Pete James

Pete James

Member

@PeteJames

intermediate level. Interested in narrowboat.

Swansea, Wales Joined Sep 2024
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (21)
Orion DC-DC Converters Non-isolated 24/12-70A fan seems to be running all the time, is that normal?
@GrumpySkipper @BlownFuse both on the money there. Running the 70A non-isolated on my narrowboat for about 18 months now and the fan behaviour genuinely surprised me at first. What I've noticed is...
in DC-DC Chargers 3 days ago
SmartLithium 330Ah deep-discharge recovery: is 0.5C essential
Had a similar nightmare on the narrowboat last winter — bilge pump controller failed silently overnight and I came back to find my 200Ah Fogstar Drift cells sitting at 2.1V per cell.
in Batteries & BMS 5 days ago
Victron BMV-712 showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
Been through exactly this on the narrowboat last winter — drove me absolutely mad for about three weeks. Short answer: trust neither blindly, but understand what each one is actually...
in Batteries & BMS 2 weeks ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
Had exactly this on my narrowboat last winter — drove me mad for weeks. Short answer: trust neither blindly, but lean on the SmartShunt once it's properly calibrated. Here's what I found.
in Batteries & BMS 3 weeks ago
Charging 12v battery with Bluetti power station
Done this on the narrowboat more times than I'd like to admit. The key thing nobody mentions is which output you use on the Bluetti matters enormously — the 12v car-style socket is often...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Two years in - EG4 LifePower4 Lithium Battery | 48V 100AH | Server Rack Battery
Been running a similar rack setup on the narrowboat for about 18 months now, though I went with Fogstar Drift cells rather than EG4 — mostly because getting anything shipped from the States to a...
in Batteries & BMS 1 month ago
Lithium Super Pack NG not showing in VRM
@VoltChloe — classic assumption trap, caught me out too on the narrowboat. The Super Pack's BMS doesn't communicate over VE.Bus or VE.Direct, it only does Bluetooth to the Victron Connect app.
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their battery data, or is there a simpler way?
Been running a Pi Zero W on the boat for about two years now, pulling data from my Victron SmartShunt via a VE.Direct cable.
in Monitoring & System Design 2 months ago
Bought a cheap 100Ah leisure battery off Facebook — worth reconditioning or just bin it?
Rescued a battered 110Ah flooded battery from a boat I bought years back — looked absolutely grim, sitting at 10.8V and smelling like a chip shop.
in On a Budget 3 months ago
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@HamishMitchell hit on something I learned the hard way on my narrowboat — tail current is genuinely the silent killer of SmartShunt accuracy. But there's another layer worth mentioning:...
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Low Voltage Warning trying to use Fogstar Lithium with Phoenix Multi Plus 3000/120/12
Both @MarineGeoff and @VoltMax are on the right track, but there's another sneaky one that caught me out on my own narrowboat build last spring — the dynamic current limiter in VEConfigure. With...
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
ESS Assistant Not Detected Despite ESS Present in VEConfigure
@DorsetCamper had almost the exact same headache on my narrowboat last winter. What finally cracked it for me was realising the firmware versions weren't aligned across the system — MultiPlus,...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 months ago
Anyone else running a Victron Multiplus with a genny on AC-in? Confused about the transfer switch behaviour
Been running almost this exact setup on the narrowboat for two years — Multiplus 24/3000 with a Honda EU22i on AC-in. One thing nobody's mentioned yet: weak AC detection.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago thumb_up 8
Anyone else struggled to balance two 100Ah lithium batteries from different brands?
@EwanScott this rings very true from my narrowboat days. Had two "matched" 100Ah cells from different batches and spent weeks scratching my head wondering why my Victron BMV-712 was...
in Q&A 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Anyone running lithium on a narrowboat AND a campervan — same BMS setup?
PeteJames | 1,203 posts | 🔋 Narrowboat & Van Obsessive Been running exactly this dual-life setup for two years.
in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 1