I’m slightly disappointed at the performance of the XS 1400 after replacing the Orion-Tr Smart. I’m not getting more than 300W of charging from a 12V smart alternator into a 24V LiFePO4.
Is this normal or do I have a defective unit? There’s a pretty high SOC but the battery voltage was around 26.7V the whole time.
Thanks for putting some data into the initial post, it makes it so much easier.
If the input voltage drops to the shutdown voltage set in the engine shutdown detection, the Orion will restrict the charge current. This is explained in the manual. If your smart alternator is reducing the output voltage to 13.2V which is your shutdown voltage then the Orion output will reduce. This is the problem with smart alternators. You could try a lower shutdown voltage down to 12.9V but no lower as this is above the 100% full voltage. Another way around this is to wire an ignition signal to the Orion so it is always on when the ignition is on and then disable engine shutdown detection. The other thing to check is if you have voltage drop on the input cables.
Thanks for the feedback.
I’ll look into how I can get a feed from the ignition to it.
I was also wondering about using Node-RED to turn it on when the campervan is moving, maybe this would help? The Cerbo has GPS. This would be beneficial as to turn off the Orion XS when the engine is just ticking over and there’s not much air-flow over the alternator.
