Anyone else running a split-charge relay alongside a DC-DC charger? Wondering if it's worth keeping both

by Harbour Soul · 3 days ago 48 views 0 replies
Harbour Soul
Harbour Soul
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6 posts
Joined Aug 2025
3 days ago
#8143

Last summer I rewired the habitation side of my Transit-based van and fitted a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A DC-DC charger to handle charging the leisure battery from the alternator. Solid bit of kit, no complaints. But I've still got the old 70A split-charge relay sitting in there from the previous owner, and I've been going back and forth on whether to pull it out or just leave it in place as a backup.

The thing is, the relay was wired directly to a 110Ah AGM and the Orion is now feeding into a 200Ah LiFePO4 I swapped in back in March. From what I understand, running both simultaneously into the same lithium bank could cause issues — the relay doesn't care about charge profiles and will just dump alternator voltage straight in. I've isolated it for now but haven't physically removed it.

Has anyone kept a split-charge relay in a hybrid setup like this, or is it just dead weight at this point? Also curious whether anyone's had problems with the Orion's engine-detect threshold on older Transits — mine seems a bit twitchy and occasionally kicks in before the engine's properly warm.

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