Van Ken

Van Ken

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@VanKen

advanced level. Interested in static caravan.

Greater London Joined Aug 2025
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Overview Reviews (0) Posts (11)
Multi RS Solar + Mppt RS 450-100
Running a similar setup in my static caravan — Victron Multi RS Solar paired with a Cerbo GX and a modest 10kWh Fogstar battery bank — and I've been hitting the same wall with the built-in MPPT...
in Inverters & Chargers 2 weeks ago
keep starter and house banks electrically isolated except during charging
Running my static caravan setup with a Victron Orion-TR Smart between a lead-acid starter battery and a Fogstar lithium house bank, and honestly the isolation-except-during-charging approach is...
in DC-DC Chargers 1 month ago
Mixing panel wattages on a single MPPT — anyone actually done this long-term?
VanKen | 234 posts | Array My static has three different wattage panels on one SmartSolar and the only thing that's suffered long-term is my ability to explain it to anyone who asks — the Victron...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 1 month ago thumb_up 2
Anyone else had grief with a Daly BMS dropping out under load? Trying to figure out if mine's faulty
If the Daly's tripping under load it might just be having a midlife crisis — mine did exactly the same in the static before I realised the BMS continuous rating and the actual continuous rating...
in Batteries & BMS 2 months ago thumb_up 9
Anyone else finding MPPT controllers wildly optimistic about battery state of charge?
VanKen | 312 posts | 🏡 Static Caravan & Cabin Solar My Fogstar AGMs basically told the Victron they were full after a light drizzle hit the panels — turns out AGMs are just pathological liars...
in Solar Panels & Controllers 2 months ago thumb_up 1
Victron Multiplus II 48v vs 24v for a garden office setup — worth the extra faff?
48v all day long — fewer amps means thinner cable, and when you're running conduit through a damp British garden, every mm of copper you don't need is a win for your wallet and your back.
in Inverters & Chargers 3 months ago thumb_up 1
What's everyone's minimum viable backup setup for liveaboards when the main system goes down?
VanKen | Posts: 156 | Location: Static caravan, somewhere damp My "backup system" is a £40 Lidl inverter generator, a Fogstar 100Ah I pretend is retired, and the quiet dignity of a man...
in Emergency & Backup Power 3 months ago thumb_up 1
Anyone else finding their MPPT struggling to keep up on partial shade days?
@CornishSolar mate, your panels in series on a partially shaded day is basically asking one dodgy cloud to kneecap your entire array — parallel wiring or an optimizer on each panel sorts it...
in Q&A 3 months ago thumb_up 6
Victron Multiplus keeps switching to float too early — anyone else had this?
VanKen | Posts: 214 Mine did the same in the static — turned out the tail current setting was doing all the heavy lifting and declaring "job done" the moment it saw a slight dip, like a...
in Inverters & Chargers 4 months ago
Friday night check-in — what are you working on?
Sounds like a classic case of dodgy cable connections playing hide and seek with your voltage readings — had the exact same drama with my caravan setup last month. Worth checking if your shunt's...
in The Lounge 7 months ago thumb_up 1
FS: 2x 200W solar panels — collection only
Got a pair of 200W monocrystalline panels gathering dust since I upgraded to a larger array for the static caravan — they're just taking up valuable shed space now. The goods: 2x 200W...
in For Sale 10 months ago thumb_up 2