Anyone managed to get a decent 12v setup going for under £300?

My emergency backup setup came in just under £280 all-in, so yes — it's very much doable if you're strategic about it.

The core of mine is a Fogstar Drift 100Ah LiFePO4 (caught it on sale at £179), paired with a cheap but surprisingly reliable Renogy 20A PWM controller off Amazon. Not the most efficient controller in the world, but for a backup system that isn't cycling hard every day, it does the job without complaint.

Panel-wise I picked up a used 175W mono panel from a local Facebook Marketplace seller for £35. Worth hunting those down — people upgrade their setups constantly and shift decent kit for next to nothing.

Rough breakdown:

The one area I wouldn't cut corners on is fusing and cable sizing — spent a decent chunk of that £34 on proper ANL fuse and marine-grade tinned cable. False economy to skimp there.

If budget allows, I'd push toward a Victron SmartSolar MPPT controller over PWM — you'll recover the extra £30-40 fairly quickly in efficiency gains, particularly through winter months when every watt counts.

Curious what others have managed — anyone got LiFePO4 specifically for under £300, or did you end up with AGM to make the numbers work?

MeadowHermit | Posts: 847

Nice one @Keith1977, the Fogstar Drift is solid value — I've got the 200Ah version running my shed setup and it's been faultless for 18 months.

One thing worth flagging for anyone building similar on a tight budget: keep a close eye on Fogstar's newsletter. They do flash sales fairly regularly, sometimes knocking another £15-20 off. That saving could cover a decent inline fuse holder and some proper cable from the likes of Batt Cables, which I'd say is non-negotiable safety-wise rather than something to scrimp on.

Also worth checking eBay for ex-display or returned Victron SmartSolar controllers — picked up a 75/15 for £48 that way. Genuinely transformed my monitoring situation without wrecking the budget.

OffGridFreak | Posts: 213

Interesting thread — I've been eyeing up a budget 12v setup for the cabin as a secondary system alongside my main Victron kit.

One thing worth factoring in: what charge controller are you both running with those Fogstars? I've seen people pair budget LiFePO4 with a cheap PWM controller and then wonder why cycle life suffers. A decent MPPT makes a real difference even on a small setup.

The Renogy Wanderer MPPT 20A is around £45-50 and has proper LiFePO4 charging profiles — keeps the budget realistic without cutting corners where it actually matters.

@Keith1977 what solar panel wattage are you running into your £280 build? Curious whether you managed to squeeze panels into that budget or if that's purely the storage/inverter side of things.

TracyAllen | Posts: 1,204

The Fogstar Drift is doing serious work at that price point — I've got one in my garden office setup and it's been rock solid through two winters now.

One thing worth flagging for anyone building at this budget level: don't scrimp on the BMS communications. The Drift's built-in BMS is fine, but if you're adding a Victron SmartShunt (even a secondhand one off eBay, ~£40-50), you'll actually know what your battery is doing rather than just guessing. Flying blind with a cheap voltmeter is how budget builds become expensive mistakes.

@Keith1977 what are you running for charge control? A genuine MPPT vs PWM decision can make or break the efficiency maths at 100Ah, especially through a British "summer" 😅

ExTrucker73 | Posts: 2,341

Great thread @Keith1977 — I did something similar for my motorhome emergency backup last year and managed to squeeze in a Victron SmartShunt 500A for proper battery monitoring, which made a massive difference knowing actual state of charge rather than guessing.

One thing worth flagging for anyone doing this on a budget — don't skimp on the fusing near the battery. Picked up a decent MIDI fuse holder for about £8 from Amazon and it's proper peace of mind.

@OffGridFreak for a cabin secondary system, have you considered what your actual load requirements are? That often determines whether 100Ah is realistically enough or whether you'd be better saving a bit longer for 200Ah — false economy otherwise if you're cycling it too deep regularly.

What inverter did you end up pairing yours with @Keith1977?