If I have an AC/DC charger connected to the engine battery, will the Orion XS Engine Detection Shutdown sense that the same as an alternator and charge the house battery?
Yes it does as your AC/DC charger mimics charging current which the Orion can not “distinct” as dynamo voltage or AC/DC charger voltage.
Small extra comment :
Engine detection works by detecting voltages.
The Orion starts to function when it detects 14.00v and stops when it drops to 13.10v ( Smart Alternator setting ). You can also user define it !
Not really the “smartest” way to detect “engine running”, this way the booster will continue running from the starterbattery even when the engine stopped. Better to detect the characteristic ripple from the alternator, completely independent of the dc voltage.
The Orion XS has an enable input (where the plug with the wire loop is), you can wire that to en-/disable it depending on your needs (eg. to only enable when ignition is on, which normally is only happening when the motor is running). Schematics should be in the manual.
I have same problem with our existing starting battery charger (charging two 12V AGM propulsion engine batteries and one 12V AGM gen set starting battery) being on continuously while at dock and on shore power . This causes the DC/DC charger to start/stay on continuously and start a bulk /abs mode recharge of a 95% SOC LiFePO4 house battery that is in the float/storage condition at 13.6 V from the 12/30 Blue Smart charger I installed a few weeks ago! To resolve this can using the remote on/off function H pin wiring shown in section 4.7 b) of the manual can the switch shown be the ignition switch ignition 12V+ terminal of the engine? Also, do I need to use the engine shutdown detection “override” as well as it is showing a ignition switch connection ? We need to just have ignition switch “on” start the Orion charging cycle and “off” stop charging cycle.
Yes, that is the problem we had. On board starting battery charger was providing over 14 volts and caused the DC/DC Orion to start charging and continue to charge a already full LiFePO4 house battery 