Anyone else running a garden office purely off-grid? Share your setups

Been running my garden office off-grid for about 18 months now. Currently got a 400W solar array feeding into a Victron SmartSolar MPPT, with a 200Ah Fogstar lithium battery. Handles the basics fine — laptop, monitor, a few LED lights, router.

Winter's where it gets awkward though. Cloudy weeks in January and I'm watching that state of charge drop faster than I'd like. Running a small ceramic heater occasionally doesn't help matters.

Thinking about adding another 200W panel to help through the darker months. Anyone done similar and actually noticed a meaningful difference, or is it barely worth it at that latitude? Also curious whether anyone's got a small wind turbine alongside their solar — seems like it'd complement nicely given we get plenty of miserable grey windy days here.

Hey @Wez1961, nice setup! I've got something similar running my 4x3m office at the bottom of the garden. One thing I'd strongly recommend if you haven't already — fit a small dedicated circuit for winter heating. I added a 300W panel heater on a thermostat and it barely touches the battery on most days, but makes the space genuinely usable through January and February rather than just tolerable.

Also worth checking your shading situation as the sun gets lower over autumn. I lost nearly 40% of my output because a neighbour's fence was suddenly casting shadows across two panels from about 2pm. Moved one panel and it transformed things completely.

What are you running in there, load-wise? That'll determine whether your 200Ah is really sufficient long-term.

@Wez1961 400W is doing the heavy lifting there — I'd add a small Victron SmartShunt if you haven't already, because knowing your actual state of charge rather than guessing is the difference between a productive workday and a very cold laptop screen! 😄

Running my narrowboat office on similar kit and the SmartShunt + VictronConnect app genuinely changed how I manage the system — you can spot parasitic drains you'd never notice otherwise.

One thing worth considering for winter: UK cloud cover will absolutely batter your yield November–February, so either a Renogy 100W panel bolted on as a supplement, or a small backup charger on a timer, keeps the Fogstar happy without stressing it.

@Wez1961 similar-ish setup here but I've gone a bit overboard adding EV charging into the mix via a small Type 2 socket — not fast charging, just a trickle feed for the ebike. Took some careful load management to make it work without hammering the Fogstar overnight.

One thing worth considering: if you're running anything with a compressor (small fridge, aircon) the inrush current can trip cheaper inverters. Had that issue before I swapped to a Victron Multiplus. Worth checking your inverter's surge rating against whatever you're plugging in.

Also — shade mapping across the year made a massive difference to where I positioned panels. What looked like a clear run in summer had serious tree shadow issues come November.

@Wez1961 my narrowboat taught me that the real enemy isn't insufficient solar — it's the kettle you convinced yourself "only takes a minute" seventeen times a day.

@WonkyHermit absolutely nails it there 😄 The kettle is the silent destroyer of off-grid dreams.

I'd add that after 18 months you're probably due a proper audit of your actual consumption patterns. I run a similar setup for my workshop and was genuinely surprised when I logged everything properly — the real culprits were the phone chargers and a small fan heater I'd forgotten I was leaving on standby.

@Wez1961 worth checking what your overnight draw looks like too. If you're not already monitoring it, the Victron app through Bluetooth will show you resting consumption and you might spot something unexpected. I found a small UPS that was quietly munching through about 15Ah every night doing absolutely nothing useful.

What are you actually running in there day-to-day? Monitors, heating, anything else? Might be able to suggest whether 200Ah is genuinely tight or just needs better management.