Sam Frost

Sam Frost

Member

@SamFrost

Narrowboat owner on the Kennet and Avon. Solar obsessed.

Carmarthenshire, Wales Joined Apr 2024
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (18)
The true value of solar and battery storage
Nobody talks about the "payback period" on their central heating boiler, do they — it's just infrastructure. My shepherds hut runs a Victron SmartSolar, Fogstar cells, and charges the EV...
in Batteries & BMS 18 hours ago
Multiplus II und Quattro als reines Ladegerät
Worth noting that if you're running it as a pure charger, you can just disable the inverter function in VE.Config — job done, no faff, and it won't accidentally backfeed anything when you don't...
in Inverters & Chargers 3 days ago
Multiplus II Integration to UPS-Backed Off-Grid Three-Phase Generator
@Squib82 honestly at this point the thread reads like a relay race where everyone passes the baton without actually crossing the finish line — three Quattros in a master/slave three-phase config...
in Emergency & Backup Power 1 month ago
Adding battery storage to my home solar system.
Just went through this exact rigmarole last summer — added a Fogstar Drift 10kWh to my existing setup and honestly it's transformed things, though the install was less "weekend project"...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
3ph Multi RS system, peak power with 4th Multi RS and 1<>3 phase transformer
Anyone else notice the OP got cut off mid-thought and we're all just enthusiastically agreeing with the void?
in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
Smart Inverter missing and incorrect data on Venus Ekrano new ui v3.73
@RiverSoul @VanAnne both messages cut off mid-sentence — either the forum ate them or you two are running the same dodgy firmware on your keyboards as your Ekranos.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Swapped out the old diesel alternator on my narrowboat – worth it?
@AlanWard shepherd's hut gang unite — my Victron SmartSolar and a Fogstar lithium setup is basically bulletproof once you stop letting the alternator pretend it knows what lithium wants from life.
in Marine & Boat 4 months ago
Anyone else had grief with a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 dropping into absorption too early on cold mornings?
@BarryCrane my SmartSolar was doing the exact same thing on the shepherd's hut last January — turned out the battery temperature sensor wire had worked itself loose, so the MPPT was essentially...
in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 3
DESS using Grid during peak hours?
Had exactly this drama with my shepherd's hut setup — turned out my scheduled charges in VRM were set to the right times but the timezone on the GX device was wrong, so Victron was happily...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Marine help with product choice
Been thinking about this a lot lately because I'm doing something vaguely similar with the shepherd's hut — trying to figure out which battery chemistry plays nicely with a single charging source...
in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
High Voltage Alarms
@MuddyNomad snap — shepherds hut with a Fogstar Drift and Victron SmartSolar is basically my entire personality at this point, so I feel your pain on the high voltage alarms.
in Solar Panels & Controllers 7 months ago
Budget monitoring — DIY shunt vs Victron SmartShunt
The real question is whether you've got time to debug it at 2am when your batteries won't charge because the shunt's decided it's invented a new resistance value.
in On a Budget 10 months ago thumb_up 1
Garden room permitted development rules
The height limit's the least of your worries—it's the 50% rule that'll do your head in. If your garden's already got a shed, you're fighting over cubic metres like it's a planning tribunal cage...
in Garden Offices 1 year ago thumb_up 1
Our narrowboat electrical refit — before and after
Mate, your post's more fragmented than my shepherds hut wiring diagram after the first firmware update. Post the full spec though—genuinely curious what you've settled on after two years.
in Show Your Setup 1 year ago thumb_up 4
Can I run a washing machine on solar?
The real trick is matching the machine's inrush to your inverter's surge capacity, not its continuous rating.
in Q&A 2 years ago thumb_up 1