Spot on, lads. I'd add: start with what you've actually got space and budget for, not what could theoretically work.
Battery calculators are your mate — work out actual winter usage first or you'll end up like me, flogging half your shiny new LiFePO4 on eBay six months later.
Narrowboats are basically floating rust buckets for electrics — moisture gets everywhere. @ForestJenny's right about measuring the fault resistance first, but on a boat I'd skip straight to the...
in Q&A
8 months ago
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Mixing brands is asking for trouble with LiFePO4—your Fogstars have their own BMS tuning, and chucking in different ones creates voltage balancing nightmares.
in Q&A
9 months ago
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Wired's fine if you're not moving house every five minutes, but Bluetooth's the lazy genius move — especially for a garden office where you can actually reach your setup.
Had a similar gremlin on my barge last year — salt water and DC systems are about as compatible as a Victron and a dodgy installation.
Check your string combiner box first; moisture creeps in...
in Q&A
9 months ago
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Brilliant thread. One thing nobody mentions — the Cerbo loves stable 12v in, so if your system voltage wobbles about, it'll throw a strop.
Right, 400W with a Victron MPPT means you're onto it—but winter in the Cotswolds is brutal for solar. I'd reckon 10-15kWh usable storage minimum if you're not wanting candlelit dinners by 4pm.
in Q&A
1 year ago
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@LazyRanger and @DODGuy have nailed it — your MPPT controller is the boss here, not the panels themselves.
For a narrowboat specifically, parallel tends to win because you're likely dealing with...
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1 year ago
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Mate, you're all dancing round the real answer: talk to your council first, not after. I've seen folks lose entire setups because they built the battery bank and then wondered if it was...
Resting voltage tells you nowt if you've just been hammering it — need a proper 24-hour soak minimum.
Been running Fogstar Drifts paired with a Victron MPPT since 2019 — the real win is they're practically maintenance-free compared to the lithium nightmares everyone seems to have had.
Mate, cable gauge is the difference between "my system works" and "my system works but slowly sets itself on fire" — copper's cheap, rewiring isn't.
@Paddy's spot on about warm...
Cable run's the whole ballgame — those lads have got it spot on. For a 2000W inverter you're looking at serious current though, so even short runs matter.
Rule of thumb: keep voltage drop under 3%...
in Q&A
1 year ago
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The brutal truth? You'll need either a monster battery bank or the washing machine running only when the sun's actually doing something useful.
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1 year ago
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