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cstenger avatar image
cstenger asked

Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30 Tail Current

Though I have a strong desire to start a rant about design flaws of the Orion such as not being that smart without VE networking or because it’s configuration is lacking of several parameters, please, community and/or experts try to answer my simple question based on the common experience, that the Orion switches way too early from Absorption to Float:


WHAT IS THE FCKN TAIL CURRENT HARD CODED TO IT?


If I‘m not able to configure it myself, I at least want to configure MPPT and BMV to interpret data the same way.


TIA

BMV Battery MonitorMPPT SmartSolarorion-tr smart
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cstenger avatar image cstenger commented ·

Might it be the tail current is at around 4-5A fixed? I will try to monitor that few more times to check if there’s a common pattern. With my 90Ah GEL 4.6A is way to high, as far as I‘m concerned.


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JohnC answered ·

Hi @cstenger

Where did you see that it uses 'Tail' to decide? If it used that then there would be a setting in the app.

I think your choice is between a Fixed absorb time, and Adaptive, which takes a proportion of the max abs time, dependent on what V the battery shows when the charger starts.

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cstenger avatar image cstenger commented ·
Hi @JohnC


well, that was at least my assumption as the MPPT works that way. Of course Charged Voltage would be the second parameter required to be configurable.


My Absorption Time is set to Adaptive. If the battery nearly full, the Orion switches to Float at lower current, around 1-2A, because Absorption started at lower current already. In that scenario, the current hardly drops in Absorption phase. Hence I'm wondering why it doesn't keep charging when coming from a lower SoC until it reaches about the same current as for higher SoC.

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JohnC avatar image JohnC ♦ cstenger commented ·
@cstenger

I can see why you might be disturbed by this. A 30A charger is a lot into 90Ah, and I'd imagine you'd hit Abs fairly early. So it won't be like a solar mppt 'working up' to a charge day.

I can't know what you're actually trying to do, but Abs is generally set for a fast charge, like to make the most of limited peak sun if solar, or reduced running time for a genset.

If you don't have such constraints then consider reducing Abs V. Even your own graph shows just ~0.6A difference between Abs and Float. That's not much, so is it worth worrying about? Granted the batts still need charge at this point, but they'll charge fully at the lower V anyway.

You could also stretch out the max Abs hours. The algorithm works with that, and the batt V it's offered when it starts (influence from a load can distort that V). It's a bit 'steppy' in the calcs, but it's really not that important anyway.

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cstenger avatar image cstenger JohnC ♦ commented ·

Thanks for the detailed explaination @JohnC.

Now that sounds quite reasonable to me. Yes, 30A is a lot for 90Ah and even for 125Ah (supercycle) what I am going to step up to, but sometimes there's just a short drive of less than 4hrs between the camp spots, so I want to make the most out of it before the MPPT (75/10 with 2x100W in series) is left alone with charging it.

I will try and alter the max. abs time and see what the adaptive abs time makes out of it.

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