Anyone else running Victron on a narrowboat? Share your setup

Decided to finally document what I've cobbled together on my mate's 57ft narrowboat after he begged me to "sort his electrics out" over a bank holiday — three days of cable runs and I aged ten years.

Currently got a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 feeding two Fogstar 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries (wired in parallel for 200Ah), with a Multiplus-II 12/3000 for the inverter/charger side. Shore power hookup at the marina tops it up overnight, solar does the heavy lifting when cruising. Running the TV, kettle, and a 12V diesel heater without drama so far.

The one thing that's doing my head in is the battery monitor readings going a bit wobbly when the alternator kicks in from the Beta engine — anyone else seen their SmartShunt go a bit doolally under alternator load? Wondering if it's a grounding issue or if I need a proper DC-DC charger (looking at the Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30) in the mix.

What are you lot running on your boats — narrowboats, cruisers, whatever floats your 🚣?

NickMason | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar & Storage Enthusiast

@BitsAndBobs Ha! The classic "can you just have a look at my electrics" that turns into a full rewire. I know that feeling well.

Running a very similar setup on a 60ft semi-trad here — MultiPlus-II 3000 with a SmartSolar MPPT 150/35 feeding 280Ah of lithium (DIY cells from a group buy about two years back). The cable runs through the engine room nearly finished me off, especially routing around the Lister.

One thing I'd strongly recommend if you haven't already — get the Cerbo GX in there. Being able to monitor everything remotely via VRM when your mate's moored up somewhere in the middle of nowhere is genuinely brilliant. Saved a few awkward phone calls trying to diagnose issues blind.

What battery chemistry did you end up going with?

@BitsAndBobs That bank holiday sounds painfully familiar — I spent an entire Easter weekend retrofitting a Victron Multiplus-II into my shepherds hut, and the cable routing alone nearly broke me.

Curious about your DC setup specifically. On my motorhome I run a Cerbo GX with a pair of Fogstar Drift 100Ah lithiums and it's transformed how I monitor everything remotely. Narrowboats have that awkward combination of shore power hookups, alternator charging, and solar all needing to talk to each other simultaneously.

A few questions worth documenting for others:

• What MPPT controller did you end up with?
• Did you tackle the engine alternator integration with a Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger?
• Shore power via a Multiplus or separate inverter/charger?

The alternator-to-lithium relationship is where most narrowboat installs go wrong in my experience.

WrongFuse96 | 203 posts | 🔧 Off-Grid Tinkerer

Not on a narrowboat myself — garden office build — but cable runs through confined spaces are cable runs through confined spaces and I feel that pain regardless 😅

The 57ft thing is brutal though. At least my office is stationary and I can actually stand up while working.

@BitsAndBobs what did you end up speccing? Curious whether you went MultiPlus or just a MPPT + separate inverter. Seen a few boat builds using the Victron MultiPlus-II combo and swearing by it for shore power passthrough when moored up — seems like the obvious choice but the price stings.

Also — Fogstar Drift cells or did you go with something pre-built for the battery side? Confined bilge space always seems to complicate battery choices on boats.

ExBrickie31 | 1,204 posts | 🔋 Van & Battery Nerd

Not narrowboat specifically — 7.5m panel van with a Victron Multiplus-II 3000 and 280Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 — but the fundamentals are identical. What's the battery arrangement on your mate's boat? Narrowboats are notorious for undersized cable runs to the bow thruster that someone's bodged into the leisure circuit years prior. First thing I'd check is whether the BMS is communicating properly with the Victron over VE.Bus or if it's just relying on voltage-based charging profiles — seen plenty of setups where the Multiplus is essentially guessing at state of charge. Also curious what MPPT controllers he's running and whether they're properly configured for lithium. The VRM portal is genuinely useful once you've got everything talking correctly.

Not my scene — I'm strictly static caravan and tiny house on dry land — but the wiring chaos @BitsAndBobs describes is universal regardless of platform.

What I will say: the one thing that saves your sanity on any complicated retrofit is doing a proper cable schedule before you touch a single crimp. Every run, every gauge, every termination point, written down. I ignored that advice once on my static and spent a week chasing a voltage drop I could've spotted on paper in twenty minutes.

Also worth noting — Fogstar have become my go-to for LiFePO4 cells lately if budget's tight. Whether that translates to narrowboat use with the damp environment, someone else can answer better than me.

Three days on a 57ft boat though. That's not a job, that's a sentence.

ExFirefighter59 | 1,203 posts | 🔋 12V/24V Veteran

Ha, @BitsAndBobs — three days on a narrowboat in a bank holiday? You deserve a medal and possibly a chiropractor. Done a fair few of these myself.

Running a Multiplus-II 24/3000 on my own 62-footer with a 400Ah lithium bank. The biggest headache nobody warns you about is heat management in the engine room — Victron kit is tough but it does not appreciate being sandwiched between the engine and a poorly ventilated panel box. I fabricated a simple ali bracket to keep airflow around the inverter and temperatures dropped noticeably.

Also worth mentioning — NMEA2000 integration if the boat has any navigation electronics already fitted. Cerbo GX talks to it nicely. Brilliant for keeping an eye on everything from the tiller on a long run.

What's the battery situation on your mate's boat?

JackHunt | 847 posts | ⚡ Narrowboat & Off-Grid

@BitsAndBobs brilliant that you've documented it — narrowboat installs are their own breed of chaos entirely. I've got a Victron MultiPlus-II 24/3000 paired with a Cerbo GX on a 58ft cruiser stern and the cable routing alone nearly broke me. The engine room is always the fun part — trying to keep inverter cabling short whilst everything else fights for the same space. What battery chemistry did you end up going with? I switched to LiFePO4 last season and the difference in usable capacity has been transformative, especially through the winter stoppages when you're not getting much solar.

Been running Victron Multiplus-II 3000 on my 58-footer for two years — the real fun starts when you're trying to charge the EV at the marina and the BMS on the Fogstar cells throws a wobbler at 6am because someone left the induction hob on overnight. 🙃

@BitsAndBobs three days is optimistic — I'm still "finishing" mine.

Pro tip nobody mentions: cable runs on a narrowboat are basically an archaeological dig through previous owners' terrible decisions, layer by layer, each worse than the last.

Chopper54 | 312 posts | ☀️ Garden Office & EV Chaos

@BitsAndBobs three days on a narrowboat helping a mate is how friendships end and Victron addictions begin — I only rewired my garden office and now I've got a Cerbo GX, Fogstar lithiums, and a strong opinion about busbar sizing that nobody asked for.

WonkyHermit | 1,204 posts | 🔋 Narrowboat & Tiny House Chaos

Running a Victron Multiplus-II 2000 paired with four Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4s on my 54-footer — the only thing that aged me faster than the cable runs was explaining to my Cerbo GX why the inverter and the 60A alternator occasionally have a domestic about who's actually in charge of the batteries.

three days on a narrowboat helping a mate

@Chopper54 three days is optimistic — I've been "temporarily" sorting mine for eighteen months.

Boycie74 | 203 posts | 🚢 Narrowboat & Solar Convert

Ha, @BitsAndBobs — "cobbled together" and "sorted the electrics" are very different things as I'm sure you've discovered! Running a Multiplus-II 2x120 on my 60-footer and the biggest lesson was getting the AC input current limit dialled in properly when on shoreline at marinas. Victron's shore power sensing is brilliant but narrowboat ring mains vary wildly and I've had it trip more than once at dodgy moorings. Worth setting a conservative limit and letting the batteries do the heavy lifting rather than chasing full shore power draw. What battery chemistry did you end up going with?