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Is it okay to use the Blue Smart IP67 to charge the main starter battery (lead acid) and then hook the Orion-Tr Smart to the starter battery to charge x2 100ah lithium 12v in series?
Essentially use the Blue Smart IP67 to keep the lead acid 12v topped off and when it is topped off use that battery with the Blue Smart IP67 to feed the Orion-Tr Smart to charge the lithium 24v system?
Looking at this as an alternative option to my other post if there isn't a solution.
Victron did confirm today that this would work if I got the voltages dialed in correctly.
Does anyone have any experience with a setup like this? If so how do you have the chargers configured to kick on and off at the correct times?
The orion would be charging from the alternator ones the starter battery or voltage reaches a certain target, it has engine on detection as well, or can be controlled by a switch.
You can already play with ideas in demo mode in victron connect.
Attached is a diagram of what I'm hoping will be a solution for this. A Victron engineer said he doesn't know why it wouldn't work as long as I get my kick in voltages figured out. My supplier also said it should work out of the box.
My two concerns are: making sure the starter battery doesn't get drained while using the boat and also making sure the Orion kicks on when the Blue Energy charger is in float mode.
Any thoughts?
This setup will end up saving me about $160
Consider the chargers separately. The alternator will charge at about 14.4V. No issue to detect. Lead acid in fully charged rest state is about 12.7V. Might be a little trickier if the boat has a smart alternator like a car. In which case switching with the boat's ignition will solve that.
The IP67 may be problematic. It's going to spend almost all, if not all of its time in float mode. Usually 13.7 for lead acid/AGM. If you set auto detect voltage to slightly less than this, you should be fine and this will also work for the alternator. But the IP67 has a storage stage, this is at 13.2V. So to keep the Orion charging, your autodetect needs to be below this.
There's another caveat in the manual. The Orion must draw considerably less than the IP67 output current. Your proposed Orion setup will draw slightly over 20A. But the IP67 charger is only 17A. It's not clear if you will get a reduced charge rate, or a zero charge rate.
"3.3 When a load is connected to the battery A load can be applied to the battery while charging, as long as the current draw is much lower than the rated output of the battery charger. Reconditioning is not possible when a load is connected to the battery."
There's a non replaceable internal fuse in these chargers. Might be risky...
I went ahead and ordered the 25 amp version of the IP67 so I don't have problems with current.
If I am understanding your correctly from above. I need to set the detect voltage on the Orion around 13v? That voltage should still keep the Lead Acid topped off correct?
Or should I set the detect voltage around 13.5?
Alternator specs: non smart @ 25amp
