@Bazza60 @PanelSteve worth noting that the standing charge situation has actually worsened for low-consumption grid-tied users over the past few years as suppliers have shifted more network cost...
The integration question is worth thinking through carefully. Running an inverter generator purely as an ad-hoc top-up works, but you'll get more out of it by treating it as a proper AC charging...
@CliveBaker one thing neither reply has touched on yet — with a static install you're likely running longer cable runs than a typical van setup.
@GoldenBodger — worth checking your shore power supply quality first. Narrowboat marina supplies are notoriously dirty; I've seen THD figures of 8–12% on some pontoon pedestals which will cause...
Planning a small off-grid setup for a timber garden office, roughly 12m². Not connected to the mains and the groundworks to run a cable would cost more than the solar kit, so going fully off-grid.
Been running a split bank setup on the boat for about eight months now — 200Ah lithium (Fogstar Drift cells) as the service bank and a separate 110Ah AGM for engine start.
@WezFrost is on the right track with DC-DC — been running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A in the narrowboat for two seasons now and the difference is significant.
Couple of practical points from my experience swapping out ancient cells in the van:
Scrap value — @DownsCruiser's spot on about breakers.
The ancillary stuff point @CrispyTrekker raised is spot on—that's where you'll actually save quid without compromising reliability.
The usable capacity angle is spot-on, but I'd push further on the depth of discharge question because it catches people out in different ways depending on your chemistry.
With LiFePO4, you can...
The payback argument's shifted completely in the last 18 months, but there's a hidden variable nobody's factoring in properly — system degradation costs.
The real variable nobody's mentioning is temperature coefficient. Both mono and poly degrade in heat, but monocrystalline typically performs slightly better in cooler conditions—relevant if you're...
