I have a Orion 12/12 50 installed in my caravan. I have 25mm2 cable run from my tow vehicle battery through a 50amp Anderson plug to the Orion. Overall distance is 12m (39 feet) Vehicle has a 135amp alternator. Voltage at vehicle battery when running is 14.2v and at the 13.4 at the Orion. Caravan battery bank is 300a/hr Lithium at 20% SOC. The problem is I’m only getting 23 amps from the Orion and I can’t figure out why. Any help much appreciated.
Have you searched for and read the previous posts about Orions not charging at full rate, all the info is on here.
As ever, a screenshot of the status page whilst charging and screenshots of your settings especially engine shut down detection would help diagnosis.
Have a read of Section 4.2 of the manual, if your engine shutdown voltage is 13.4V then the Orion limits charge to maintain an input voltage of 13.4V. Reduce your input voltage to circa 12.9V to help. You have 0.8V drop at 23A, this is way too high and will be 1.7V at 50A, your cable is too thin for your device. You may need to swap to ignition switch activated. Did you calculate your voltage drop before the install.
The other common problem is high resistance / poor connection between battery and Orion.
I have the same problem. 14.74v at battery, 13.5v at Orion input when it is turned on. If car has just been started and everything is cold, I get 50A. A while later it drops and can be as low as 23 amps. The voltage at the battery is 14.6v, Orion input is still 13.5v. I set my absorption voltage to 13.8v and this is what I get on the Orion output in both cases. The Orion seems to be throttling the current but it is not getting hot.
Have you read the related section in the Troubleshooting chapter of the user and installation manual? 5. Troubleshooting & Support
If starter vBat is 14.7 and input voltage is 13.5, that means a lot of voltage drop between the starter battery and the Orion, which will cause it to back off the current it’s trying to pull as well, as dramatic drop on input voltage would usually indicate the alternator isn’t keeping up with the draw… well, or that the wiring/connections/breakers are insufficient, loose, off-brand, or otherwise defective.
Thanks Justin. I have read the trouble shooting section. The voltage drop is far larger than I am happy with but it is the recommended cable size for my 5m run (6AWG). When I check with a voltage drop calculator, the voltage drop matches what I am reading with my meter. I have cleaned and torqued all the lugs. When the car is cold I get an i/p voltage of 13.53v and an o/p voltage of 13.97v. (I have my absorption voltage set to 13.8v). The o/p current is 45.2A. After it was running for about 15 minutes the voltages are - i/p 13.57v, o/p 14.02v and o/p current of 44.30A. I would be happy if this was always the case but when it was hot, and I had been driving for a few hours, the o/p current was as low as 13A. The alternator felt hot but not excessively so, and the Orion felt barely warm. I think the Orion is derating itself a bit like the old 12/30 dc-dc did. Maybe that’s why the Orion didn’t feel hot. I can run new 4 AWG cable, but I don’t want to if that isn’t the problem.
The battery was still in bulk.
Just to clarify, in your 5m run measurement, you are counting +ve plus -ve runs? DC circuit length must be measured round-trip, so if, for instance, the Orion XS is 5m away from the starter battery, that’s actually a 10m round-trip circuit.
Yes, the cable distance is 5m x 2 = 10m. I’m not using the chassis for the earth return.
Okay then yes, 4AWG would be the recommendation for that run 3. Installation
Thanks Justin. I will replace the wiring.
If the Orion always shows 13,5V than it could also be defective.
We already had devices with that issue a few times.
Thanks for your replies. I had another think about this. My 75 yo brain doesn’t work as well as it used to but this is what I think is happening. Victron recommended 16mm2 for runs up to 5m. They would know that the voltage drop over that distance would be about 1v to 1.4v, so the input voltage to the Orion would be around 13.4v to 13.5v. I am measuring 13.5v so it is within their limits. I looked through the Orion settings and in the “Engine Shutdown detection” I noticed the shutdown voltage is set to 13.5v. That is right on my limits. After about 15 minutes the alternator voltage drops to about 14.6v which meant the Orion input voltage drops below this shutdown threshold and hence the Orion starts lowering the output current. I changed from Regular Alternator to Smart Alternator, and changed the Shutdown voltage to 12.8v. I need to take the car for a run to see if my thinking is correct.
I have just been for a drive and the input voltage went from 13.5v, then 13.4v and finally 13.3v. The output voltage stayed on 14.0v. The input current was steady on 50 amps and the o/p current started at 47.4 amps and then steady on 46.7 amps. When I was nearly at the end of my drive I changed the shutdown voltage back to 13.5v and the o/p current dropped to 38.1 amps. This isn’t as low as I was getting but I had been driving for hours and it was hot so I suspect the alternator may have been derating, and possibly the Orion as well. Thanks Justin and Mathias for your help. I now feel like a complete fool.. I should have sent you images of my orion screens. I didn’t give you much to go on.