Most reacted posts

Thanks everyone for the replies! There’s no more obstructions and I’ve cleaned the panels so let’s see what happens tomorrow.. Our generator keeps tripping on 12v so might have to get a 240 battery charger. Because our engine also can’t charge them.. (oil leak on our last trip seized the engine...

Now this is demoralising! Why are governments investing so much money on solar then? Unless we get a solar farm on the Sahara desert, I don’t see how solar can be useful in the winter..

Ok my bad, there was an obstruction today. My girlfriend had put the rope on top of one of the panels, and being in series, reduces production on both. Very annoying. But still, doesn’t make sense that the batteries never recovered from when I connected the starter to them. Could that have...

Ok folks, quick update. I found a victron 100/50 on fleabay for £220 so I bought it. Most other brands were a good bit over £100 for 40A so this one makes sense.. Speaking of sense, I also got the smart sense for another £30. So now I’m not sure I need that shunt thing or not. It’s a bit...

Haha thank you. We do love the lifestyle. It comes with its own issues but it’s nice to wake up and see the ducks swimming about… Would tilting the panels make that huge a difference? I can build the stands and tilt them but if it’s to increase 10 or 20% doesn’t seem ideal. Also lithium apart...

This is roughly what I have and paid for but the internet says they’re “fake”. I think they’re starter batteries with a sticker to fool us, the poor..

Btw, good point on the boat safety. We just had it done with an empty shell, but in three years time I guess the electrics will need to look good!.. also: no shore power, Daily needs are very minimal. Less than 150w. BUT, the girl does like some luxuries, so if we can afford them, we will have...

Hi just wanted to some options. We have two 360w panels in series, and we’re getting like 150w a day! I know it’s cloudy London and it’s also winter but we live on a boat and get pretty much full sun. Panels going to a 100/50 victron and two lead batteries. Does this sound normal?

Hello everyone! So long story short I ordered the non Bluetooth one and had to send it back so today was the first day we used it! By this time the batteries were fully dead. Barely enough to light up the strip light.. So we produced 1kwh ? Which is fine, but how come two 260w panels only...

Yesterday was particularly low because I disconnected the wires for a few hours, but it’s been averaging 150w per day. Admittedly they had something blocking them partially during last week, but not for a few days now. Not too sure how to test the panels, I will YouTube it and have a look...

I guess that could be it.. there’s trees along the canal which explains why only started producing after 12, but I didn’t remember the clouds.. Are there no clouds outside London? ? So to be clear (or not clear in this case), cloudy winter days will not even produce enough for our lights..?

Now this is interesting. I was just about to order the victron 100/50 but decided to have a quick look here first. I should say that our batteries are the cheapest possible leisure I could find on fleabay, and therefore they’re likely to be just starter batteries, at £80 a piece. They were...

And btw, would very little things count as obstructions? Like this

I think they’re just fleabays finest Chinese, aka probably starters branded as leisure. 130amp times two.

How do I know I’m getting true deep cycle?

Btw, if we did change to lithium. Do I need some sort of controller for the batteries or would the victron mppt together with the battery sense be enough? Just seen this online, it’s pretty cheap. I wouldn’t mind changing to it

So it would work out even more expensive then..?

Hello everyone. For some reason the mppt isn’t showing me today’s production. Has anyone had that problem before? It clearly produced something, I’m just curious how much. Apparently peak production was about 60w, which I still find weird on almost 700w array.

Hi all, just posted this on the newbie forum but just realised there’s a marine forum that probably applies more to my circumstances being a houseboat. I’m currently setting up a solar system on my houseboat and I’m stuck on the mppt charger. We have two lead acid 130ah batteries and two 36v...

Hi all. We have two lead acid cheap fleabay batteries. 130amp each. Our panels are 700w total but with the rain and panels flat, we’re only producing between 100 and 250w a day. Not having any other form of energy to charge the batteries they inevitably ended up being discharged quite a few...

Thanks for the reply! Would that converter have decent efficiency? And would it be able to handle large amperage loads? Certain things in boats can use a large amount of amps. I thought about maybe use one battery for those loads (still have it as a 24v battery bank but then use one of those...

Pardon my ignorance but I’m not sure what charge rate means and I’m interested in learning more about it. I shall do some research in the evening. Don’t think I’ve come across this before. Yes, to be fully honest I hadn’t even thought about those 300A going to the inverter! But it will be so...

It sounds good and I wouldn’t mind spending that much, but on will prowls video he mentions how you can’t fit very large gauge cable onto victrons, and that’s a real turn off to be honest.. I’m I worried about something I shouldn’t?

Are we talking voltage drop from charger to battery or from panel to charger? From panel to charger I wouldn’t think it’s very important because it’s 36v to 12v (about 5m away). If it’s charger to battery would be a little annoying but I can get it closer to the batteries if that’s the case...

I was not aware of this! Does it apply only to charge or also discharge? Leisure batteries are meant to be less peak amp than car batteries, I think. Would that mean a large amount of amps being discharged very quickly could damage the batteries? Assuming the charge rate is what the battery is...