Anyone else running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A alongside a split charge relay? Worth it or just redundant?

So I've been running a pretty standard leisure setup in my Transit — 200Ah of AGM, a VSR split charge relay off the alternator, and a Renogy 40A MPPT for the solar. Been working fine for a couple of years but I keep reading that the Orion-Tr Smart would be a proper upgrade over the relay. Thing is, I'm not sure whether it's worth the £180-odd when the relay is already doing something.

The main reason I'm considering it is the alternator protection side of things. My van's a 2019 Transit with the smart alternator (Euro 6), so apparently the VSR is a bit useless anyway because the alternator voltage drops all over the place and the relay keeps opening and closing like a confused toaster. Someone on another thread mentioned they were seeing barely 4-5A going into their leisure battery because of this — which would explain why my solar is doing all the heavy lifting even on long drives.

Has anyone actually swapped from a VSR to an Orion-Tr Smart on a smart alternator van and noticed a genuine difference in charge rates? I'm talking real numbers if possible — what were you seeing before and after on a decent run? I've got a Victron BMV-712 so I can actually monitor it properly, just haven't had the chance to do a proper back-to-back test yet.

Also wondering whether I should bother keeping the VSR in place as a backup or just yank it out entirely once the Orion's in. Seems like it'd just cause confusion having both active.

KarenWebb | 847 posts

@Ozzy89 Not redundant at all in my experience — actually a really smart pairing. The VSR will dump bulk current when the alternator's running hard, but the Orion-Tr Smart will properly profile the charge to suit your AGMs rather than just shoving voltage at them.

The big win for me was protecting the alternator on longer drives. Modern Transits especially can have sensitive alternator management, and the Orion's current limiting means you're not hammering it trying to fill a flat bank.

Worth checking whether you've got a smart alternator (variable voltage output) on yours though — if so the VSR becomes pretty unreliable anyway and the Orion earns its keep even more. What year's your Transit? That'd help narrow down whether you're dealing with Euro 6 alternator shenanigans.

Running both is like having a belt and braces, except the Orion-Tr Smart is also quietly texting you updates about your trousers via Bluetooth.

Seriously though — the VSR is fine until you've got a modern Euro 6 alternator with variable voltage regulation doing 13.1V on a good day, at which point your AGMs are basically getting a polite handshake instead of a proper charge; the Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A isolates that nonsense and delivers a proper multi-stage profile regardless. Ditched my VSR entirely in my van conversion once I made the swap and never looked back. Your Renogy MPPT handling the solar side means the Orion just needs to nail the alternator charging — clean division of labour.

BatteryAlan | 2,341 posts

@Ozzy89 Your AGMs are getting a sad, voltage-limited trickle from that VSR while the Orion-Tr Smart next to it is actually doing the chemistry-correct absorption/float — bin the relay and let the Victron earn its keep, or keep both but accept that your alternator is essentially funding two different opinions about what 14.7V means.

Geordie | 1,156 posts

Had this exact setup in my old A-class motorhome — VSR doing the heavy lifting for years until I finally fitted an Orion-Tr Smart 30A alongside it. Night and day difference, but not for the reason I expected.

The real revelation was on longer runs through Scotland — the Orion was pulling a proper absorption charge even when the alternator voltage had dropped off on a slow idle through a village. The VSR just... gave up. The Orion kept working.

Eventually I bypassed the VSR entirely. It's now a very expensive paperweight.

Worth noting — @BatteryAlan's point about AGMs getting a sad trickle is spot on from what I witnessed. My bank was genuinely undercharged for years before I understood why. If you're considering the swap, don't wait as long as I did.

Slim | 347 posts

Slightly different context from me — I've got a similar dilemma for my shepherd's hut build where the "alternator" is a small tractor that occasionally trundles past. But the principle's the same.

Quick question for the room: does the Orion-Tr Smart play nicely when the alternator load is already being shared with other demands? I'm thinking about scenarios where you've got the van's own electrics working hard — aircon, heated seats, the works — and whether the Orion just throttles back sensibly or causes grief?

Also @BatteryAlan — you mentioned the VSR giving AGMs a "voltage-limited trickle." Is that specifically a problem with certain VSR models, or is it inherent to how they all work? Trying to figure out if a decent VSR with a higher threshold setting would close the gap at all, or if the Orion is just categorically better regardless.

Gazza99 | 847 posts

@Ozzy89 One thing nobody's mentioned yet — the Orion-Tr Smart really earns its keep when your engine's under load. A VSR doesn't care if your alternator's already struggling; it'll just connect your leisure bank and drag voltage down further. The Orion actively regulates and won't hammer an older or smaller alternator. I retrofitted one into my Sprinter last spring and honestly the alternator runs noticeably cooler on long motorway runs.

Also worth considering: if you ever upgrade to lithium down the line, the VSR becomes basically useless for proper charging whereas the Orion-Tr handles it natively with the right profile. Future-proofing alone made it worthwhile for me. Keep both running in parallel if you want the bulk throughput, but the Orion's doing the proper work.

RetiredPlumber | 2,341 posts

@Slim — shepherd's hut is exactly where the Orion-Tr Smart justifies itself. I've got one running into a static caravan setup and the absorption/float profiling makes a real difference compared to a dumb VSR dumping unregulated voltage into your battery bank.

Worth noting: if you're on LiFePO4 (or planning to move that way), the VSR becomes almost pointless — the Orion handles the charge profile properly whereas a relay just connects two batteries regardless of chemistry.

Running both simultaneously isn't redundant if you configure the Orion as primary and let the VSR act as a fallback. Just set the VSR threshold slightly lower.