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jmf27614 asked

Lockout Voltage is activated prior to Shutdown voltage (Orion T-Smart Dc-Dc isolated) when ignition is turned off

We have installed the Orion T-Smart DC-DC charger (isolated) with Remote Key on-off. (Diagram (a) in Ch. 4.4 in the manual). The values are Alternator=Regular, Engine Shutdown Start Voltage/Shutdown are respectively: 14V/13.5V. The values for Lockout Voltage/Restart are respectively: 13.0V/13.3V. When ignition starts, Bulk or Absorption charge starts after the input voltage reaches 14V. When the ignition is turned off, it continues charging until the input voltage drops to 13.0V, (Output is still 14.2V) when Charging is turned OFF ("disabled due to Input voltage lock-out"). Almost immediately after that, the message shown is "disabled due to Input voltage lockout, Engine shutdown detected". Why is the Engine shutdown not recognized at 13.5V as indicated in the Shutdown values? (The Shutdown switch is enabled). Thanks!

orion-tr smart
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veryactivelife answered ·

Here are two things to consider in helping to understand what is happening. The first is that engine detection voltage shutdown voltage must be reached for 60 seconds before shutdown will take place. This allows charging to continue when there is a momentary dip below the shutdown voltage. The second thing is that the lockout function is used to protect the battery from being drained below a set voltage as in the case where engine detection is not enabled. It sounds like your voltage is dropping down to 13V setting before the 60 seconds are up and causing the lockout.

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Engine-on-detection-set-up-Orion-Tr-Smart-DC-DC-Charger-EN.pdf

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jmf27614 answered ·

Thanks for your explanation. I believe you're correct about the timing. I plugged in a Battery Tender to the cigarette lighter outlet to trickle charge the Chassis battery. Once the voltage reached 13.3V (The Lockout Restart Voltage) the message changed to "disabled due to Engine shutdown detected". So my next question is; how does the Orion detect engine shutdown? Purely by voltage? Or is it dependent upon the ignition switch? I'd like to charge the chassis battery using an external battery charger (with the engine off) - so what happens then when the battery voltage exceeds the shutdown start voltage? Does it start charging the house batteries as well? We have the ignition ground wire attached to the "L" pin and the ignition live wire attached to the "H" pin. There is no wire-bridge attached as shown in figure 4, the setup looks like figure 3(a) in the manual.

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veryactivelife avatar image veryactivelife commented ·

Connecting the Orion-tr Smart to the ignition is redundant. The L and H pins are intended for a manual remote switch. When engine detection is enabled this is what turns the charger on and off.

Putting a battery tender on the starter battery will increase the voltage enough to start the charger. You can override this by simply turning the charger off in the app. A remote switch as mentioned in the previous paragraph will also disable the charger. In my setup I put a switchable circuit breaker at the starter battery which can disconnect the charger from the starter battery. I prefer disabling it in the app so that the charger continues to monitor the voltage at the starter battery and I can easily see the starter battery voltage.

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