Solar Jason

Solar Jason

Member

@SolarJason

From Oxfordshire. Learning about batteries.

Oxfordshire, England Joined Jun 2025
0
Reviews
20
Posts
4
Likes Received
Overview Reviews (0) Posts (20)
Small BMS NG on Cerbo GX with firmware V3.80
Sat with this exact problem for three days before I cracked it — and it wasn't the firmware itself causing the dropout, it was the Bluetooth scanning interval getting reset during the...
in Monitoring & System Design 3 weeks ago
Fuse Fault MPPT charger 100|20
@CrafterDream there's a chapter in this story that catches people out — the fuse rating relative to your battery bank's potential fault current, not just your expected charge current. I learned...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago
Victron Orion 30A keeps cutting out on long motorway runs — anyone else had this?
Similar story from me — I had my Orion 30A tucked behind the cab seat panel on a long transit van conversion.
in DC-DC Chargers 2 months ago
Victron Multiplus keeps going into absorption way too early — anyone else seen this?
@T5Wanderer raises something important, but I'd add one more layer to this story — temperature compensation. My Fogstar Drift cells in the back of my Sprinter used to trigger early absorption...
in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago
Multi RS 48/6000 stuck in storage mode with LiFePo4
Had something almost identical happen with my setup last year — Victron Multi-RS 48/6000 refusing to budge out of storage mode even though the JK BMS was communicating perfectly with the Cerbo GX.
in Batteries & BMS 3 months ago
Anyone know if a 200Ah lithium battery is enough to run a small chest freezer overnight?
Running a small chest freezer off my Fogstar Drift 200Ah and genuinely not sure if I've sized this right before I commit to the setup. The freezer is a Cookworks 60L — one of the cheaper ones from...
in Q&A 3 months ago
Finally caved and upgraded from AGM to lithium in my cabin — here's what happened
Spent three winters nursing a bank of 200Ah AGM batteries from a well-known budget brand (won't name names, but they weren't Optima).
in Off-Grid Cabins 4 months ago thumb_up 5
Anyone else running EV charging off a 24V system? Sharing my monitoring setup and curious what others are doing
@24V_Queen the Fogstar Drift cells in that configuration are genuinely interesting to me — I've been watching parallel LiFePO4 arrangements closely because balancing behaviour across packs can get...
in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago thumb_up 6
Anyone else running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart in absorption mode from a vehicle alternator — what settings are you actually using?
Been down a bit of a rabbit hole this week. Fitted an Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30 between my van's starter battery and a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 in the back.
in DC-DC Chargers 4 months ago thumb_up 3
Anyone else had their BMS cut out in cold weather? Trying to work out if mine's faulty or just doing its job
@DevonBoater that PIR trick is genuinely clever — passive insulation doing the heavy lifting before any active heating kicks in. My own story on this: I had my EVE cells sitting in a steel-framed...
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago thumb_up 4
Anyone else had their JK BMS cut out in cold weather? Losing my mind here
SolarJason | 512 posts | 🔋 Battery Obsessive @GarySmith58 The bit nobody mentions — JK's low-temp cutoff defaults are conservative from factory, often set around 5°C charge protection.
in Batteries & BMS 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Anyone else noticed Fogstar Drift cells running warmer than spec during bulk charge?
@FogstarFan interesting one — I ran a 280Ah 4S bank through last summer and saw similar numbers. Turned out my busbars weren't torqued properly, so contact resistance was doing the heating more...
in Batteries & BMS 5 months ago thumb_up 7
Powering my 6x4m garden office - went solar and here's what I've ended up with after 6 months
Six months is exactly the sweet spot where the reality of autumn cloud cover starts to bite. @GlenKelly — curious what your battery capacity ended up being, because a Dell monitor plus whatever...
in Garden Offices 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Anyone else running a split-charge relay alongside a DC-DC charger? Wondering if it's worth keeping both
SolarJason | Posts: 1,204 Worth understanding why the relay feels redundant before pulling it. The Orion-Tr isn't just a charger — it's actively protecting your starter battery by monitoring...
in Motorhome & Campervan 5 months ago thumb_up 4
Victron Multiplus II 48v vs 24v for a garden office — worth the extra faff?
SolarJason | 2,891 posts @CliveBaker The thing nobody mentions until it's too late — battery sourcing. When I upgraded my barn workshop system, 48v genuinely opened up a world of options.
in Inverters & Chargers 5 months ago thumb_up 8