I installed a Orion Smart TR 12/12-30 in my rv and was asking myself if can charge the battery while not driving by simply connecting a DC-charger to the input of the Orion.
asked
Is it possible to charge a battery with a Orion Smart TR 12/12-30 wich is not connectet to a alternator but to a 12v DC-Charger? Second question (if its possible) would be: What if the 12v DC-Charger can only provide 20a?
I think the Orion will "see" a less-than-charging voltage source as "another battery" and behave accordingly.
If your dc source can provide 14.x+ volts (this particular number is where you can check on the specs on your Orion, or maybe a victron expert will do the work for you -it might only need to be 13.8v or such) then it would assume a charger/charging state in the system and behave accordingly.
Check the specs for input voltage required to have it see a source as a charger as well as your DC source exact output?
As I recall the amps out is it's capability at the top end. Other Victron products I have behaved accordingly and only did max-out amps real quick usually with my Lifepo4's unless the other types were at really low charged states. It is a "smart" charger so theoretically it will fluctuate in voltage and amps depending on settings and sensed states of to be charged device. When I plug in different batteries to mine I see different volts and amps for a while on my monitors until things settle down.
Most regular DC chargers for 12Vdc car batteries will output nearly 15Vdc initially and the output is pretty rough in terms of stability. The Smart Tr should be able to trigger and turn on just fine and sort it out and use any available current to continue to charge your battery bank. I set my Orion Smart Tr(s)..2 in parallel, up on my bench using a separate DC power supply so I know it works as I'm describing. I assume you are looking at keeping your battery bank charged when parked at home? If that's the case then you might also want to look at the Victron battery charger that is programmable and has Bluetooth so you monitor charging as well. That would be a much cleaner way of maintaining your batteries in my opinion.
