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stephanv9 asked

Orion 12/12-18 charge output lower than expected

Hi all, I have installed a 12/12-18 isolated Orion dc charger in my Ford Ranger. It’s charging a 100ah lifepo4 battery.

I have the “smart charge” feature turned off in my Ranger (done by the dealer) so the alternator always puts out around 14 volts.

The cable down to the tub is rated for 50amps.

The Bluetooth app on my battery says the charger is delivering about 8amps. I was expecting around 15.

The input voltage at my Orion is about 13.5.

Are my expectations way off or do I need much bigger cables to get better charging output?

orion dc-dc
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stephanv9 avatar image stephanv9 commented ·
Ok. I’ve changed the setting on the Orion from regular alternator to smart alternator and the current has jumped from 6-8 amps to about 11 amps. The rest may be due to the cable run and thickness. I set it to regular alternator because ford told me they has disabled smart charging. Perhaps they have not disabled that feature.
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Kevin Windrem answered ·

Voltage drop in the wiring between the vehicle battery/alternator and the Orion is very important to getting the expected charging current. The Orion senses input voltage and adjusts the charging current to keep the input voltage above the value you set in the app. If voltage drop is too high then you may find it difficult to set parameters to achieve the desired charging current. In this case, increasing the wire size to reduce voltage drop may be necessary.

Also, if your battery is fully charged, you won't see the expected charging current because of the charging algorithm.

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stephanv9 avatar image stephanv9 commented ·
Thanks for the quick reply. I changed the setting to smart alternator and it has improved a lot (now about 11 amps, and even scooted up to 15 briefly). What voltage do the charger put out? I set it to 14v for absorption threshold, but it seems to be outputting 13.5 in bulk phase at about 65% full according to the battery app. Is that normal?
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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem stephanv9 commented ·
The charger will put out CURRENT, not voltage in bulk mode. The voltage will depend on battery chemistry, state of charge, temperature and other factors. When the battery reaches full charge, then the voltage will be higher than you are measuring now. But you can only estimate battery stage of charge only after all charging sources and loads are removed from the battery and the battery allowed to rest for a while.
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stephanv9 avatar image stephanv9 Kevin Windrem commented ·
Cool. That makes good sense. Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it!
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Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

The voltage settings below the alternator typically selection will allow more flexibility.

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shaneyake avatar image
shaneyake answered ·

What is the output voltage of the Orion?
It can be adjusted using the little screw, if you up the voltage you should see higher charge currents.
Obviously stay within battery limits.

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stephanv9 avatar image stephanv9 commented ·
Hi, thanks for the quick reply. I’ve configured the Orion using the Bluetooth app. The output voltage according to my battery is about 13.5 (which seems low), I’ve configured the absorption voltage to 14v in the app. The manual makes no mention of a little screw to adjust voltage
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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ stephanv9 commented ·

The screw is for other models. These are more useful for running 12V equipment, but with the correct voltage setting will charge a battery.

My AGMs won't take full Orion output current until battery is down to about 60% charged. Hope that helps.

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shaneyake avatar image shaneyake stephanv9 commented ·
You have an Orion Smart which has bluetooth.

The normal Orion does not have bluetooth so you have to use the screw and jumpers to set it up.

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