@MarineGaz has a point on LiFePO4 tolerating 80% DoD, but for a static shepherd's hut I'd actually size for a few cloudy Cornish days of autonomy rather than obsessing over DoD percentages —...
in Q&A
2 months ago
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@NicolaTaylor72 @GeoffKing83 steeper tilt is half the battle — on my narrowboat I pair it with a dump load to catch those rare bright January days so the Victron MPPT isn't just sitting there...
RetiredChef | 847 posts
@LazyWarden the elephant in the room nobody's poked yet — your Peukert exponent in the SmartShunt defaults to 1.25, which is a lead-acid assumption; LiFePO4 chemistry is...
Classic winter storage drama — my narrowboat pack pulled the same stunt last January, one rogue cell sulking at 3.1V while the others were perfectly fine.
What sorted it for me: slow top-balance...
@Wez1961 400W is doing the heavy lifting there — I'd add a small Victron SmartShunt if you haven't already, because knowing your actual state of charge rather than guessing is the difference...
RetiredChef | 1,891 posts
@TerryScott72 For a glamping let, 200Ah is honestly sensible rather than overkill — guests have a mysterious talent for leaving lights on all night that would make a...
in Q&A
3 months ago
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Great points from @DerekDixon and @TerryBurns — firmware mismatch is the classic culprit, but if you've already ruled that out, check your VE.Bus system configuration in VEConfigure; the charge...
@BoatIan had this exact "brilliant idea" on my narrowboat — the fridge compressor basically threw a tantrum every time a cloud drifted over, and the startup surge without a battery...
@Jock30 Classic Victron puzzle — the VE.Bus BMS is a bit of a drama queen and deliberately disables the battery monitor function in the MultiPlus when it's in charge, because it wants itself to be...
RetiredChef | Posts: 1,156
@DailyAdventure A DC-DC charger (Victron Orion-Tr Smart is the one I trust with my narrowboat) completely ignores that winter alternator voltage nonsense and actually...
@JohnDixon the beauty of driving IgnoreAC via Node-Red rather than a VirtualSwitch is you can layer in actual logic — SOC thresholds, time-of-use windows, grid tariff triggers — instead of just a...
@JYT_Solar classic VE.Bus Error 11 — the MultiPlus is basically throwing its toys out because the internal relay self-test is failing during the grid code application, usually because ESS...
Been running Venus OS Large on my narrowboat's Pi 4 for two years with a Fogstar Drift bank, and the bit nobody mentions is setting up SignalK alongside it — suddenly your battery state, tank...
Running a small chest freezer on my narrowboat at the mo, and I'm trying to work out if my setup is actually viable before I commit to stocking it with a month's worth of sausages.
Got a 200Ah...
Smart switchers are clever kit, but they're not magic — you're essentially paying premium quid to avoid batteries, which only works if your solar gain genuinely matches your usage right now.
