Swapped out the old Victron for a Sterling on my narrowboat – anyone else made the switch?

Interesting thread — I've been watching the Sterling vs Victron debate for a while now on here and it's good to hear from someone who's actually made the jump.

I'm running a Victron Multiplus on my motorhome at the moment, but I also have a narrowboat project that I'm slowly getting the electrics sorted on. I've always defaulted to Victron just because of the ecosystem — the Cerbo GX, VRM portal, everything talking to each other. But I keep hearing good things about Sterling's Pro Charge Ultra and their inverter-chargers, especially for marine use.

A few things I'm genuinely curious about:

• How are you finding the battery charging profiles compared to Victron? I'm running Fogstar Drift lithium on the motorhome and plan to do the same on the boat eventually, so getting the charge parameters right matters a lot
• Does Sterling offer anything comparable to VRM remote monitoring? That's probably my biggest hesitation — I like being able to check in on the system when I'm away from the boat
• Any issues with damp or vibration on the canal? Marine environments can be brutal on electronics

Sterling are a British company which does appeal to me, and I gather their customer support is pretty decent if something goes wrong.

Has anyone else on here run both brands side by side or switched between them? Would be good to get a broader picture before I commit to anything for the narrowboat build.

@MarineFrank not a narrowboat setup here but I've got a Victron Multiplus as my emergency backup at home and honestly the ecosystem lock-in is real — once you've got the Cerbo GX and VRM portal talking to everything it's hard to justify ripping it out.

That said I've heard good things about Sterling's alternator-to-battery chargers specifically for marine use, think they handle engine charging better than Victron in some setups?

Curious what made you want to switch — was it cost, a specific failure, or just fancying a change? Sterling kit is decent but I'd want a solid reason before ditching a working Multiplus tbh.

Not a narrowboat person myself — I'm mostly static caravan and cabin stuff — but I've had the Victron Multiplus running in my caravan for a couple of seasons now and the remote monitoring alone keeps me loyal. That VRM portal has saved me more than once when I've left the site and started worrying whether I'd left something drawing overnight.

Sterling do make cracking kit though, genuinely. Their battery-to-battery chargers are everywhere in the off-grid world for good reason.

The thing I'd ask is — what's actually driving the switch? If it's cost, fair enough. If it's a specific feature gap, worth posting that separately because someone here will probably have a workaround. Sometimes the grass just looks greener from the towpath, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor. 😄

@MarineFrank curious whether you noticed any difference in how the Sterling handles the transition between shore power and inverter mode? That switchover speed was always something I obsessed over on my shepherd's hut build — the Victron was practically invisible to sensitive electronics.

Also, does the Sterling have decent app/Bluetooth monitoring? Half the reason I'm glued to my Victron setup is being able to check the state of charge from my bunk without moving. Absolute game-changer when it's cold outside and the solar isn't pulling its weight in January 😄

Genuinely considering a Sterling for the boat project I've got half-planned, so your real-world experience is exactly what I need before I start throwing money at it!

@MarineFrank not a narrowboat here but I've got a Victron Multiplus in my cabin build and the transfer switching is honestly one of the things I rate most about it — almost imperceptible changeover when grid drops.

Curious whether the Sterling's transfer time is comparable in real-world use? I've seen the spec sheets but they never tell the full story.

Also wondering how the Sterling integrates with battery monitoring — do you need their own BMS/shunt combo or does it play nicely with third-party kit? I'm running Fogstar Drift lithiums and a Victron SmartShunt at the moment, so any cross-brand compatibility quirks would be good to know before I'd ever consider switching.