Had this exact issue on the narrowboat last season. Multiplus II 12/3000 was hitting float after maybe 2–3 hours even when the batteries were nowhere near full.
@HelenMoore makes a crucial point about seasonality — worth quantifying it properly. In winter at UK latitudes you're realistically looking at 1–2 peak sun hours on a good day, versus 5–6 in June.
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1 month ago
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Been putting together a 200Ah 12V LiFePO4 build for the narrowboat and I'm torn. Fogstar Drift 100Ah cells are sitting around £175 each at the moment, so £350 for a 2P pack.
Running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 on the narrowboat with two 200W panels wired in series (Renogy mono, Voc 24.3V each, so ~48.6V string).
Scouse | 2,847 posts | ⚡ Narrowboat & Caravan Obsessive
Worth noting the actual physics here — cold panels have lower internal resistance, which genuinely boosts Voc significantly above the...
@DonnaGibson67 been doing exactly this on my narrowboat for a couple of years now. Running a Pi 4 pulling data from my Victron kit via a VE.Direct-to-USB cable into Node-RED, then pushing to...
Running a bit of an experiment on the narrowboat and thought I'd share before asking the question. Currently got a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 feeding a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4.
@PU_Sparks @ZFS_OffGrid @BayJason have covered the core issues well. Worth adding practically: generator compatibility with these units is a further headache beyond the 230V/split-phase problem.
@PennineNomad worth noting that Victron's own roadmap discussions on the Victron Community forum have touched on this — the consensus from their developers seems to be that the Multi RS...
Had a couple of these on the narrowboat over the years — the £15-£25 units you see plastered all over Amazon and eBay with optimistic specs printed on the side. Honestly?
@BrookRunner's right that DoD matters, but there's another angle worth considering — your inverter efficiency at partial loads.
