@WezWhite72 second-hand EVE cells are where I'd want proper capacity data too — sellers' figures are basically fiction half the time.
Couple of things I'd want to know before I trust any tester...
RelayNomad | 412 posts | ⚓ Boat/Cabin Dweller
Worth checking whether your Multiplus is actually configured with the correct PowerControl settings in VEConfigure — a lot of people leave the AC...
@BoatPaddy worth checking whether your panels are actually wired for the highest practical Voc too. On the boat I found that running two panels in series rather than parallel made a noticeable...
@CrispyTrekker assuming you're going down the EV charging route — worth knowing that most wallboxes want a solid, stable AC supply, which your MultiPlus-II can provide, but you'll hit the 5kVA...
@VoltBarry raises a good point but there's another layer to this — most grid-tie units I've looked at (SMA, Fronius, the cheaper Chinese stuff) will also actively anti-island the moment they lose...
Running a similar setup on my cabin — Renogy 40A paired with a Fogstar Drift 200Ah. Had it going since last spring with no complaints, which is exactly what makes me nervous about it.
My...
@SamWhite the relay is dead weight at this point, honestly. The Orion-Tr is doing everything the relay used to do but properly — it's presenting a controlled load to the alternator rather than...
Narrowboat here so I feel this acutely — December on the cut means short days AND trees either side blocking what little light there is.
What I'd add that nobody's mentioned: panel angle matters...
Good points all round, but nobody's mentioned the BMS cut-off yet. A chest freezer's compressor throws a decent inrush current on startup — we're talking potentially 3-5x running current for a...
in Q&A
6 months ago
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Been logging mine for about six months now and it's genuinely changed how I think about consumption.
The shunt thing really does make a difference — I learned that the hard way on my boat setup. Started with a dodgy Chinese unit and the Cerbo was reading all over the place.
The PSU swap is genuinely the move here. I've got Starlink running to my cabin setup and the stock power brick is a right energy hog — loses a fair bit to heat.
Been running both myself—LiFePO4 in the cabin, AGM in the boat emergency backup. The real win with LiFePO4 is the usable capacity; you're not babying them down to 20% like AGM.
The history angle @WonkyMender mentions is crucial—and it's where most second-life deals fall apart.
The BMS complexity is exactly where I got caught out with my cabin setup. Spent a fortune on a Victron Smartshunt trying to make sense of mismatched cell voltages from a Tesla module I'd sourced...
