I’ll note that using 3rd-party DC-DC chargers to try to charge power stations, which have their own DC-DC chargers built-in, has a long history of not working very well since the varying components start fighting each other. A power station is more than just a battery, so it’s more complicated than just connection.
That said, from the user manual of the power station, 90-120w is expected from car charging:
Thank you for that great reply. Originally I bought an aferiy DC to DC charger that was charging around 500 watts. The reason I changed it was it turned itself off if it wasn’t used for 10 minutes and you had to manually switch it on again.
I got the Victron because it recognised when the engine was turned on and off.
I’ve just read that the charge slows when it gets over 70% so I’m going to let it get below 50% and try again to see if the wattage improves.
I highly doubt that the Orion has an issue, try to connect it to a normal battery.
I guess your power station is not designed for something like that.
Not sure if I found the correct manual, but it seems you are using an output to charge the power station. The input should be on the other side next to the AC input.
Apologies, it’s not clear in the picture. The output you see is just powering the lights etc in the van whilst we convert it. The Victron is connected to the input on the side.
I know other people are using various types of DC to DC charger for this particular type of powerbank.
I just went with victron as they have a good reputation.
Just jumping in here - the limitation is the input current capability of the P280 which is 20A, regardless of the voltage from 11.8 to 55V.
The manual for the P280 states clearly the two XT90 connectors on the side (for MPPT input) capability is 11.8-55V at 20A total - across the two connectors and must not exceed 600W. So if you are feeding it 14.2V and it can only handle 20A, that’s 284W, which is totally in line with what you are seeing.
With the Orion putting out its maximum 17V, the P280 can only take 20A. So that’s 340W, not 600W.
If you want to maximize the charging rate, an XS1400 which can output up to 35V could do it.
What I don’t know is if you have to feed power into BOTH of the XT90 to get full charging speed and the full 20A. The car charging cable they have is good for maybe 100W at 12V (eg <10A), and I just don’t know enough to say for sure. Maybe contact the maker for tech support.
In order to know if that’s reasonable, what are the specifications for your two 270W solar panels - eg what is the Vmp and Imp (Voltage and Current at maximum power)? Are they wired in parallel or series? Was this under full sun (eg noon, perfectly clear, panels aligned perfectly) at 25C ?
The second reason I ask is some of the 270W panels I found online are (theoretically) about 31V at 8.5A. So you’d have to put them in parallel, otherwise you’ll exceed the 55V input.
One thing to check on the Orion XS side specifically: it derates its output when the input voltage sags under load, and with the engine running plus a long or thin cable run from the starter battery, the voltage drop can be significant at 40 to 50 amps. Open VictronConnect while it is charging and compare the Orion’s input voltage against the voltage at the starter battery - if there is more than about half a volt of difference, the wiring is the bottleneck, not the charger. Either way, the AFERIY’s DC input decides how much current it actually pulls, so even a healthy Orion XS will only deliver what that port accepts.
10 AWG is good for about 30-40A max. Per the manual, you should be able to get 6AWG or 8AWG in there pretty easily which will conduct the full current without heating up. You need hex crimps if you use ferrules. I can’t tell from your photo if you have square ferrules, which would not be optimal.
You have 14.2V at 25A on the input, just from that i dont see the need for bigger cables. If theres voltage loss then it cant be much.
The limiting factor here is the 20A input current on the power station. You are hitting that, even a bit over, so even with bigger cables you wont get more power out of that setup.
The Orion is right there with its 349W on the output.
