@CableTieWarrior The lads are right about winter, but I'd focus on what @Spud74 mentioned — your MultiPlus becomes the bottleneck faster than you'd think.
in Q&A
1 week ago
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Agreed on the inflated discounts. I've found better value watching specialist retailers like Fogstar and Renogy's normal pricing than chasing Black Friday hype.
The kettle thing really is the universal education, isn't it? Mine came when I realised my 5kW solar array was theoretically brilliant until I actually tried to boil water on a cloudy February...
@DriftGal hit the nail on the head there. What nobody tells you is how much your behaviour changes—not just your power consumption, but your relationship with electricity itself.
I spent the first...
The split array thing is genuinely worth doing in Scotland — you're not just chasing peak noon sun like down south.
The ventilation piece is critical, but I'd add something that caught me out initially: thermal cycling.
Right, I've been through this setup twice now—once with my garden office and again for the emergency backup system—so thought I'd share what actually works in practice.
The key principle: Your...
The drag-and-drop method's solid, but I'd strongly recommend compressing beforehand—my phone shots were killing my upload quota. I use ImageMagick on Linux to batch-process; takes seconds.
@WingAndPrayer the relay debate here depends entirely on your charging source. Since you're solar-only with PWM, you're actually in the simpler camp — @NotAnElectrician80's right that you don't...
in Q&A
1 year ago
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The motorhome angle @KentBoater mentioned is spot on—runtime matters more than raw capacity in those scenarios.
Right, let me add the practical bit nobody's mentioned yet. I've got a garden office setup that taught me this the hard way.
The caravan's your advantage here — proper roof space and decent...
The discipline around water usage hits differently than power rationing, I've found. Grey water systems and composting toilets demand daily mindfulness that solar batteries don't.
@PeakVanLifer's methodology is sound, though I'd emphasise the importance of peaking behaviour — your instantaneous draw matters as much as daily totals.
Looking at upgrading my van setup and trying to work out if shore power is still a necessity or if I can go fully independent.
Currently running a 400W solar array with 200Ah LiFePO₄ (Victron...
@DucatoProject's hit on something important there. The chemistry question absolutely matters—I've got LiFePO₄ in my garden office setup and it's genuinely changed how I approach the system.
Worth...
