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gilles avatar image
gilles asked

ORION 12V 30 A not enough to charge 250 Ah Lithium

Hi,

I have a setup in my Rv, with one orion 12v 30 A charging a 250Ah lithium battery while the motor is on. I have also 2 mppt connected to solar on the roof. And a multiplus 700VA.

The thing is when the motor is on, Orion charges with only 20 A (i check that on the BMV). And i have also the multiplus on while driving for the wifi, ect ..

It is not enough even with a 250 Ah to stay stationnary for a few days without turning the motor on often when there is no Sun out and its raining every day.

I have to find a solution because i have to stay stationnary for 3 weeks and we dont have acess to the grid 220 V where we are parked.

An electrician told me to get rid of the Orion and charge directly from the alternator. I think it is strong enough if i recall.

Because now i it takes me an hour to charge only 10 percent .. Its way too little.

Any advice ?


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Alexandra avatar image
Alexandra answered ·

@gilles

What is the charge current your battery can take? Can the alternator do that without burning up? If you look on you tube about alternator destruction due to lithium charging, I am sure you will find a bit.

You know you can add/parallel Orion's?

It literally says it on the product page.

https://www.victronenergy.com/dc-dc-converters/orion-tr-smart

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gilles avatar image gilles commented ·

@Alexandra

On the characteristics of the battery it is written 150 A maximum charge current. 125 A continuous charge current.

The Electrician who sold me all my victron equipments told me that they never install Orion's in Campervans. He said that it is not necessary.. But at that time i said no i want an orion because i was extra paranoid a bit.

My alternator is around 140 A is think. But yeah i dont think it will be good for the alternator especially because we gonna run the motor without driving , so no air cooling .

I dont have space for 2 orions 30 A, so i might go for a DC DC renogy 40 A to boost it up a bit.

This morning i did a test, i charge 2% of the battery in 10min at 24 A average without any consumer.

So it would take an hour to charge 12%

https://www.mylithiumbattery.com/shop/12v-lithium-ion-battery-packs/lithium-battery-12v/12v-250ah-lithium-ion-battery-lifepo4-powerbrick/


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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ gilles commented ·

Maybe consider the new Orion XS:

https://www.victronenergy.com/dc-dc-converters/orion-xs-12-12-50a-dc-dc-battery-charger

But sometimes it's the alternator that limits the current.
New "Smart" alternators reduce the voltage so the Orion reduces it's output current to not go below the configured cut-off voltage.

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