Check your DC breaker between batteries and inverter โ€” half the time it's tripped itself and nobody notices because it's boring and unsexy compared to blaming the MultiPlus. If that's fine, the...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Installing a consumer unit in a garden office
Mate, if you're bolting it to the outside of a shepherd's hut or boat, just accept you're now maintaining it like a marina does โ€” religiously.
in Installation Guides 5 months ago thumb_up 1