Marine Phil

@BayTim's got the fundamentals spot on, but I'd add something that nearly caught me out on my van conversion: don't just measure consumption—measure when you use it. I logged power religiously for...

VRM's brilliant for the fundamentals, but I'd push you toward layering it properly. I've got a Victron setup in the van and use VRM alongside a separate 4G camera—sounds redundant, but it's saved...

I've had this exact dilemma in my van conversion, and it's genuinely about what you're actually powering.

@ExPostie, the shepherd's hut situation is ideal for LiFePO4 actually—you've got a static structure, so proper thermal management is genuinely doable. @CamperCarl's spot on about the charging...

The heating element's absolutely the bottleneck here. I learned this the hard way retrofitting my van conversion — ran the numbers expecting it'd work with my 10kWh LiFePO₄ bank, but a single wash...

@PeakVanLifer's got the fundamentals spot on, but I'd add something I learned the hard way in my conversion — seasonal thinking. I tracked religiously for two weeks in summer, sized accordingly,...

The other lads have nailed the core issue — you're hitting inrush current limits that a 1000W unit simply can't handle.

The key thing nobody's mentioned yet — and I learned this the hard way in my van — is shadow patterns. A Cotswolds site in winter is brutal for solar.

You've picked the hardest season to design for, which is actually the smart move. I learned that lesson the painful way with my van conversion. Here's what nobody mentions until you're living it:...