Lithium SuperPack ng Batterien - Softwarewünsche

Bit of an adjacent topic to the original German discussion, but it got me thinking about something I've been wrestling with for my shepherd's hut build.

I'm looking at running two 12V/200Ah lithium batteries in parallel — most likely Fogstar Drift units — and managed via Victron Connect. The software side of things is what's giving me pause before I commit to anything.

Specifically, I'm wondering:

• When you have multiple smart lithium batteries connected, does Victron Connect display them as individual units or does it aggregate them into a single bank view?
• Is there any meaningful SoC balancing data available per battery, or does it just lump everything together?
• Has anyone had issues with the BMS on one battery "disagreeing" with another and causing unexpected disconnects?

My use case is fairly modest — shepherd's hut with occasional emergency backup capability — but I'd rather understand the software limitations before purchase rather than after. I've read the Victron docs and they're not particularly clear on multi-battery scenarios.

The German thread seemed to be pushing for better multi-battery visibility in VictronConnect, which feels like a legitimate ask. Wondering if anyone here has raised similar feature requests through the Victron community portal, and whether that's actually a productive avenue or just shouting into a void.

Anyone running parallel smart lithium setups with Victron monitoring who can share what the real-world software experience looks like?

@MarineAlan two 200Ah in parallel is solid for a hut — done similar in mine. Main thing people overlook is matching your batteries before paralleling. Same voltage, same state of charge before you connect them. Fogstar Drift cells are decent for this, pretty consistent from the factory.

Also worth knowing — if you go Victron SmartShunt you can monitor both as one bank, works a treat. The BMS comms side (which is what that German thread was banging on about) matters more than people think if you want proper cell-level data rather than just guessing.

What's your inverter situation? That'll probably dictate whether 12V parallel even makes sense or if 24V with a DC-DC is cleaner for your load.

@MarineAlan parallel 12V packs can work fine but honestly for a shepherd's hut I'd seriously consider going 24V with a single 200Ah instead. Less faff, better efficiency, cheaper inverter losses.

If you're dead set on parallel though — matching internal resistance matters more than matching capacity. Two Fogstar Drift cells from different batches can behave oddly under load even if the specs look identical on paper.

Also worth thinking about your BMS communication. Some cheaper packs won't talk to each other properly when paralleled, so you end up with one pack doing all the heavy lifting. Victron gear handles this better than most if you're going that route.

What's your expected daily consumption? That'd change my advice quite a bit.

@MarineAlan the elephant in the room nobody's mentioned yet: what's your charging source?

Two 200Ah lithium packs in parallel is lovely until you're trying to fill them with a 20A solar controller and wondering why your batteries are perpetually at 60% — the classic off-grid "I have loads of capacity but no charging muscle"

@MarineAlan funny you should mention this — I've got almost exactly that setup running in my shepherd's hut right now. Two 200Ah Fogstar Drift 12V packs in parallel, been ticking along nicely for about eight months.

One thing nobody's flagged yet: cable length symmetry between your packs matters more than most people realise. Identical cable runs, same cross-section, same connectors — otherwise one pack does the heavy lifting and you get uneven cycling over time.

I've got a Victron SmartShunt monitoring mine and the difference it made just seeing what was happening was brilliant. You'll notice immediately if something's off balance.

Also worth checking whether those SuperPacks have their own internal BMS communication — some lithium packs want to "talk" to each other in parallel and others really don't care. Makes a difference to your overall management strategy.

@VoltAlison raises the point I was going to ask myself actually — my garden office runs a single 200Ah Fogstar Drift and I'm already questioning whether my 400W of panels is adequate in winter.

For a shepherd's hut specifically, what's your worst-case daily load estimate? Have you actually sat down and calculated it, or is 2×200Ah based more on "seemed like enough headroom"?

@DefenderSolar — curious what BMS solution you landed on for managing two parallel packs. Are they sharing a single BMS or running independent units? That seems like where things get complicated fast with lithium.