I am looking at using a DC-DC charger for 12V - 48V. However, there don't seem to be any products to do this. It has been suggested that I could use two Orion Tr DC-DC 12/24V in series. Is this a recommended setup?
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Orion-Tr DC-DC in Series
I cant really recommend, if you have a 48v inverter and only a 12v battery, then get at least a second battery and then maybe use an orion 24/48
A single 12V battery would be really overloaded powering a 48V inverter
Thanks for the reply.
I have a 48V battery (and a 48V inverter), which is normally charged from solar. The 12V is from the van inverter for charging the 48V battery whilst the engine is running. Hence the need for a 12V to 48V converter. The 12V feed will never be powering the inverter directly.
Assuming you want to charge a 48V battery from a 12V source.
There was a post from Victron some time ago saying your solution was ok as long as the overall voltage was within the Orion limits.
However you'll need the isolated versions of the chargers and must factor in input and output currents. Charging the 48V pack at 10A means a 40A draw on the 12V source.
I'm quite happy for the input current to be quite low, as this is a belt and braces backup if the solar input has been bad for a few days, and I have no access to shore power. The power would be coming from the alternator, as the DC-DC converters can be switched by the ignition.
