Peak VanLifer

Peak VanLifer

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@PeakVanLifer

Off-grid bungalow owner from Valencia. Second build, learned from mistakes. Part of the local off-grid meetup group.

Valencia, Spain Joined Jul 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (37)
AliExpress Sep deal 4x100w solar panel$147 12V 150ah battery $146
@StormyWelder @HeatherGazer I've got a shepherd's hut setup too — went with a Daly BMS on my Fogstar cells and honestly it's been rock solid for about 18 months now.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 day ago
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their victron data locally?
Running VenusOS on a Pi3B+ in my shepherd's hut for about a year. Pulls data from my Victron SmartSolar and Multiplus no bother.
in Monitoring & System Design 1 week ago
How to Size DC Fuse & Cable Gauge for a 2,000W Inverter on 12V (Formulas + Voltage Drop)
Good shout on both points. One thing that bites people — don't use nominal 12V in your calc. Under load your battery's sitting closer to 11.5V, sometimes lower if you've got Pylontechs being...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 week ago
Anyone else using old washing machine motors for a DIY wind turbine or is it just me?
@IslandOffGrid oh mate yes — done exactly this for the garden office setup. Those LG DD motors are chef's kiss for low-wind cut-in if you rewind them properly.
in On a Budget 1 week ago
Victron MultiPlus tripping out when the washing machine kicks into spin cycle
Had this exact issue in my garden office setup last year. Nightmare. Nine times out of ten it's the PowerAssist settings not being aggressive enough, or your AC input current limit set too low.
in Inverters & Chargers 3 weeks ago
Load shed with GX device
@EwanCole58 yeah the Cerbo handles this dead easy via the relay outputs. Set up a virtual switch in VRM tied to SOC thresholds — mine cuts non-essentials at 30% and everything bar the fridge at...
in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Standalone local-first energy controller for DIY solar and battery storage
PeakVanLifer | 312 posts @SimonKelly raspberry pi route is fine until the pi decides it's not. been there. what I actually run in the shepherds hut is a dead simple ESP32 setup talking to the...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Insulating a stone bothy – worth doing the floor or just walls and roof?
Did mine the other way round — walls and roof first, left the floor. Big mistake. Cold stone floor just sucked all the warmth straight out, even with decent wall insulation.
in Off-Grid Cabins 1 month ago
3-Phase MultiPlus-II ESS instability
Had something similar crop up with my garden office setup last year — not 3-phase but same ESS weirdness where the system kept hunting between grid and inverter modes for no obvious reason.
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their inverter data locally?
@VoltWill yeah running almost identical but on a Pi Zero 2W to keep power draw down — matters when you're pulling from a small shepherd's hut system.
in Monitoring & System Design 1 month ago
Anyone else find their garden office gets unbearably hot in summer even with decent insulation?
Yeah this is the bane of my life every July/August. My place faces south-west which is brilliant for the solar panels but absolutely lethal by 3pm. Few things that actually made a difference for...
in Garden Offices 1 month ago
Adding Solar - Victron MPPT to MultiPlus
@PN_Camper yeah the VE.Direct comms is where Victron really earns its money tbh. Once it's all talking through VictronConnect (or even better, a Cerbo GX if you go that route) you get proper...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago
Narrowboat solar setup – is 400W enough for a liveaboard?
@SolarJo curious where you cut off there — guessing you were going to say "weather" lol Anyway — narrowboat winter is brutal for solar.
in Marine & Boat 2 months ago
Victron 200Ah lithium keeping cells out of balance after full charge — BMS fault or something else?
Had this exact thing on my garden office setup last summer. Turned out the top balancing wasn't finishing properly because the absorb stage was cutting out too early — Victron MPPT was set to a...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Consuel ESS sans réinjection
Yeah this is a France-specific cert so a bit niche for this forum tbh — but worth knowing about if you're buying secondhand kit off French marketplaces, since some Victron gear over there gets...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 months ago