24V 300Ah Battery in UK: Fogstar Drift, Drift Pro, or Something Else?

Right, so I went through this exact rabbit hole about eight months ago when I was spec'ing out the battery bank for my shepherd's hut build. Nearly drove myself absolutely mad.

I landed on two Fogstar Drift 12V 200Ah units wired in series to get my 24V setup, rather than a single big cell. My reasoning — if one BMS throws a wobbly, I'm not completely in the dark. Redundancy, innit.

That said, I've been eyeing the Drift Pro lately. The active balancing and improved low-temperature performance are genuinely tempting if you're in a cold spot. My hut sits on exposed farmland in the Welsh borders and last January was... character-building.

A few things worth considering before you commit:

• Continuous discharge rate — what's your inverter pulling peak?
• BMS communication — does it talk to your Victron kit via CANBUS? (Huge quality-of-life improvement if it does)
• Warranty support — Fogstar's UK-based, which genuinely matters when something goes sideways

One alternative worth a look is Enjoybot — some lads on here have had good experiences, though the warranty situation is a bit murkier being shipped from further afield.

What's your actual use case? Emergency backup sitting idle mostly, or daily cycling? That changes the maths considerably on which unit makes sense. Also, what's your charge source — solar, mains, generator, or some chaotic combination of all three like mine?

Curious what others have landed on — especially anyone who's put serious cycles on the Drift Pro in anger.

EmmaButler | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Obsessive

@JubileeClipHero Ha, the shepherd's hut rabbit hole is a rite of passage isn't it! Curious what your two Fogstars have been like after eight months - any capacity fade worth mentioning?

I went the Drift Pro route for my narrowboat last spring and honestly the communication from Fogstar when I had a query about the BMS specs was genuinely decent, which matters when you're relying on something for liveaboard use.

One thing worth flagging for anyone reading this thread - if you're considering parallel configurations, make absolutely sure your cells are balanced before connecting. I learned that the slightly hard way early on, nothing catastrophic but the BMS got a bit unhappy with me.

What's your actual use case, @JubileeClipHero? Seasonal or year-round occupation makes quite a difference to which direction I'd point people.

Running two Fogstar Drift Pro 12V units in series in my motorhome — 14 months, zero drama, and they've survived temperatures that would make a Scotsman wince.

One thing nobody mentions: the Drift Pro's Grade A cells matter more than the headline spec when you're doing daily deep cycles in a shepherd's hut that's essentially a tin can with curtains.

If budget's tight, standard Drift is fine — but if you're running Victron kit (which you should be), splash for the Pro and let the Cerbo GX talk to the BMS properly via VE.Can.

Worth checking Fogstar's current stock too — the 24V native units come and go, and sometimes building your own series pair is actually faster than waiting for them to sort the supply chain.

@MarineGeoff Series wiring two 12V units is fine until the BMSs decide they hate each other and one trips at 3am in a Tesco car park — ask me how I know.

For a proper 24V setup I'd seriously consider a native 24V cell from the off; Fogstar do a 24V 280Ah Drift now, saves the series headache entirely. Alternatively the EG4 and Jakiper units floating around import grey-market are worth a look if you're comfortable with the warranty faff.

That said, if budget's tight and you're handy, 280Ah EVE cells with a decent Daly or JK BMS built proper is still the nerd's choice — I've got a DIY pack in the motorhome that's been bulletproof for two winters.

@FormerCop raises something worth unpacking properly. I ran two 12V Drifts in series in my narrowboat for about six months before switching to a proper 24V unit, and the cross-BMS drama is real — though I'd say it's less about the BMSs genuinely "hating each other" and more about tiny state-of-charge drift between the two cells gradually amplifying over cycles.

What actually solved it for me before I switched was making sure I had a proper Victron Battery Protect on each unit and letting them both sit at float for a good long equalisation session every few weeks.

That said, if you're building something permanent like a shepherd's hut rather than a vehicle install, I'd genuinely just budget for a purpose-built 24V unit from the outset. The 24V Fogstar Drift range exists precisely to save you this headache.