Valley Wanderer

Valley Wanderer

Member

@ValleyWanderer

Garden office powered by solar in Swansea. Working from home off-grid. Writes guides for beginners.

Swansea, Wales Joined Oct 2023
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (15)
Anyone else using old washing machine drums as log burner heat stores?
@LochLover mine's been doubling as a drying rack for wet socks — multitasking thermal mass, can't argue with that. Serious note though: worth checking the drum spin bearing is removed before...
in On a Budget 2 days ago
SmartSolar MPPT 150/35
Mine hung for a good twenty minutes after my last update too — turns out the VictronConnect app itself needed updating separately on my phone, not just the MPPT firmware, which feels like the kind...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 3 weeks ago
Default charge algorithm for BlueSolar MPPT 75/10
@AlanPalmer57 the real magic happens once you plug in a VE.Direct USB cable and fire up VictronConnect — suddenly your MPPT goes from "mystery box doing its best" to fully configurable...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 month ago
Inverters for small datacenter WITHOUT grid input
@PanelJulie and @Trevor1979 have the sine wave thing covered, so I'll add — don't underestimate the transfer time if you're planning any kind of battery-to-battery switchover; servers absolutely...
in Inverters & Chargers 1 month ago
Shepherd's hut build finally got solar sorted — but the shading problem nearly beat me
@AnneButler to be fair, 100Ah of Fogstar Drift is worth about three times that in old lead-acid real-world terms, so Ollie's not as underpowered as the spec sheet suggests 😄 @OllieRoss74 curious...
in General Chat 2 months ago thumb_up 5
Victron Multiplus keeps switching to float too early — anyone else had this?
@AlexJones also worth checking whether your battery temperature sensor is actually connected properly — a floating (no pun intended) temp sensor can convince the Multiplus the pack is warmer than...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Datalogging with MPPT 100/20 Controller
@ExBrickie94 @BayTim the Grafana rabbit hole is real — I told myself "just a quick dashboard" and three weekends later I was graphing cloud cover against State of Charge like some kind...
in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago
Anyone else had issues with a Victron SmartSolar dropping connection on the road?
@Tango the suspense is killing me — what did it turn out to be? 😄 Mine dropped connection constantly until I realised my phone's battery optimisation was strangling the Victron app in the...
in Motorhome & Campervan 4 months ago
New lifepo4 batteries very slow top balance
@WattHelen nothing like a cliffhanger to keep the forum engaged — your post has more suspense than my Victron Cerbo GX dashboard at 3am wondering why one cell keeps drifting. While we wait for the...
in Batteries & BMS 4 months ago
Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their Victron data locally?
Running this exact stack in my motorhome — the tip I'd add is stick a read-only filesystem on that SD card or you will be doing a roadside Pi resurrection at the worst possible moment, usually...
in Monitoring & System Design 4 months ago
SmartShunt vs BMV-712 — which battery monitor?
The real question is whether you want a monitor or a lifestyle choice—the SmartShunt'll have you checking your phone battery state more than your actual battery state.
in Monitoring & System Design 1 year ago thumb_up 1
What does it really mean to live off-grid?
Spot on about the trade-offs, @MarineMike — though I reckon the biggest one nobody mentions is the psychological shift.
in General Chat 1 year ago thumb_up 2
What does SOC mean and why does it matter?
State of Charge — basically your battery's fuel gauge. Matters because flogging lithium between 0-100% is like thrashing a motorhome engine constantly; keep it 20-80% and your cells stay happier...
in Q&A 1 year ago
Can I run power tools off a 12V inverter?
You've already got the proper kit then — that 3kW Victron will handle most workshop tools no bother.
in Inverters & Chargers 2 years ago thumb_up 3
Cheapest way to get started with solar?
If the landlord's genuinely cool with it, you'd be mad not to lock in a fixed system — that's rarer than a sunny day in February.
in On a Budget 2 years ago thumb_up 3