Luton Camper

I've been wrestling with this exact problem for the past couple of years. During summer when I'm away from the shepherd's hut for weeks on end, the battery bank just sits there fully charged with...

The real issue is phantom loads compound faster than you'd expect. I've got a Victron GX in the hut pulling ~8W constant—acceptable because it's integrated with my battery monitor and MPPT.

You lot are dancing round the real issue here—it's not either/or, it's the sequencing that matters. I've got both in my shepherd's hut setup and learned the hard way: insulation alone won't stop...

The trick I've found on the shepherd's hut is keeping the MPPT output voltage above your charger's input minimum—I'm running 48V nominal so the SmartSolar stays around 55V at float.