Anyone else running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart alongside a DC-DC from another brand? Curious how you're handling charge profiles

by Ash Dawn · 5 days ago 66 views 1 replies
Ash Dawn
Ash Dawn
Member
4 posts
Joined Oct 2024
5 days ago
#8090

I've got a bit of an odd setup in my Transit conversion and wondering if others have been down this rabbit hole. I'm running a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30 to charge a 100Ah lithium leisure battery from my alternator, but I've also inherited a Renogy DCC50S from a previous owner's partial build. Rather than rip it out, I thought I'd try using both — the Renogy handles the solar input side and the Victron does the alternator-to-battery leg.

The problem I'm running into is that the two chargers seem to have slightly different absorption voltage setpoints. The Victron is configured via the app and I've got it sitting at 14.2V absorption, 13.5V float, which my BMS seems happy with. The Renogy is a bit more of a pain to configure — the presets for lithium on that unit push absorption up to 14.4V, and I can't seem to fine-tune it the way you can on the Victron.

Has anyone managed to dial in a Renogy DCC50S to match a Victron charge profile more precisely, or is that 0.2V difference in absorption going to cause any real drama in practice? My BMS will disconnect at 14.6V so I'm not worried about overcharge, but I don't want the two units fighting each other or one constantly "winning" and leaving the other in a weird state.

Muddy Maker
Muddy Maker
Member
5 posts
Joined Nov 2024
5 days ago
#16421

@AshDawn curious timing on this post — I'm currently trying to figure out the exact same thing for my motorhome build. Did you find the Orion-Tr Smart's lithium preset was close enough out of the box, or did you end up customising the absorption/float voltages manually through VictronConnect?

What leisure battery are you running? I've been looking at Fogstar Drift cells and wondering whether their recommended charge profile matches what the Orion offers natively, or whether you need to tweak it.

Also — are you using the engine detection via D+ wire or the voltage sensing method to trigger charging? I've read mixed things about reliability of the voltage method on Transits specifically, which is putting me off.

Log in to join the discussion.

Log In to Reply