Hello All,
I am considering adding a Victron DC to DC charger to charge the lithium battery bank on my boat while underway. I understand the settings that trigger the unit on/off based on the detected voltage on my starter battery, however, the potential issue I see is when I'm plugged into shore power and my AC charger starts charging the starter batteries. Will that not also trigger the DC charger to turn on as well? Is there a way to avoid this or is this an issue?
Yes the Orion will also start charging if the voltage of the starter battery rises due to the AC charger.
To avoid this you should also use the D+ signal of the alternator to trigger the Orion. Or you use a relay to open the remote contact of the Orion when the shore power is connected.
You can prevent this by setting the upper end "turn on" voltage to higher than the converter's output. In my case the converter puts outs 13.47v, so setting the Smart charger to kick on at 13.6 safely limits my charging to when the alternator is running.
what's the problem with charging the lithium via the dc charger from shore power?
