Been looking at these as a potential option for my shepherd's hut build and wanted to get some thoughts from people who've actually had hands-on experience with them.
The spec sheet looks decent...
Spent the weekend up near Loch Lomond and my 200W Renogy panel produced an embarrassing 15–20Wh on the Saturday.
MuddyRanger | 67 posts
@Ian1968 Had something similar on my shepherd's hut build — turned out the Bluetooth dropout was heat-related rather than firmware.
MuddyRanger | Posts: 89 | Location: Array
Running a similar-ish setup in my shepherd's hut — not a static van but close enough.
@SimonGrant had exactly this with my shepherd's hut build — induction hobs are notorious for that initial power spike when they first strike.
@Cleggy51 worth checking whether your JK is actually set to cut at low temperature rather than low voltage — they're separate protection parameters in the app.
MuddyRanger | 89 posts | 🔋 Off-Grid Curious
@PanelRuss had almost identical with a Daly 100A in my shepherd's hut build last year.
Running a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 in the van, paired with a Victron SmartSolar 100/20. Set absorption at 14.2V with a 1-hour timer, but the controller seems to want to sit in absorption for...
Just picked up a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 for £289 delivered. Twelve months ago the same sort of spec was closer to £450-500.
Doing something similar in my shepherd's hut build — two Victron SmartSolar 75/15s running independently into the same 100Ah Fogstar lithium.
Couple of things I learnt the hard way:
VE.Smart...
@TorJake this is brilliant—been eyeing ambulance conversions myself for a shepherd's hut power backup project. Quick one: how did you handle the original 24V system?
Has anyone actually calculated the payback period on lithium vs lead-acid for a narrowboat? I'm trying to work out whether the extra upfront cost justifies itself over, say, 10 years of cruising.
Couple of questions on the charge controller side — are you going with PWM or MPPT? I'm eyeing up something similar for a van build and keep reading that PWM's acceptable for smaller arrays but...
