I’m building out an electrical system with Victron components in my camper van and would really appreciate a sanity check and any feedback you can offer on the drafted design below.
Welcome to the Community!
Your design is a good start - and it needs a bit of refinement for safety e.g. fire prevention.
Consider hiring a professional, at least for a review and some advice.
Here’s a few things that need attention - you’ll want to revise and get it reviewed, preferably by an licensed professional/expert (am not!).
There’s a great resource from Victron that is worth a read: Wiring Unlimited
- Fuses need to protect the wiring as well as the equipment.
- Disconnect switches are useful for troubleshooting and initial startup when replacing batteries. They need to be rated appropriately.
- Typically a fuse needs to be 1.25x the operating current and wiring appropriately sized
- There are spots where it looks like you have a smaller fuse than the potential actual load, perhaps thinking you’d limit the current somehow (programming settings?). Needs a bit of a rethink.
- Take a look at the manual for the Multiplus (MP) for fuse rating. 125A in the diagram should be 200A if I’ve got the right model.
- There’s a potentially large initial inrush current to a MP for the capacitors - this usually means you need a way to switch it in and have a pre-charge resistor.
- Tweak the schematic - move the battery disconnect switch and battery fuse, so it doesnt look like they are a junction to the MP.
- How are you powering the USB/Mac from 24V ? If it’s 100W, that’s going to need something closer to a 5A fuse, not a 10A fuse.
- The Water Pump, Water Heater, Fridge power consumption - is that the rating on the placard/nameplate? If so, you need to recalc all these fuses. e.g. If the Fridge only needs 50W, it should have more like a 3A fuse, not 15A.
- Victron Orion-Tr Non-Isolated 24/12-20A - needs an output fuse before the 12V distribution panel.
- Maxxair fan - check the fuse - my guess is 5A, I don’t know what model etc for sure.
- On the 230V side, does the Induction Cooktop (hob) need it’s own breaker or fuse, and if so, whats the correct size eg 5A?
- 230V output of the MP - it’s only 2000VA, so you’re probably overloading it, OR need to reduce the breaker sizes.
- Alternator - that needs a look by an expert. The Orion you have could easily draw more than 30A, and you have it fused at 20A.
- There’s probably more, but I figured this might help get you started. It’s really worth paying for a bit of Professional time.
Good luck!
VE.Bus goes from the Cerbo to the VE.Bus BMS then to the MP. This is to give the BMS the ability to switch the MP off.
Victron SmartLithium has no integrated contactor, the battery itself gets protected by switching chargers and loads directly, either through coms over the GX or through the ATC/ATD contacts.
Theres no need for a seperate control wire to the MPPT, since its connected over VE.Direct, so it takes part in DVCC.
However, the Orion between coming from the Starter battery needs an ATC signal from the BMS (Only the Orion XS can take part in DVCC, all the rest need to be controlled with ATC/ATD). They also dont come with a VE.Direct port.
Which Orion is this exactly? If its an Orion Smart, then thats ok since they are battery chargers. If its a non-Smart then that would only be a power supply and should not be used to charge a battery.
Same for the 24V loads and the 24-to-12V Orion, they need to be controlled by ATD of the BMS, to protect the battery from overdischarge.
You also need to connect the negative busbar to the vehicle body, otherwise the starter battery Orion wont be able to charge the house battery.
Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to look at it and provide some notes.
I think you’re right and I should probably have it reviewed by a professional. If you have any tips to find good ones, please let me know.
Appreciate the feedback! I’ll have to dive into the manuals a bit more to narrow down the exact models and wires it sounds like.