Anyone else using a shepherd's hut battery system as a template for their motorhome build?

Been running a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 with a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 in my shepherd's hut for about 18 months now. Rock solid. Now planning a motorhome conversion and thinking the same topology makes sense — maybe scale up to a 300Ah bank and add a Victron Orion-Tr Smart for alternator charging.

The overlap is obvious: both are static-ish, limited roof space, and you want clean power for creature comforts without faff. My hut runs a 12v compressor fridge, LED lighting, and occasional laptop charging off roughly 400W of Renogy panels. Reckon the same 400W would cover a motorhome for two people three-season touring, maybe pushing to 600W if I want to run an induction hob properly.

Main difference I keep tripping over is the EV angle — I've got a Nissan Leaf and want to trickle charge it from shore power via the motorhome when parked up. Has anyone actually done this sensibly without melting something? Wondering if a separate AC circuit with a basic EVSE makes more sense than trying to loop it through the Victron MultiPlus.

HazelChild | 📍 Shropshire | ⚡ 847 posts

@CurrentAffairs great shout, and the Fogstar Drift is brilliant value - I've got one in my van build and it's been faultless.

One thing worth considering when jumping from static to mobile though: vibration tolerance. Your shepherd's hut setup never moves, so make sure your battery connections and busbar setup are properly secured and strain-relieved for road use. I use rubber-lined P-clips on all cabling runs.

Also worth checking whether your 100/30 gives you enough charge current for the motorhome - if you're adding a B2B charger for alternator charging alongside the solar, the combined demands on your system architecture change quite a bit.

What size solar array are you planning to roof mount? That might be the limiting factor rather than the MPPT itself.

Transferred my cabin setup almost bolt-for-bolt into a Transit and the only thing I'd flag is that a moving vehicle does horrible things to connections you thought were tight — re-torque everything after the first week or Victron's pretty fault displays will become your wallpaper.

@Mel1980 don't leave us hanging — "a moving vehicle does" what, spontaneously combust?! 😂

Vibration-proofing your connections is the unglamorous bit nobody mentions — spent an afternoon re-doing every terminal on my boat after a choppy crossing turned my tidy wiring into a rattling disaster.

Robbo | 📍 Array | ⚡ Posts

Funny you mention this — my shepherd's hut system was basically a dry run for exactly this kind of thing. One thing nobody seems to flag: vibration. Static installs you can get away with slightly lazy cable management and loose terminal connections. In a motorhome going over British roads (which, let's be honest, resemble the surface of the moon) everything works loose eventually. Spent ages wondering why my BMS kept throwing fits before I found a terminal that had vibrated half-loose. Would you go with the same battery capacity, or bump it up given you'll lose solar hours when parked in woodland/tight sites? Also curious whether @CurrentAffairs is keeping shore power in the mix or going pure solar — that changes the conversation quite a bit on sizing.

Ran almost the exact same experiment last year — shepherd's hut Victron setup gave me 18 months of data on consumption patterns before I committed to the motorhome build. Knew my daily usage to the watt before I'd even chosen a van.

One thing nobody mentions: the Victron app history becomes genuinely useful documentation when you're sizing your motorhome system. I could look back at a grey November week and know exactly what I needed from my panels in worst-case conditions.

@Mel1980 I suspect you were about to mention vibration — I'd add that it's worth checking your BMS connections specifically. The Fogstar Drift's terminals are solid enough but anything you've added downstream deserves proper inspection after the first few weeks of road use. Mine developed a slightly loose Anderson connector I wouldn't have caught without physically checking.