With the current version of my XS50 charging booster, it is now possible to emergency-charge the starter battery. The engine must not be running for this. That much is clear.
I’m now using the charging booster as a workaround to charge an AGM battery (not the starter battery) from a lithium battery. So I wanted to try reverse charging and enabled the booster and alternator detection. The system is now telling me that emergency charging can’t take place because the booster isn’t enabled. I don’t understand that.
Any ideas?
Many thanks and best regards,
Michael
PS: I tried emergency charging remotely via the VictronApp.
I don’t know what conditions have to be met for this emergency charging function to be used, but according to this post, if it does run, it only runs for 15 minutes anyway…?!
In my opinion, they could have left it out…
So far, I’ve managed to activate emergency charging once, but I can’t reproduce it. It must be related to the engine signal detection. Since I haven’t connected the device to an engine, the signal always shows “Engine running”. I have to deactivate this first and then activate the booster. But it hasn’t worked again, despite repeated attempts. I assume a delay has been programmed between “Engine signal” and “Activate booster”. I’ll keep trying from time to time.
According to your screenshot, the booster is currently charging the LiFePO. That normally only happens when the engine is running and the input voltage is high enough. The booster sees that too, so it naturally disables the emergency charging function.
Try setting the engine-running detection voltage higher, so that it’s above the AGM voltage. Otherwise, the booster will always assume the engine is running.
Oh, damn, I had the batteries the wrong way round. Of course, the AGM is the “starter battery” and is charging the LiFePO, because its (too high) voltage triggers the engine-on detection. I’ve corrected it above.
Unfortunately, emergency charging still won’t start. Please see the attached screenshots. The engine does need to be switched off for emergency charging to begin, doesn’t it? I’m still at a loss.
and just now it worked. I think it must have something to do with the 120-second delay that’s set by default, so that the starter battery isn’t loaded straight away when the engine starts. This parameter also seems to apply to emergency charging, which makes no sense.
Perhaps you should set your input and output currents a little higher so it can charge at the maximum charging current. This is always governed by whichever of the two set currents is lower.
Regarding emergency charging of the starter battery.
My Orion XS 12/50 is switched on and off via the D+ signal. It all works very reliably.
When the engine isn’t running, the DC-DC charger is switched off. However, that’s exactly the message I get from the app when I try to activate the emergency charging function. The charger is, of course, enabled in the settings.
If I need to use the emergency charging function because the starter battery doesn’t have enough voltage to start the engine, I can’t start the function because there’s no D+ signal.
Can I install a jumper wire with a toggle switch between the H and L terminals to start the charger manually? In addition to the D+ signal cable, that is. Or could something get damaged if D+ is applied to both H and L via a bridged connection?
Surely the programmers can’t have intended me to first enable “Engine shutdown detection”, thereby changing my setup, just to make emergency charging work.
I don’t know whether this has already been mentioned in this thread, but I’ve definitely written it a few times before:
The remote signal is NOT required for emergency charging; that was changed in the beta already.
If the message still appears, it’s caused by something else.
Could you please take a few screenshots of the overview page showing the current values, and of the settings?
It would be useful to have the screenshot with the “error message” in English, so I can forward it to the developers if necessary. @Mike_MM
“Engine shutdown detection” must be enabled so the Orion knows whether the engine is running. However, the switch-on signal via H and/or L that you use for your D+ control isn’t needed for this.
Another criterion for emergency charging is the starter battery voltage dropping below the “input voltage lock-out”. This is also supposed to work without enabling “engine shutdown detection”, but I haven’t tested it.
Someone would have to test what might work, as I don’t have the booster.
You could also leave engine shutdown detection enabled and use the “override engine shutdown detection” function. This has the same effect as disabling it. To do this, you just need to connect D+ to both H and L, isolating it with two diodes.
The emergency charging function should then remain active at all times.
These are the settings on my Orion XS. It works perfectly with the D+ signal.
The firmware should let you configure whether switching is done via a D+ signal. If so, enable the emergency charging function. A simple description from a non-programmer.
The D+ signal (or a bridged remote connector) is NOT needed!
In your case, the low “input voltage lock-out” will prevent emergency charging.
If motor shutdown detection is disabled, the starter battery voltage must be below the input voltage lock-out threshold, which in your case is 11.5 V.
I read in another thread here that, according to the instructions on page 12 (13), the bridge between H+L can remain in place while D+ can still be connected to H.
D+ then takes precedence over the bridge. The cut-off voltage (lower limit → charger booster shutdown) is set to 13.0 V, and the restart voltage is now set to 13.7 V.
