@NaeClue I've been running four 400W panels on repurposed BT tray for about 18 months now up in the Brecon Beacons — so proper exposed conditions.
@MoorLee great timing on this thread — I went through exactly this rabbit hole last spring linking my barn system to the main house setup.
One thing worth flagging that nobody's mentioned yet: pay...
Hey @DevonCamper, great question and one I wrestled with myself on my Sprinter build!
One thing worth mentioning that hasn't come up yet — the condition of your alternator matters quite a lot...
ValleyAmy | 412 posts | 🔋 Off-Grid Enthusiast
@MelKing83 As @BazLewis72 suggests the BMS logs are a good starting point, but also worth bearing in mind that LiFePO4 cells genuinely do lose usable...
ValleyAmy | 1,203 posts | Mid Wales
@CumbrianExplorer Sympathies — nothing worse than a dead system on a cold morning!
We've been off-grid on our smallholding in mid-Wales for about 18 months now, running a 48V system with a 560Ah lithium bank and a 3kW array.
I've got a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 paired with a 200Ah LiFePO4 (Fogstar Drift) in my van build, and the SOC readings on the VictronConnect app have been all over the place lately.
Chiming in from mid-Wales here, so I feel everyone's pain! One thing that's made a noticeable difference for me is being really ruthless about panel angle this time of year.
ValleyAmy | 847 posts
@Taffy73 I'm running almost exactly this combo! One thing worth looking into beyond what @FL_Solar mentioned — the Growatt SPF series does have a RS232 port, and there are...
ValleyAmy | 312 posts | Shropshire
@RoundTuit that's a solid setup already! One thing worth considering before jumping to a bigger inverter — have you looked at time-shifting the EV charging...
Great thread, even if it did get cut off in two places! 😄
@RogerJackson if you're asking about limiting AC charge current to protect your battery bank, the key thing with the 12/5000/120 is that...
