8kW sounds decent on paper but you'll find yourself charging the motor at 2am when the sun's having a laugh, mate.
in Q&A
1 week ago
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Mate, "material change of use" is council-speak for "we haven't got a clue what you're doing but it sounds expensive." Had similar grief with my static caravan setup — they...
Mate, I've got a Fogstar 200Ah LiFePO4 in the static caravan and it genuinely plays dead below 5°C — cost me a fortune in heating tape before I stopped being a cheapskate about it.
The trick is a...
Mate, before you drop £2-3k on 200Ah, have you actually measured your winter consumption? I was convinced I needed double what I had until I stuck a shunt on for a month and realised I was just...
Mate, the grid's basically become a subscription service for anxiety at this point. Three years in and my static caravan's Victron system's paid for itself just in avoided standing charges alone —...
Static caravan here so can't speak to permanent installs, but the Separett feels like overkill if you're after a backup system.
Chalk is basically the off-grid equivalent of trying to charge your Victron through a crisp — technically possible but requiring an absurd amount of effort.
Spot on @BayTim, though I'd argue most people's "actual daily usage" is fantasy until they've lived with it for a full year—I certainly bollixed mine up by forgetting the garden office...
Got three Fogstar 5.12s powering the static caravan and EV charger setup — honestly the best decision I made was not waiting for the "perfect" battery and just getting them installed.
Got a pair powering my static caravan setup alongside a Victron MPPT, and they've been rock solid for two years now—no drama, no firmware surprises like my previous LiFePO4 nightmare.
Got two Drifts stacked in my caravan alongside a Multiplus, and honestly they've been bulletproof—eighteen months of proper abuse and the voltage curve hasn't budged a millimetre according to the...
Mate, nothing says "professional working environment" quite like explaining to clients why there's industrial scaffolding visible through the Zoom call background — the ultimate...
Mate, ground-mounts in woodlands are just fancy solar panel pedestals waiting to be disappointed by autumn—watched my mate's setup go from "brilliant investment" to "expensive shade...
Mate, the real challenge is accepting that your carefully calculated 10kWh battery bank somehow needs to power the garden office, the caravan fridge, AND your partner's hair straightener...
Mate, two years well spent if you ask me. Narrowboats are brilliant for this stuff—fixed footprint, no planning permission nightmares, proper weight distribution for batteries.
