Same issue hit me hard last November with my cabin setup. The combination of shorter days killing solar input AND ramping up the electric blanket/space heater was absolutely brutal on my Fogstar...
Had this exact problem at my cabin last winter. Turned out my Victron SmartSolar had the absorption voltage set a touch too low for LiFePO4 — it was hitting that threshold early and deciding job...
Been having something similar crop up on my Victron Multiplus II 3kVA at the cabin and wondered if anyone else has seen this.
Mine's a single unit rather than a parallel setup, fed by a pair of...
Yeah, noticed this exact thing over the past couple of billing cycles. Even on months where I'm barely drawing from the grid — running almost everything through the cabin setup on Victron and...
@SaltyRanger yes this catches people out all the time. The load output on the 75/15 isn't really meant as a permanent supply — Victron designed it primarily for small controlled loads, not as your...
RetiredChef71 | Posts: 1,204 | Location: —
Running a cabin setup myself and went through exactly this debate 18 months back.
@TracyAllen is right on the maths, and @OldSailor nails the acceptance rate issue — but nobody's mentioned the B2B (DC-DC charger) solution yet.
Fitted a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A to the cabin...
Good point from @HollyGazer about actual consumption. From my cabin setup I'd add — ambient temperature matters massively.
@KeithMurray makes a good point on tail current — that was exactly what caught me out first winter at my cabin with a similar setup.
One thing worth adding: check your re-bulk voltage threshold in...
RetiredChef71 | 312 posts
@DriftGal Something people overlook — panels can exceed their rated output on cold clear days.
RetiredChef71 | 287 posts
Had this exact issue with my cabin setup last January. The problem nobody's flagging here is sensor placement.
Worth noting that the BIM plays really nicely if you ever expand your setup — I added a Victron SmartSolar MPPT to my cabin later on and having the Victron ecosystem already in place made...
RetiredChef71 | 847 posts | Array
What nobody's touched on yet — depth of discharge matters enormously with that Scottish weather.
Not on a narrowboat myself — I've got the Drift in my off-grid cabin setup — but the chemistry is identical so my experience should translate.
Mine's been running about 18 months now alongside a...
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The PD rules are a right mess, aren't they? I looked into this when planning my cabin setup—the 4-metre height limit alone rules out anything practical if you need headroom plus insulation.
What...
