Orion 1212 30a poor charging current

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m1ewk asked Nov 9, '23

Orion 1212 30a poor charging current

I have just had an Orion 30a charger installed to charge a 200ah Lifepo4 battery. The charging current varies widely between about 25a and as low as 8a (measured at SmartShunt) , all whilst in Bulk mode. When starting the engine the current might go up to 25a but reduce within a few mins to approx 12 but as low as 8. Under what circumstances will the current be reduced like this? I also have a Victron mppt solar connected to the same battery, is it possible that this will interfere with the charging ?

Thanks

orion dc-dc

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Answer 1 · 2023-11-10T06:37:50Z

kevgermany answered · Nov 10, 2023 at 06:37 AM

The MPPT shouldn't interfere, but it's possible that the combined output causes the BMS to stop/reduce charge.

More likely cause is the settings in the Orion.

Please post screenshots of battery, engine detect settings.

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Answer 2 · 2023-11-10T17:37:56Z

m1ewk answered · Nov 10, 2023 at 05:37 PM

Thanks will do that tomorrow

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Answer 3 · 2023-11-12T17:42:12Z

m1ewk answered · Nov 12, 2023 at 05:42 PM

Just been doing some further checking and it seems that the installer either didn't know or check if I had an earth strap to the body from my leisure battery. As I have the non-isolated version there is only a single negative cable. I checked with my clamp meter and confirmed that the negative current flow is thetefoe going down the 12v van wiring loom which is relatively thin so thinking this may be the issue. I am going to connect a dedicated earth strap to the leisure battery and see what happens. I will report back with my findings

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Answer 4 · 2023-11-15T19:50:08Z

m1ewk answered · Nov 15, 2023 at 07:50 PM

I connected a 16mm2 cable from the leisure battery to the van chassis and when I test now I get a solid 26-27a on tickover. Left it running for a fair while and the current maintained so hopefully this is now sorted. Assuming that the previous cabling route was giving too high a resistance ?

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kevgermany ♦♦ commented · Nov 16, 2023 at 11:42 AM

Sounds about right. Lucky the extra load over the resistance didn't cause heat damage.

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