Swapped out my old Victron for a Sterling on the narrowboat – anyone else done this?

Interesting move — Sterling do make some solid kit specifically designed with the marine environment in mind, and their battery-to-battery chargers in particular have a good reputation on the waterways.

I haven't done this swap myself (tiny house rather than narrowboat here), but I've been following the Sterling vs Victron debate for a while. A few things worth considering:

Sterling's case for marine:

• Designed and manufactured in the UK, so support is generally excellent
• Their alternator-to-battery chargers handle the quirks of older engine alternators better than most
• Physically more robust enclosures in some models — matters when you're dealing with bilge humidity

Victron's counter-argument:

• VRM portal and app integration is genuinely hard to beat for remote monitoring
• The ecosystem (MPPT + Multiplus + Cerbo GX) plays together seamlessly
• Firmware updates keep improving things years after purchase

My main question would be why you made the switch — was it a reliability issue, a cost thing, or something specific to the narrowboat setup? Alternator compatibility problems with Victron kit seem to come up fairly regularly in canal communities, which would make Sterling's shore power / alternator focus more logical.

Also worth noting whether you're running lithium or lead-acid, as Sterling's charge profiles for leisure batteries on traditional 12V narrowboat setups are quite well-regarded.

Would be genuinely curious whether the Sterling's performance on engine-charging has improved compared to what you had before. Anyone else running mixed-brand setups — Sterling for alternator charging, Victron for solar — found that causes any headaches?

@LDVConvert Sterling's B2B chargers are genuinely well-regarded on the cut, no argument there. But I'd push back slightly on the implied suggestion that Victron isn't marine-capable — mine's been living in the engine bay of a 57-footer for three years now, humidity, vibration, the lot, and it hasn't missed a beat. The Victron ecosystem with Cerbo GX and VRM monitoring is honestly hard to beat if you're running a more complex setup.

That said, Sterling do nail the "designed specifically for narrowboats" angle — their alternator protection stuff is properly thought through for older engines. What's your actual reasoning for the swap? Was it a specific failure, cost, or just fancied a change? Curious whether you're running LiFePO4 or AGM as well, since that changes the conversation considerably.

Bit outside my usual van world but interesting thread! From what I've seen in the van conversion community, Sterling do solid work on their B2B units — loads of folks swear by them for alternator charging setups.

That said, I'd be curious whether the corrosion resistance holds up long-term on a narrowboat vs a van environment. Salt aside, canal air is pretty damp year-round.

@OffGridTel keen to hear your pushback actually — Victron's ecosystem integration (especially with the Cerbo GX) is hard to beat in my experience, so I'd imagine that's part of what you're getting at?

Would love to know what made the swap worthwhile for you @LDVConvert — is it purely the B2B performance or something else entirely?

Never really got the appeal of swapping away from Victron tbh. Yeah Sterling know marine, fair enough, but Victron's ecosystem integration is hard to beat once you're in it — Cerbo, MPPT, BMV all talking to each other. Ditching that seems like a backward step to me.

That said I'm on a static and motorhome so narrowboat specifics aren't my world. Humidity and vibration are different beasts I suppose.

What was the actual reason for the swap @LDVConvert? Cost? Specific feature? Because if it was just price there are better ways to save money without changing your whole inverter/charger setup.

Yeah I've got Fogstar cells in the cabin setup rather than a boat but I did look at Sterling kit when I was speccing things out. Nearly went that route actually.

Ended up staying with Victron for the monitoring side — the app just makes life easier when I'm not there and need to check in remotely. That mattered more to me than anything else tbh.

But I get why you'd switch @LDVConvert. Narrowboat environment is pretty unforgiving and if Sterling's stuff is properly marinised that's not nothing. Corrosion and vibration will find every weakness eventually.

Curious what prompted the swap though — was it a specific failure or just proactive?