VANILLA POWER 2.0
VANILLA POWER 2.0 THE FOGSTAR UPGRADE THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING 🔋⚡️☀️
VANILLA POWER 2.0 THE FOGSTAR UPGRADE THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING 🔋⚡️☀️
There are upgrades that make a campervan look better, upgrades that make it drive better, and then there are the ones that quietly change how you actually use it.
This is one of those.
Vanilla’s electrical system has already come a long way. The 200W PV Logic panel went onto the roof. The original solar controller gave way to a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15. A Victron SmartShunt started properly measuring what was happening inside the leisure battery. The Orion-Tr Smart 30A DC-DC charger took care of alternator charging. Then came the Jackery power stations, Kindle and Forge, creating another independent layer of portable energy.
Now comes the upgrade that ties the entire thing together.
The old 110Ah AGM leisure battery is being replaced by a Fogstar Drift 105Ah LiFePO₄.
On paper, 105Ah sounds almost identical to 110Ah.
In the real world, it is anything but.
THE OLD WORLD: AGM 🔋
Vanilla’s 110Ah AGM has done its job, but conventional AGM technology comes with an unavoidable compromise. The label might say 110Ah, but regularly dragging all 110Ah out of it is not a particularly clever way to keep it healthy.
In normal use I have effectively been working with somewhere around 50 to 60Ah of comfortable capacity. That has been enough for the fridge, lights and ordinary campervan duties, but once overnight heating, longer off-grid stops and winter use enter the equation, electricity suddenly becomes something worth watching.
And winter is precisely when the big solar panel on the roof gets the least enthusiastic.
Enter lithium.
THE NEW WORLD: 105AH THAT ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING ⚡
The Fogstar Drift brings 105Ah of LiFePO₄ capacity, and a much larger proportion of that capacity is genuinely useful.
I am setting my own NIX reserve at 10%, giving me approximately:
105Ah × 90% = 94.5Ah usable
That does not mean the battery magically switches off at 10%. It simply means my SmartShunt regards that final slice as reserve when working out remaining endurance.
Compared with the comfortable capacity I have been using from the AGM, Vanilla suddenly gets something approaching twice the useful energy without requiring a giant battery bank or major rebuilding work.
Capacity is only half the story.
Lithium maintains a much flatter voltage through its discharge cycle than AGM. The fridge, lighting and particularly the Webasto therefore receive a healthier supply for longer.
The Fogstar does not simply store more usable electricity.
It delivers it better.
THE SECRET IS THE WHOLE SYSTEM 🧠
Simply putting a lithium battery under Vanilla’s passenger seat would be missing half the point.
Vanilla has several different ways of putting electricity into that battery, and every one of them needs to understand what it is charging.
The Fogstar is the heart.
The Victron equipment is the nervous system.
There are four main blue boxes involved:
🔋 Victron SmartShunt ☀️ SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 🚐 Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A 🔵 Victron Blue Smart mains charger
They all need to speak the same lithium language.
For Vanilla, that language centres around two extremely important numbers:
14.2V absorption
13.5V maintenance / storage where applicable
No lead-acid equalisation.
No reconditioning.
No traditional temperature compensation.
And where I am manually controlling absorption duration, approximately 30 minutes for the 105Ah Fogstar.
Welcome to the NIX lithium profile.
VANILLA LITHIUM COMMISSIONING FILE 🟧⚡
This is the actual configuration being installed into Vanilla.
Not approximate numbers.
Not “something around lithium mode”.
This is the setup.
SMARTSHUNT // THE ELECTRIC FUEL GAUGE 📊
Battery capacity: 105Ah
Charged voltage: 14.20V
Tail current: 4%
Charged detection time: 3 minutes
Peukert exponent: 1.05
Charge efficiency factor: 99%
Discharge floor: 10%
Current threshold: 0.10A
Time-to-go averaging period: 3 minutes
Synchronised SOC: 100% only after a genuine full charge
Automatic synchronisation: ON
The discharge floor deserves explaining because it is often misunderstood.
Setting it to 10% does not order the Fogstar to shut itself down at 10%. It simply tells the SmartShunt that I regard 10% as my reserve for its time-to-go calculations.
That leaves approximately 94.5Ah of planned usable capacity.
The Peukert setting also changes substantially from the old AGM world. Lithium is far less affected by discharge rate, hence the very low 1.05 figure.
Charge efficiency goes to 99%, reflecting how efficient LiFePO₄ is at storing the energy being returned to it.
At a 4% tail-current setting, the SmartShunt is looking for charging current to fall to roughly:
105Ah × 4% = 4.2A
Combine that with the charged-voltage threshold and detection time and the SmartShunt gets a much better idea of when the Fogstar is genuinely full.
For anyone wanting to understand exactly how the SmartShunt works, Victron’s own installation and configuration video is worth watching:
THE FIRST FULL CHARGE MATTERS 🔋
When the Fogstar first goes into Vanilla, there is one commissioning job I am absolutely not skipping.
A proper full charge.
The battery will be allowed to reach the upper charging stage, reach the 14.2V region, and complete its absorption period.
Only then will I open VictronConnect and perform:
SmartShunt → Synchronise SOC → 100%
That gives the system its proper reference point.
From then onward the SmartShunt counts everything.
Every amp-hour leaving.
Every amp-hour returning.
Solar.
Alternator.
Fridge.
Webasto.
Lighting.
USB charging.
Everything.
Battery percentage stops being a voltage-based educated guess and becomes genuine energy accounting.
SMARTSOLAR MPPT 75/15 // THE ROOF POWER STATION ☀️
Vanilla’s 200W PV Logic panel has already transformed how I think about electricity in the van.
Before solar, electricity was something I consumed.
Now Vanilla produces it.
For the new Fogstar the SmartSolar configuration becomes:
Battery voltage: 12V
Battery preset: User Defined / LiFePO₄
Maximum charge current: 15A
Absorption voltage: 14.20V
Float voltage: 13.50V
Absorption duration: Fixed
Absorption time: 30 minutes
Adaptive absorption: OFF
Tail current: 0A / disabled for fixed absorption
Automatic equalisation: OFF
Manual equalisation: DO NOT USE
Temperature compensation: 0mV/°C / OFF
Low-temperature cut-off: OFF
Re-bulk offset: Leave at default unless real-world commissioning shows a reason to alter it
Maximum charge current stays at the full 15A.
There is absolutely no point putting a 200W panel on Vanilla’s roof and then deliberately strangling the controller.
The Fogstar can comfortably accept the available solar charge.
One of the big differences with lithium is how willing the battery remains to absorb useful current.
An AGM gradually becomes less receptive as it approaches full charge.
Lithium can keep gulping useful energy for longer.
Same solar panel.
Same Staffordshire sun.
Much better bucket underneath it.
This recent step-by-step guide shows the sort of VictronConnect settings involved in configuring a SmartSolar for lithium:
ORION-TR SMART 12/12-30A // THE ROAD CHARGER 🚐⚡
If the solar controller is Vanilla’s quiet background worker, the Orion is the heavy lifter.
The Orion can push up to 30A from the vehicle electrical system towards the Fogstar while the engine is running.
For the new battery the configuration becomes:
Function: Charger
Charger enabled: ON
Battery preset: User Defined / LiFePO₄
Maximum output: 30A
Absorption voltage: 14.20V
Float voltage: 13.50V
Absorption mode: Fixed
Fixed absorption time: 30 minutes
Adaptive absorption: OFF
Engine shutdown detection: ON
Alternator type: Smart Alternator
Engine start voltage: 14.0V
Delayed start voltage: 13.3V
Delayed-start delay: 120 seconds
Engine shutdown voltage: 13.1V
Input voltage lock-out: 12.5V
Input voltage restart: 12.8V
Forced charging: OFF during normal operation
The 30A charging rate is particularly interesting.
Thirty amps into a 105Ah battery represents roughly 29% of its rated capacity.
That makes the Orion a serious charging source without turning the system into electrical overkill.
Start Vanilla.
The Orion recognises the engine is running.
The leisure system wakes up.
And energy starts moving.
Victron’s own Orion-Tr Smart video explains the DC-DC charger, alternator integration and engine-detection concept:
WHAT HAPPENS ON A SUNNY DRIVING DAY? ☀️🚐
This is where Vanilla starts becoming seriously clever.
Imagine leaving a stop with the Fogstar at 50%.
Start the engine.
The Orion begins charging at up to 30A.
Then the sun appears.
The SmartSolar starts contributing from the 200W roof panel at the same time.
Vanilla is driving down the road while rebuilding the energy used the night before.
But there is another piece to the puzzle.
The Jackerys.
THE ANDERSON LINK // ABOUT 90W INTO JACKERY ⚡🟧
Vanilla can also feed the Jackery power stations through the Anderson connection.
In actual use I have seen approximately 90 watts going into a Jackery from this connection.
That might not sound enormous beside the headline figures of some mains chargers, but that completely misses the point.
This is energy being collected while I am doing something I was going to do anyway:
Driving.
At approximately 90W:
One hour could add about 90Wh.
Two hours could contribute roughly 180Wh.
Four hours could potentially put around 360Wh back into a Jackery.
Actual figures will naturally vary with state of charge, voltage, wiring losses and whatever else is happening in the system, but the principle is brilliant.
A driving day becomes an energy-harvesting day.
The Orion is charging the Fogstar.
The roof may be harvesting solar.
The Anderson connection can simultaneously be feeding around 90W towards Kindle or Forge.
Vanilla is not merely travelling.
She is recharging the expedition.
KINDLE AND FORGE ⚡
My Jackery 1000 v2 is Kindle.
The Jackery 2000 v2 is Forge.
These do not replace the leisure battery.
They complement it.
The Fogstar handles Vanilla’s core 12V systems.
The Jackerys take care of the more electricity-hungry portable jobs.
The Fogstar side handles:
🔥 Webasto ❄️ Fridge 💡 Lighting 📱 USB and 12V systems 🧠 Campervan electronics
The Jackery side can handle:
🍳 Induction cooking 🍲 Microwave duties 📽️ Vanilla’s Cinema 🔌 Larger 230V appliances 📷 Camera and technology charging
And the Anderson connection forms a useful bridge between those two worlds.
That is far more elegant than fitting a colossal inverter and asking one battery to do everything.
That is far more elegant than fitting a colossal inverter and asking one battery to do everything.
Everyone gets a job.
Very civilised.
BLUE SMART // MAINS CHARGING 🔵
There will still be occasions when Vanilla is on electric hook-up or I deliberately want to give the Fogstar a proper mains charge.
That is where the Victron Blue Smart comes in.
For the Fogstar the important setting is beautifully simple:
Charge mode: Li-ion
Absorption voltage: 14.20V
Conventional float stage: Disabled in the Victron Li-ion profile
Storage voltage: 13.50V
Recondition: OFF
Temperature compensation: OFF
Li-ion charging algorithm: ON
This is the easiest one of the lot.
Select Li-ion and let Victron do its thing.
One button particularly stays untouched:
RECONDITION.
Reconditioning is for lead-acid batteries.
The Fogstar has no interest in attending a sulphation-removal séance.
Victron’s own video showing Blue Smart history and charger settings in VictronConnect is here:
THE SARGENT QUESTION ⚠️
Vanilla still has the original Sargent EC155.
And it is staying.
The Sargent is not simply a battery charger. It forms part of the campervan’s electrical distribution system, so ripping the whole thing out would be solving a problem that does not actually exist.
The charging side is different.
The EC155 belongs to a generation of campervan electrics designed primarily around conventional leisure batteries.
The modern Victron kit understands the Fogstar.
That is where I want the serious charging work taking place.
Old and new can live together perfectly happily, provided each device is given the correct job.
THE WEBASTO TEST 🔥
The Webasto is one of the main reasons this upgrade excites me.
A diesel heater does not consume extraordinary amounts of electricity once it settles down, but it does need a healthy 12V supply, particularly during startup and shutdown.
That startup period brings in the glow plug, fan and fuel pump.
Voltage matters.
An AGM can reach a point where there is still technically energy in the battery but the voltage under load is beginning to sag.
Lithium behaves very differently.
The Fogstar should maintain a much stronger operating voltage for most of its usable capacity.
That means the Webasto gets a healthier supply for longer.
Combine that with almost 94.5Ah available before my own 10% reserve and an overnight heating session starts looking much less dramatic.
Fridge running.
Webasto running.
Lights on.
Phones charging.
Sonos playing.
All without staring at the voltage display as though it is the countdown clock on a bomb.
Progress.
THE SOLAR + LITHIUM + JACKERY LOOP ☀️🔋⚡
This is the part that changes Vanilla most.
Solar changes camping.
Lithium makes the solar system more useful.
The Orion turns driving into charging.
The Anderson feed turns driving into Jackery charging as well.
The Blue Smart gives me a clean mains charging route whenever 230V is available.
Everything overlaps.
Energy stops being something that merely drains away.
It becomes something constantly moving through the system.
Sunlight becomes Fogstar capacity.
Driving becomes Fogstar capacity.
Driving can become Jackery capacity.
Hook-up becomes stored energy.
Stored energy becomes heat.
Refrigeration.
Food.
Coffee.
Films.
Photography.
Music.
Communications.
Comfort.
It has stopped being a collection of electrical gadgets.
It is becoming an ecosystem.
VANILLA POWER 2.0 // THE HARDWARE ⚡
🔋 Fogstar Drift 105Ah LiFePO₄
☀️ PV Logic 200W solar panel
☀️ Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15
📊 Victron SmartShunt
🚐 Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A
🔵 Victron Blue Smart mains charger
🟧 Anderson feed supplying roughly 90W into Jackery charging
⚡ Jackery 1000 v2 “Kindle”
⚡ Jackery 2000 v2 “Forge”
🏕️ Sargent EC155 retained for campervan electrical distribution
It is becoming a remarkably capable system for a short-wheelbase campervan.
That is precisely what I want.
Not hundreds of kilograms of batteries.
Not an electrical cupboard occupying half the van.
Not an inverter powerful enough to illuminate the M6.
Just a carefully balanced system providing enough energy to make Vanilla a genuinely independent little home.
THE NIX POWER NUMBERS 🟧
105Ah LiFePO₄
94.5Ah planned usable capacity to my 10% reserve
14.2V absorption
13.5V float/storage where applicable
30-minute Fogstar absorption period
30A Orion DC-DC charging
15A maximum MPPT output
200W roof solar
Approximately 90W Anderson → Jackery
99% SmartShunt charge efficiency
1.05 Peukert
4% SmartShunt tail current
Equalisation OFF
Recondition OFF
Temperature compensation OFF
That is the blueprint.
WHAT A GOOD TRAVEL DAY COULD LOOK LIKE 🚐☀️
Leave in the morning after a cold night.
The Webasto has been running.
The fridge has been running.
The Fogstar might be sitting at 55%.
Kindle has taken a hammering cooking dinner and running Vanilla’s Cinema.
Turn the key.
The Orion wakes up.
Up to 30A starts flowing towards the Fogstar.
The morning brightens.
The 200W roof panel wakes.
The SmartSolar begins contributing.
Connect the Jackery through the Anderson route and roughly another 90W starts making its way into portable storage.
Meanwhile Vanilla is simply travelling to the next destination.
Two hours later I arrive somewhere new.
Except the electrical system has spent the whole journey quietly rebuilding itself.
That is the difference.
I do not necessarily need a campsite to recharge Vanilla.
Sometimes I just need the next road.
OFF-GRID DOES NOT MEAN ROUGHING IT 🌲
Going off-grid is sometimes presented as a test of how uncomfortable you can make yourself before admitting you miss a plug socket.
I see it differently.
Off-grid means independence.
It means choosing a location because I want to be there.
Keeping the fridge cold.
Running the heater.
Charging cameras.
Using the projector.
Making dinner.
Listening to music.
And doing all of it while a panel on the roof quietly turns daylight into tomorrow’s electricity.
The goal is not to sit staring at VictronConnect all evening.
The goal is eventually to stop needing to.
Good technology disappears into the background.
Freedom is what remains.
THE NEXT TEST 🧪
Once the Fogstar goes in, theory ends.
Then the good bit begins.
Actual Vanilla data.
I want to know exactly what a cold night with the Webasto costs.
How much the fridge consumes over 24 hours.
How quickly the 200W panel replaces an overnight discharge.
What happens when the Orion and SmartSolar are working simultaneously.
How much a two, three or four-hour drive really returns to the Fogstar.
How much those same journeys return to Kindle through the Anderson feed.
How the system performs after two nights off-grid.
Three nights.
Cloudy days.
Sunny days.
Winter.
Summer.
Because that is where this story goes next.
Not laboratory numbers.
Not brochure claims.
Actual Vanilla.
Actual camping.
Actual weather.
Actual energy.
NIX // VANILLA POWER 2.0
DRIVE • HARVEST • STORE • ROAM
🔋 FOGSTAR 105 ☀️ 200W SOLAR ⚡ VICTRON INTELLIGENCE 🚐 30A ON THE MOVE 🟧 ~90W ANDERSON → JACKERY 🔥 WEBASTO READY 🌲 OFF-GRID LONGER
The label on the battery barely changes.
The van does.
And that blue electric-hook-up socket is starting to look increasingly optional.
