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ligron avatar image
ligron asked

Orion tr 48-12 30A Ford Custom Hybrid van

Hello, I am converting a hybrid Ford Custom van to a motorhome and I´m going to install an Orion Tr 48-12 30A isolated, since the alternator is 48V and the secondary battery that will power the services of the house will be 12V.

The system will be installed with a 16mm2 section cable (6awg)

I´m wondering which fuse to put in the 48V wiring harness. The length of this section will be 2 meters.


Either do I know if the 30A that the Orion handles are at 12V output, I understand that it is.


Can someone be so kind as to guide me a bit?


Thank you

Orion DC-DC Converters not smart
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2 Answers
Mike Dorsett avatar image
Mike Dorsett answered ·

Bit strange having the primary alternator at 48V?

However, if this is the case, and you are planing on using some serious power (>1kW) in the motor home, I would seriously consider the option of either 24 or 48v as the house battery - this will cut the peak currents and give greater efficiency particularly if you are looking at 3kW inverter.

However, if converting from 48V to 12V with 30A at 12v the input current would nominally be 30*12/48 = 7.5A Using a 1.25x rule for the fuse setting, this would make the 48V input fuse 9.4A, so next closest is 10A.

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ligron avatar image ligron commented ·
Putting the battery at 24 or 48V would be an option to work with less load amperage but I will still have to lower the voltage back to 12V to make the lighting circuits, USB, water pump, etc. work.


The inverter that I will put will be a Multiplus 1600VA 12V.


Thank you very much for calculating fuses.

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ceriw avatar image
ceriw answered ·

Just a guess, but given the details you have shared, it sounds like a mild hybrid van. in which case, the 48V battery/ alternator will be part of the mild hybrid setup and there will already be a 12V battery in the van that gets charged from a high power DC-DC converter. All of the usual peripherals in the van run from the 12V circuits. It would make more sense to charge your 12V house battery from the 12V system as then you won't interfere with the charge/discharge algorithms in the mild hybrid setup.

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ligron avatar image ligron commented ·
Good note on the 12V service battery and the original 48-12V charger, I will investigate more about it.

Thank you very much for your input
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