Well following on from a previous post. Ive wired up the trickle charger from my multiplus via a push switch with an LED (the green illuminated switch in the pic).
I’m keen to have an LED indicator as the trickle charger has a good chance of messing with the Orion XS engine shut down detection, so I just want a good indicator i can check easily.
However I’ve run into two problems. The main one is as ive had to ground the switch for the LED to work, rather than having a controlled positive feed from the dedicated trickle output on the multiplus, i’ve now got a complete circuit which is allowing the van electrics to try and draw power from this feed. This keeps popping the inline 5a fuse ive put in.
This was evident when i disconnected the starter neg, and turned my main 12v rotary switch on for the leisure electrics - The interior courtesy lights briefly illuminated before the fuse popped, this would have been getting power from the leisure battery which it absolutely shouldnt.
The second issue is as the switch is essentially connecting two live legs (the output from the multiplus and the wire to the starter battery) the LED indicator remains on constantly which goes against the whole reason i used one in the first place.
The fallback plan is to just use a regular push switch with no LED as this doesnt need grounding so will solve the main issue here , however id really like to get the LED working if possible.
Would this be a good use case for an inline diode to prevent the back feed from the starter battery? Any other simple (and safe) solutions?
But if you put a diode in then as you note, you will get an even lower charging voltage, it already has one diode voltage drop. If you persist you need a Schottky type diode, typically 0.3V drop but you may need to add your own connections by soldering some flying leads on.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283186713698
Or use a double pole switch to give 2 disconnects with a standalone LED on the intermediate section so it is not connected to either positive source when off and no voltage drop.
Thanks for taking the time to put together a thoughtful answer, however i think this is teeting on more hassle than its worth so uve just stuck with a regular non led push switch for now.
However… Im still having issues with the inline fuse blowing! Theres no recommended fuse size in ther literature for the trickle output, but it does mention its 4 amps (however i only seem to get 1amp). Ive used both 4a and 5a fuses but they keep popping when i start the engine.
As ive wired the trickle charger into the Orion XS input, ive stuck a fuse that side of the switch as that seems the most likely place to have an issue (however maybe fusing both ends would be a good idea?).
The alternator obviously kicks out big amps when the engines running, but i though the diode in the multiplus trickle charger would prevent any current wanting to flow the wrong way. I’ve used a 4mm2 (12awg) and the run is probably about 80cm. Do i just need a bigger inline fuse?
basically, as the MPPT controller starts putting solar power (yellow line) into the lithium leisure battery, this raises the leisure battery voltage slightly (blue line), which consequently raises the leisure starter voltage (redline) via the trickle charger. Once the starter battery hits 13.3v the Orion XS (green line) comes to life and starts putting power into the leisure battery.
SO basically we’ve got a nuissance feedback loop. The van hasnt moved today so all this has all happened whilst its static.
Currently ive got my Orion XS engine shut down detection as follows for my 300ah LIPO4 leisure battery:
Do you think this could be overcome with some tweaks to the settings or do i really just need to be switching the trickle charger off when it isnt needed?
The Smart alternators make it a pain, if you knew that you always got more than 14.0V after engine start then you could increase the delayed start voltage, the risk here is the Orion not starting up. The other is a D+ signal but you said that was a problem in the first post.
Then you come back to your first question, making the trickle charger smarter, you really only want it to keep the voltage output at 13.2V max because at that value you know the battery will be full at such a low current flow. Cerbo relay to shut the trickle charger off at 13.2V and on at 12.6V or something like this.
im going to look into this today. Got a bit of a concern that the relays in the Cerbo are only rated to 6a at 12v DV. Ive been blowing 5a fuses in the trickle charger circuit, so have increased the inline fuse to a 10a, this makes the relay the weakest link and i don want to damage it.
Perhaps i should be using the internal relay as a switch to trigger a proper automotive relay.
UPDATE: Just been looking at the generator start stop parameters and its all based on leisure battery voltage/SOC, no option for using starter battery voltage so i dont think this will work. Might eventually have to look into an additional bit of kit like a battery master.
But for now im going to just manually switch it on and off as needed
Well after weighing up the options ive just put a D+ signal in for the Orion XS so I can hopefully leave the trickle charger from the multiplus on constantly without the Orion coming to life.
So initially I followed the manual and left the jumper wire in, and added the D+ signal wire to the H side as per the left hand diagram.
However with I found the Orion just stayed on with a 1amp output constantly, when starting the engine it still immediately jumped up to 50a however.
So now i’ve removed the jumper wire, and kept the D+ signal going into ‘H’ and it all seems to be working fine. Just as a sanity check can someone in the know confirm if this is fine? Just seems odd that the diagram shows the jumper cable left in… It also mentions putting >8v to ‘L’ as a trigger… ive not tested that one yet!
The drawing in the manual that you copied is for the unit to be on permanently with charging on/off from a separate switch. See the note below the diagram. To force charging off the para after this applies, use remote on off which is with just the H connection so you are good with this. You can disable engine detection if you wish.
Just related (I hope!) comment. I have an RV with Solar, an Orion XS, lead acid cranking batteries and lithium house batteries. I am not using the trickle charger because as i understand it if you are charging lithium batteries house batteries with the multipllus then the trickle charger will charge the cranking batteries with that same profile. Also since the lithiums are a higher voltage than the lead acid then the lead acid can draw power from them when solar is unavailable. The trickel charger also excites the Orion and it kicks off. My fix was a 5amp SmartCharger that only works when I am on shore power. I bought it on Amazon Warehouse For $35.
