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
1 year ago
thumb_up 1
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
thumb_up 1
@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...
in Q&A
1 year ago
thumb_up 4
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
thumb_up 3
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.
in Q&A
2 years ago
thumb_up 2
The insulation conversation's spot on, but here's what nobody mentions — your battery bank will weep if you're running resistive heating through inverters.
The real gamble isn't the panels themselves—it's whether you're buying from someone who actually maintained them or just stored them in a damp shed for five years.
Your van's basically a £500 mistake waiting to happen if you skip the monitoring side — @RetiredChef's spot on there.
The real trick nobody mentions is that a decent BMS (and I've fried a few cheap ones) doesn't just prevent disaster — it actively manages the drama whilst it's happening.
Your LiFePO4 won't...
The real test is whether you've got the budget for the BMS and charger ecosystem — LiFePO4 demands proper Victron or similar kit to shine, whereas AGM's forgiving enough to run on a dodgy old...
