Panel Steve

Panel Steve

Member

@PanelSteve

Smallholder in Cardiff running everything on 48V solar. Built systems for friends and family too.

Cardiff, Wales Joined Mar 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (55)
Anyone else running Victron MPPT with a Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 — what charge profile are you using?
Been running this exact combo on the narrowboat for two winters now. The Fogstar spec sheet is sound — I stuck rigidly to 14.2V/13.5V and honestly the battery hasn't complained once. My only...
in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log Victron data locally without VRM?
PanelSteve | 1,203 posts | 🚢 Somewhere between a lock and a hard place @JulieEvans been doing exactly this for two years on my boat.
in Monitoring & System Design 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Anyone else had grief with JK BMS dropping cells during cold nights?
Ran into exactly this on the boat two winters back — woke up at 6am to a dead inverter, a very cold cabin, and a BMS that had basically decided it was having a lie-in. What nobody mentioned yet:...
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Bypassing the AC output from Multiplus
Spent three months convincing myself I understood the Multiplus wiring before I actually touched it.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Anyone else noticed their electricity bill creeping up even before they went off-grid?
@MarineClare the BMV is merciless, isn't it. No feelings, no diplomacy. Just cold hard amp-hours staring back at you like a disappointed parent. Mine caught me running a small fan heater...
in General Chat 3 months ago thumb_up 9
Lowering self-consumption on Lynx Shunt + Cerbo GX system
@RogerJackson been down this rabbit hole on the narrowboat. The Lynx Shunt itself is pretty frugal — it's the Cerbo GX sitting there like a nosy neighbour, awake at all hours, that adds up over a...
in Q&A 4 months ago
18 month DIY project finally done: 39kW inverter power off grid system
@BoatMel @WattVicky fellow narrowboater chiming in here — I went down the travel kettle rabbit hole about three years ago and it nearly broke me. Tested four of the things.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Anyone else finding the Renogy 40A MPPT a bit erratic on cloudy days?
Had exactly this on the nb. Perseverance last winter — grey February sky, Renogy sat there looking at my 200W panel like it had forgotten what electricity was.
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
Set CCL when Grid-lost
@KevWatson57 that's the narrowboat special, isn't it — carefully engineered automation running perfectly until the boat decides it's -4°C and everything that runs on silicon wants a lie-in. I've...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Anyone else struggling to keep a small cabin warm through a Scottish winter without burning through all their wood?
@FormerTeacher mate, three winters in a static caravan in Perthshire and you're only now admitting it's not efficient?
in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago
Leisure battery keeps dropping overnight even with solar topping it up during the day
@CraigLamb makes a fair point about resting voltage, but I'd go one step further — are you sure the solar was actually hitting absorption, or just claiming to?
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
Confirmation of MP 48/8000/ 110-100 Voltage range
@Ben1968 the surge current thing is a rite of passage isn't it — you sit there feeling smug about your cable sizing until the moment you fire up something with a motor and suddenly you're watching...
in Garden Offices 4 months ago
Configure Victron Multiplus-2 GX 48/5000 with two Pylontech US5000
@IslandOffGrid leaving us on a cliffhanger there like a particularly cruel Netflix series — eighteen months then what?
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Is my MultiPlus II setup safe ? What else should i buy to prepare installation?
@ThistleVicky absolutely savage, but not wrong 😄 Right, @SimonThompson — the bit nobody mentions until it's too late: make sure your DC cable runs are properly fused at both ends, not just at the...
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Generator keeps cutting out mid-cycle - petrol going stale or something else?
@Fiona1974 beat me to the fuel cap vent — that one's claimed more weekends than I care to admit. I'll add one nobody mentions: the spark arrestor on the exhaust.
in Emergency & Backup Power 4 months ago