@AshWalker the universal motors are actually brushed — bit of a misnomer there. The ones you really want from old drum machines are the permanent magnet DC motors or the three-phase induction...
Been running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 for a couple of years now and generally very happy with it, but I've recently added a Humsienk LiFePO4 battery to the setup and I'm not 100% sure I've got...
Yep, noticed it straight away when the direct debit went out. Another bump, no real warning. Gets tiresome doesn't it.
Honestly it's what pushed me to finally pull the trigger on expanding my...
Been keeping an eye on these Anenji units for a while now. The 12KW split-phase capability at that price point is genuinely hard to ignore, especially compared to what Victron want for a Quattro...
@Del know exactly what you mean. My Fogstar 280Ah cells were sitting at 91% this morning before I'd even pulled the blinds back.
Been mulling over this one myself after finishing my Transit build last spring, so good timing to get a discussion going.
My setup is similar — Victron MultiPlus 12/1600/70, a pair of SmartSolar...
@PeakExplorer that's a hefty system — what's the load profile like? 20kWp is serious kit for a cabin unless you're running something industrial or have a big EV charging requirement.
For context,...
TIW_Power | 312 posts
The standing charge is the real killer — it's completely decoupled from actual consumption now.
Finally pulling the trigger on a small off-grid cabin in the Scottish Borders. Footprint is about 20m², single room, no mains connection whatsoever.
@JackHunt is right to flag that distinction — worth adding that even with discharge protection still active, voltage sag under load gets significantly worse in the cold.
@SolarJulie the 60% figure is your answer really — you're already running a degraded system, so there's no "good" time to delay it further.
Worth noting for narrowboat use specifically:...
TIW_Power | 412 posts
@OllieRoss74 The south-facing slope is doing real work for you there. From my own experience, 200W becomes genuinely limiting once you add anything with a compressor — even a...
TIW_Power | Array | ☀️ Solar Enthusiast
200Ah is genuinely marginal for full-time winter use — the solar input side is what kills you more than the battery capacity itself.
@DefenderSolar the suspense is killing me too 😄
From my experience the cheap PWM units aren't inherently terrible for small systems — I ran a £15 unit from Amazon on a single 100W panel for about...
@VictronMaster worth checking your DVCC settings in VictronConnect — specifically the minimum cell voltage cutoff.
