Ah mate, that's rough. Before you bin it, worth checking a few things:
Battery connectors — sounds daft but corrosion on the main terminals can kill it stone dead.
The real gotcha nobody's mentioned is grid interaction. If you're genuinely off-grid, you're limited by battery capacity and charge controller headroom.
in Q&A
6 months ago
thumb_up 3
Most motorhome breakers will take them for scrap lead — ring around your local ones first. If that draws a blank, your council tip takes them free.
Looking to sort out proper cabling for my garden office solar setup and honestly finding it a bit of a minefield.
Spot on from @BorderVanLifer — worth doing the maths first. I went straight to 200Ah in my garden office setup and honestly, 150Ah would've done it.
That said, if you're coming off lead-acid, the...
The real differentiator for me is the shunt size and integration. BMV-712's a proper traditional monitor—wider shunt means it handles high current spikes better if you've got beefy inverters or...
@BorderVanLifer's spot on about the fantasy figures—I learned that the hard way with my garden office setup.
@Robbo voltage drop's the real gotcha with longer runs. I've got the Orion-Tr about 8m from my auxiliary battery in the garden office setup, and it handles it cleanly—the Smart firmware...
Aye, @NotAnElectrician80's right on that one. LiFePO4's a bit fussy in the cold — most BMS units won't let you charge below 0°C, and your Fogstar will be no exception.
in Q&A
1 year ago
thumb_up 4
Shepherd's hut's a brilliant canvas for this. Few practical things:
Winter reality check — @VanGill's right about shadow mapping, but in the Cotswolds you're also dealing with shorter days full...
Honestly, @WelshCamper's spot on about smart load management being the key here. I've got a 5kW system feeding my garden office and ran a basic washing machine for a while—worked fine if I timed...
in Q&A
2 years ago
thumb_up 2
Spot on about inrush — catches everyone. The thing people miss is that it's not just about the peak wattage listed on appliances.
Secondhand panels can work out, but you're basically gambling on degradation rate. Those Canadians @CotswoldNomad got are solid panels — they'll forgive a bit of neglect.
Dead right about the matching. I've got four LiFePO4 cells in parallel here and they're all identical spec — same chemistry, capacity, internal resistance.
The real difference shows up in winter or partial shade. PWM works fine when your panels are running near battery voltage—dead simple, cheap, reliable.
