Hi,
Still finishing my boat install. AGM starting battery, 230 Ah lithium house battery, Orion XS DC-DC charger hooked up to the AGM to charge the house.
Now, finishing up the AC side of the boat and I would like to be able to charge the AGM and lithium house battery while plugged into 110volt. Either on a dock or at home. How is this accomplished so that the Orion XS doesn’t kick on when the AGM starting battery is being charged? OR… if I get a 50-60 amp AC-DC charger can I just hook it up directly to the AGM and let the Orion charge the lithium house like normal?
Thanks
Hi, Just seeing if there was any advice? Kind of looking at either the IP43 (1+1) or the (3) and just only using 2 banks. Although they have similar charge voltage, one is an AGM and one is lithium.
Thanks
You can disable the Orion with the remote terminals just add a switch to disable it manually. You will need to look at how much current the AGM will take and what the charge profile looks like for the battery you have. They recommend 15-25% of the capacity as the charge current for AGM. If you do charge the AGM into the Orion you will need a long absorption time if it hits the absorption voltage or program the Orion to kick in and start charging the lithium before it gets there. You can try it and see how it goes and adjust the settings till you get it right. If you find it’s not working then you have a charger for the lithium and will need to get one for the AGM. But also remember that lithium does not like to be 100% fully charged all the time and 50% is a good storage capacity up to a max of 80%.
As Owen says, you can temporarily disable the Orion XS via Victron connect, VRM, Cerbo GX, and charge your starter battery without the Orion XS kicking in. This is what I do in my campervan.
What would be ideal, and I hope Victron will implement via a firmware fix in the future is to allow reverse charging, where power from the house battery/charger is used to charge the starter battery. A number of other manufacturers Dc-Dc chargers do this effectively.
Thank you both for the replies. The AGM starting batter requires a minumum of 10 amps and ideal is 40. The lithium is a 230aH and ideal is 46 amps.
So it sounds like if it had a 50 amp charger hooked directly to the starting battery, i could turn off the Orion XS, charge the AGM completely, then, turn the Orion XS on and charge the lithium house to ~75% using the Orion XS. After reviewing my wiring, the only problem i have with that is that my main battery on/off switch would need to be ON for the Orion XS to charge. Id rather be able to turn my switch OFF and have the batteries charge and be stored.
So… would a 2 bank IP43 work maybe? Just use 2 of the banks. I dont think the (1+1) charger will work because the starting battery needs 10amps and 1+1 only puts out 4 or something