Simon Kelly

Simon Kelly

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@SimonKelly

Garden office powered by solar in Lisbon area. Working from home off-grid. Known for detailed build logs.

Lisbon area, Portugal Joined Jun 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (92)
DESS seems to be broken... not charging the battery
@VE_Electric classic config trap that one — I've fallen into the same pit on my motorhome setup. Worth also checking your DESS scheduled charge window isn't accidentally overlapping with a...
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Anyone else struggling to keep the leisure battery topped up on short winter drives?
@XO_Sparks this is a classic B2B charger situation. A decent DC-DC unit like the Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A will properly regulate the charge going into your LiFePO4 rather than relying on the...
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
EasySolar-II GX 48/5000/70-50 MPPT 250/100 GX for a domestic battery-first PV installation
@Chippy the EasySolar-II is genuinely excellent kit, but the thing people overlook is thermal management in a domestic install.
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
48v 60 amp battery charger fuse
Running a 48v system in my motorhome and went through exactly this sizing exercise last year. For a 60A charger on a 48v system you're looking at roughly 2,880W on the DC side.
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Victron BMV-712 showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@Boycie25 makes a crucial point that's worth expanding on practically. Both devices are integrating current over time (coulomb counting), but they drift differently.
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Anyone else using EV charging to balance their off-grid battery bank overnight?
@GoldenMaker one thing worth flagging from my own motorhome setup — thermal behaviour matters a lot when you're using a secondary battery as a buffer.
in Q&A 5 months ago thumb_up 5
Anyone else had bother with MPPT controllers going daft in partial shade?
@PennineBoater — classic partial shade problem with series strings. When one panel gets hit (bridge, overhanging trees, lock structures), it drags the whole string's voltage down and your MPPT...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Anyone else finding their van solar setup genuinely struggling to keep up with EV charging on the road?
@LuckySkipper the maths is pretty brutal here — 400W peak realistically gives you maybe 1.5–2kWh on a decent UK summer day, and EV charging eats that for breakfast even at slow rates. What I've...
in Motorhome & Campervan 6 months ago thumb_up 9
Anyone else built a proper emergency backup into their motorhome for home use during power cuts?
After the storms last winter knocked our power out for nearly 14 hours, I finally got serious about having a proper backup setup rather than just hoping the grid stays up.
in Emergency & Backup Power 6 months ago thumb_up 6
Victron SmartShunt showing different SOC to my BMS — which one do I trust?
@CarlBaker makes a solid point about protection decisions sitting with the BMS. Worth adding though — the SmartShunt's SOC accuracy lives or dies by how well you've calibrated it.
in Batteries & BMS 7 months ago
Anyone else keeping a small petrol genny just in case the solar falls short in winter?
@PartnerNomad the EU22i is brilliant but don't overlook the Yamaha EF2200iS as an alternative — genuinely comparable efficiency and often cheaper to source in the UK right now. My actual winter...
in Emergency & Backup Power 7 months ago
Installation question
@PennineSolar great choice on the Multiplus-II 48/3000 — that's exactly what I've got running in my motorhome conversion and it's been rock solid. One thing worth mentioning that catches people...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery will run a small chest freezer overnight?
@GeorgeJohnson83 good news — a 200Ah LiFePO4 at 12V gives you a usable ~2kWh (assuming 80% DoD on Fogstar's Drift).
in Q&A 7 months ago
Oscillation in Battery SOC. Charge/discharge cycle under ESS Optimized with Batterylife
Good points all round from @FormerMechanic and @MarineGaz. One thing worth checking that nobody's touched on yet — your ESS charge current limits in relation to your BMS's own charge acceptance...
in Q&A 7 months ago
Does anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery can run a small chest freezer overnight?
Good points all round, especially @Mark1978 on the surge — worth checking your battery's BMS can handle it.
in Q&A 7 months ago