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frederick-flis avatar image
frederick-flis asked

Only charging at ~1amp - Victron Energy Orion Smart 12/12-30A

Hi Folks,


Quick background, Mercedes Sprinter 2021 Gas engine. Victron Orion DC to DC Isolated charger 12/30 running to 2 100ah renogy lithium batteries.


I am to the point where I am thinking I have a bad unit. I start the engine and I will see bulk/absorption charge depending on voltage, but I'm only seeing about 1amp of charging through the victron smart meter. Makes it pretty much worthless as a charger.


Hoping someone has solved this issue. I've searched the forums and read plenty of posts about adjusting the voltage settings for my battery and engine shutdown numbers etc. I've tinkered there. The app says its charging, I'm jut getting barely any amps.


I've gone over all the connections and certain I have the wiring correct.


Any advice? Are these units known for going bad?

orion-tr smart
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5 Answers
frederick-flis avatar image
frederick-flis answered ·

Replying here. As I was correcting the wiring mistake I discovered the positive lead to the fuse panel was loose. Once tightened, we have charging at 30 amps!


So stoked. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!

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kevgermany answered ·

Generally very reliable.

Please post the charger settings in full.

Could also be resistance in the wiring. If you can, please measure the voltage at the both sides of the charger when it's charging at 1 Amp. Screen prints of the Victron connect status when it's charging as well.

Thanks.

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frederick-flis avatar image
frederick-flis answered ·

Thanks for the reply! Right now I am back to the default settings for lifepo batteries and smart alternator. I assume this is what you mean by measuring both sides? The input and output?


I have the unit wired through a fuse block, then to a cut off switch, then to the main panel. I tried to highlight the route I took with white in the photo.


Now that I'm looking at it, I think I have a mistake in the layout here. I followed this guide https://www.mosermakes.com/projects/vanbuild-electricalsystem-diagram

but it looks like I went straight from the vehicle starting battery to the unit, then out through a fuse to another fuse panel lol. It should go from the starting battery, with the positive wire running through the fuse, then to the orion charger, then to the main fuse panel. Right now the output of the charger are running through 2 fuses. I wonder if that is somehow causing the issue.


More photos attached. I'm going to work on correcting my wiring so that there is a fuse on the + input to the orion and I will report back. Heres the photos.


image-from-ios-28.jpg

image-from-ios-27.jpgimage-from-ios-26.jpg

image-from-ios-1.png

image-from-ios-2.png

image-from-ios-3.png

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image-from-ios-28.jpg (448.7 KiB)
image-from-ios-26.jpg (1.4 MiB)
image-from-ios-1.png (300.5 KiB)
image-from-ios-2.png (311.5 KiB)
image-from-ios-3.png (310.3 KiB)
image-from-ios.png (348.9 KiB)
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frederick-flis answered ·

Oh and heres the input side. 14.67vimage-from-ios-27.jpg


image-from-ios-27.jpg (1.4 MiB)
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kevgermany answered ·

It's often the simple things, good you found it.

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