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nick-smith avatar image
nick-smith asked

Smart shunt not seeing charge current from Orion

For some reason my smart shunt does not see the charging current from my orion DCDC charger.

When running the engine, if i look at the orion in victron connect I can see the orion start up and go into charging mode and I can also see the increased voltage of my auxilliary battery which occurs when its receiving charge current. If I look at the smart shunt in victron connect I initially see a spike in current for a second or so along with an increase in battery voltage but then the current goes to zero but the voltage stays the same. When i check back to the orion, the app still shows that it is in a charge mode (bulk/absorb). Possibly this has something to do with my orion earthing? wiring diagram is attached.

t6-aux-wiring-diag.png

SmartShuntorion-tr smart
t6-aux-wiring-diag.png (27.3 KiB)
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klim8skeptic avatar image klim8skeptic ♦ commented ·
Your diagram looks correct.

Perhaps look closely at the negative cable between the Orion and chassis.

Post some photos?

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nick-smith avatar image nick-smith klim8skeptic ♦ commented ·
The grounds (neg bus and orion) are both on the same chassis stud, nice and tight. I thought maybe the orion needs to be grounded via the negative bus instead of direct to the chassis (but looking at the circuit wiring this shouldn’t be a problem…)
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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
As well as @klim8skeptic comments, the shunt can only see current through the battery. If your loads are taking the Orion's output, the shunt will show zero.

Try putting some load on the aux battery without the engine running. Shunt should show negative current. Do this for a while. Then turn the loads off, start the engine. Once the startup delay has passed, the shunt should now show a positive current which matches the Orion's output.

It would be good to see screen shots of the Orion's output, settings and the shunt readings if you still have problems.


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nick-smith avatar image nick-smith kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·

Ok here are some screenshots.

1. Vehicle engine is off and no load on the Aux battery

0b65f5f6-86ac-4214-890c-319c3d14267e.jpeg

2. Vehicle engine off and a vent fan is running from the Aux battery - showing a small current draw.

fe05ca7d-7a0f-409b-8388-b13a8c7de1aa.jpeg

3. Engine on and orion has started up

7cf82813-f1be-4177-ae71-3b50cca639e3.jpeg

4. Orion started up and i see a charge current for approx 5 seconds then is goes to zero (notice aux battery voltage stays above 14V after current drops)

85b526c1-fec5-42e1-b6c8-c02516c0d7ab.jpeg

31c425e7-effd-42bb-adf1-52e52a5a8e69.jpeg

5. When i turn on the vent fan again with the engine on and orion running the current still shows zero

39ddc482-f730-4540-b0c0-53ea8e8a15a8.jpeg

6. Battery charging parameters

2235bf9d-459f-4ae9-9170-37f63e799318.jpeg

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0b65f5f6-86ac-4214-890c-319c3d14267e.jpeg (177.5 KiB)
2 Answers
kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

Looks good. One graph missing. Roof fan being powered by Orion, so nothing on the shunt. Roof fans don't normally draw much current.

Your delayed start voltage may be too high, depending on your alternator. But don't change it now.

What we don't know is the battery maker's charger settings, these may be different/higher than the default on the Orion. Looks as if the battery/BMS thinks it's full and is stopping an overcharge. If you take some charge out of the aux battery, say by running the roof fan for an hour with engine off or adding other higher loads, then start the engine, you'll see a discharge, then charge current.

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nick-smith avatar image nick-smith commented ·
Thanks, yeah I think you’re on the right track here. I’ve noticed the smartshunt won’t let me manually change the state of charge because the “charged voltage” paremeter keeps resetting it back to 100%. I’ll run down the battery and then check how things are going.
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karavanlife avatar image
karavanlife answered ·

What is the latest situation? Did you solve the problem? How did you solve it? I'm having a similar problem and I couldn't find a solution.


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