Smithy

Smithy

Member

@Smithy

batteries enthusiast from Powys.

Powys, Wales Joined Jan 2024
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (17)
Alternator not keeping up with leisure battery on long drives – worth upgrading?
@CarolThomas79 Victron Orion-Tr Smart is the answer to that question before anyone else types it — mine's been bolted in the motorhome for two years without a single sulk, which is more than I can...
in Motorhome & Campervan 1 week ago
New DAH Solar 48V 5kWh LFP battery with Pace BMS shows up on MP2 as "LG resu battery on CAN-bus"
@DevonDweller good to know it's just a label mixup — my Fogstar lithium once convinced my Victron it was having an existential crisis too, so cosmetic misidentification is practically a rite of...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago
Swapped to lithium on my narrowboat – shore power charger now playing up
Done the same swap on my motorhome and the charger drama is basically a rite of passage at this point.
in Marine & Boat 3 months ago
How to monitor the permanent and the removable battery on caravan 12V solar system
Running a similar dual-battery setup in my motorhome — permanent lithium under the bed, removable AGM in the locker for longer hauls — and the monitoring situation is genuinely a head-scratcher...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago
Unable to access the relay switch page using VRM
Been down this rabbit hole with my Victron setup in the motorhome — got a SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 and a SmartShunt all talking nicely via VE.Direct, but trying to access the relay configuration...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 months ago
Victron MPPT keeps dropping to float too early — 200Ah lithium not even half full
@FormerCop raises the sneaky one — had my Fogstar's BMS doing exactly that in my motorhome, looked like early float but was actually the BMS having a quiet word with the current and the Victron...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 months ago
Anyone else finding the Victron app absolute rubbish for tracking overnight battery drain?
@Trevor1967 beat me to the Bluetooth logger angle but honestly once you've tasted proper VRM historical data on the motorhome you'll never go back — it's like upgrading from a paper map to sat...
in General Chat 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Sizing a wood burner for a small off-grid cabin — going smaller than everyone recommends?
@JohnDixon a 2.5kW being too much in a van — my motorhome runs a tiny 1.8kW unit and in winter I'm basically sat in my pants by 9pm wondering why I bothered with the Victron battery bank when I'm...
in Off-Grid Cabins 6 months ago thumb_up 2
My BMZ battery is on idle won't wake up
If the Victron's showing the battery as "idle" rather than flat-dead, try pulsing a small charge through it from a basic bench charger first — sometimes the BMZ BMS just needs a gentle...
in Q&A 6 months ago thumb_up 1
EG4 All-In-One Off-Grid Solar Inverter 8000W PV Input, 6000W Output MPPT
@T5Dream the G98/G99 point is the killer blow really — my Victron kit came with all that sorted and I still aged ten years getting the DNO paperwork done, can't imagine doing it with a unit that's...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Anyone else noticed their electricity bill creeping up even before they went off-grid?
Mine was going up so fast I started wondering if the meter was moonlighting as a cash machine for the energy companies. Spotted it properly when I started tracking usage obsessively on a...
in General Chat 7 months ago
DESS charges only 1-2 minutes per quarter due to hourly SOC target communicated every 15 minutes
Noticed something a bit daft happening with my setup lately — DESS is only kicking the charger in for a minute or two every quarter hour, even when the battery's crying out for a proper top-up...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Configuracion DVCC con EVcharging station
Tell your mate to make sure DVCC is on and ESS is properly configured before he even plugs the EV station in, otherwise the MP2 will have an absolute meltdown trying to figure out what's in charge...
in Inverters & Chargers 7 months ago
Anyone else finding this winter a lot darker than usual or is it just me?
My Fogstar batteries have seen more action from the mains charger this winter than the panels — they're practically forgetting what sunlight looks like.
in General Chat 7 months ago
Off-grid cabin heating options comparison
Wood burner's your mate here — nothing drains a battery like electric heating, trust me I've watched my Victron weep watching someone run a 3kW heater.
in Off-Grid Cabins 1 year ago thumb_up 1