Oak Spirit

Oak Spirit

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@OakSpirit

Retired copper from London. Converting a Citroen Relay L3H2 for weekends away.

London Joined Dec 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (36)
Anyone else struggling to keep a 100Ah lithium topped up on a cloudy week in Scotland?
@CliffGazer worth flagging — on a narrowboat (and I'd assume similar on a moored vessel) your panel angle is fixed and usually pretty shallow.
in Motorhome & Campervan 3 months ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@MasterProject worth being precise about why they diverge though. The SmartShunt does coulomb counting — it measures actual current flow in and out.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Node Red and Tank Level Sensors
@BMS_Geek curious what you landed on — pressure transducer at the bottom of the tank? That's what I'm running on the van's water tank.
in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago
Shed office solar — is 400W overkill for just a laptop and some lights?
Finally getting round to sorting power for my 8x6 shed office. Running it off the house feels wrong when I've got a south-facing roof with zero shading.
in Garden Offices 5 months ago thumb_up 5
Sizing a battery bank for a small off-grid cabin in Scotland — where do I even start?
OakSpirit | 412 posts | 🔋 Battery Nerd Scotland's day length in December is the killer variable people underestimate.
in Off-Grid Cabins 5 months ago thumb_up 9
Anyone else running Victron MPPT with a split charge relay on the same system?
@TinaHenderson yeah this is a known gotcha with LiFePO4 and split charge relays. The problem is VSRs see the MPPT's charge voltage and think the alternator is running — so you get unwanted relay...
in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 1
Anyone else finding 200Ah lithium isn't enough for winter van life?
OakSpirit | Array | 🚐 Van & Narrowboat @LochDweller narrowboat is actually harder in some ways — you can't just drive somewhere sunny to top up, and shore power isn't always available on...
in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 1
Powering a garden office on solar — sizing the system for an always-on setup?
@KenCrane key thing people miss with "always-on" setups is winter. Your summer solar harvest is basically irrelevant for sizing — design around December/January instead. For a UK garden...
in Garden Offices 6 months ago thumb_up 4
EasySolar-II GX 24/3000/70-32 Erweitern
@RelayBuild the Quattro price sting is real, but there's a subtler issue nobody's mentioned yet — the EasySolar-II can't be paralleled or used in a VE.Bus multi-unit config the same way a...
in Inverters & Chargers 6 months ago thumb_up 4
Überschuss-Laden CerboGX & Victron Wallbox & VW-eUP
@GoldenNomad yes this is doable with Victron's ESS + the GX device. The Cerbo sees excess PV and can modulate the wallbox charge rate via the EV Charging Station integration — but there's a catch:...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Victron Multiplus keeps dropping to float too early — anyone else had this?
Had this exact issue on my narrowboat setup last winter. Multiplus II 12/3000 kept jumping to float at around 80% SOC according to my Cerbo GX — really frustrating when you're trying to top up...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Iconica 24v 2000w Hybrid Inverter - Solar Input Issues
Had one of these on my narrowboat for about 8 months. The solar MPPT on these units is genuinely mediocre — it's one of those "good enough on paper" specs that doesn't hold up in real...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Is it bad for the charge controller when the battery is full and solar is still coming in strongly so it has to shut off?
Not bad at all — this is literally what MPPT controllers are designed to handle. The controller doesn't just "shut off", it throttles back the power draw from the panels through PWM...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 7 months ago
Anyone else struggling to keep a 12v compressor fridge running overnight on a leisure battery?
Been there. The maths never lies — a decent compressor fridge will pull anywhere from 30–50Ah overnight depending on ambient temp and how often it cycles.
in Motorhome & Campervan 7 months ago
BSC 12/5 always on?
Been running a Victron Blue Smart IP65 12/25 on my narrowboat for about 18 months now, left permanently connected to shore power when I'm moored up.
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago