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chris-2 asked

Can I connect on Orion 12 30 from an alternator to lithium batteries

Hi there. I would like to replace the Gel house batteries in a boat to lithium. The boat has a 160a alternator for the house batteries and a 60a alternator for the 12v lead acid start battery, ideally I would like to leave it like this. The installation will have 2 x Pylon teech 12v lithium batteries. I would like to use an isolated Orion smart 12 30 DC to DC converter between the alternator and the pylontech battery's, however ont he Victron diagram it shows that a lead acid battey or similar be installed between the alternator and the orion. Is this necessary or can I just connect the alternator to the Lithium battery ( the Plyon tech batteries have a built in BMS which will communicate with the cerbo GX. Thanks

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pwfarnell answered ·

No you can not leave the lead acid battery out. There are many posts on here on this topic where people have done this and they get erratic voltage cycling. The lead acid battery acts as a buffer and smooths out the voltage regulation on the alternator, which is not fast enough to respond to the Orion otherwise. Connect both your alternators to the starter battery and your orion from that to the house battery. Also why not consider the newer Orion XS, more current, more efficient and better comms with the rest of a Victron system. I do not believe that you need an isolated Orion as you will then have potential for voltage diffetences between engine and house battery systems.

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