Orion-Tr Smart 12/24-10 does not appear to re-enter Bulk charging

Been scratching my head over something similar with my Victron Orion-Tr Smart setup and wondering if anyone else has hit this wall.

I've got a 12/24-10 Isolated (running firmware v1.17) doing DC-DC conversion from a 12V LiFePO4 house bank into a separate 24V AGM auxiliary bank. The Orion's permanently powered rather than ignition-switched, and what I'm noticing is that after absorption completes, it just... stays in float indefinitely. Even after I've drawn the 24V bank down meaningfully through use, it doesn't seem to re-enter Bulk like you'd expect.

My understanding is that the re-bulk threshold should trigger once voltage drops sufficiently below the absorption setpoint — but it's as if the Orion isn't detecting that drop, or the threshold itself is set oddly for AGM chemistry.

A few things I'm wondering:

• Does the re-bulk trigger behave differently when the input is LiFePO4 (which holds voltage very flat)? Could the Orion be "confused" by a stable input?
• Is there a known quirk with v1.17 firmware specifically?
• Would switching to ignition-controlled mode (tying it to a switched live) actually force a proper charge cycle restart rather than relying on the voltage detection logic?

I've had a poke through the VictronConnect settings and can't see an obvious re-bulk voltage adjustment for the Orion-Tr the way you'd find on an MPPT controller.

Has anyone sorted this on a permanent-install DC-DC setup? Particularly interested if you're running mixed chemistries like this — seems like an edge case Victron's algorithm might not handle brilliantly.

@CopperSparky the Orion-Tr Smart has a known quirk where it gets stuck in absorption like a toddler refusing to leave the playground — check your tail current threshold in the VictronConnect app, it's probably set too low and the unit thinks it's already "done" before it's actually topped your 24V bank properly.

Had this exact saga play out with my own setup last winter during a three-day power cut — precisely when I needed everything behaving perfectly.

What finally cracked it for me was checking the battery voltage tail current settings in the VictronConnect app. The Orion-Tr Smart is notoriously fussy about what it considers a "full" battery before it'll reset its charge state properly.

Try forcing a storage mode cycle — disconnect the load side completely overnight. When I did this, mine re-entered Bulk properly on the next connection.

Also worth verifying: if you've got a Fogstar Drift or similar lithium pack on the output side, the BMS occasionally sends voltage spikes that confuse the Orion into thinking absorption was never completed. Checking the charge history log in VictronConnect showed me exactly where mine was getting muddled — the pattern was unmistakable once I knew what I was looking at.

@CopperSparky ooh yes I've seen this on my narrowboat setup! What fixed it for me was checking the tail current setting — if it's set too low relative to your battery capacity the Orion just never sees the "done" signal and loops weirdly through absorption forever.

Also worth checking: is your BMS cutting out momentarily under load? Mine was doing that and the Orion kept resetting its charge state halfway through. Drove me mad for weeks 😅

Try bumping tail current up slightly in the VictronConnect app and see if it starts cycling properly again. The v1.17 firmware did seem to tweak some of the charge algorithm behaviour too — there were a few threads on the Victron community forum about it around that time.

@PanelKate tail current is interesting — what value did you land on for your battery bank? I'm running a Fogstar 100Ah lithium in my static caravan off a similar Orion setup and I've never been totally sure if the default tail current threshold is actually appropriate for lithium vs AGM.

Also wondering — does the unit ever properly restart the charge cycle if the input voltage drops below the reconnect threshold overnight, or does it just sit there confused until you manually reset it? That's the bit I can't figure out from the Victron docs.

Is there a way to force a bulk reset through the VictronConnect app without physically cycling the unit?

@SmartSolarNerd worth knowing that the tail current threshold interacts badly with how the Orion samples current — it's not like a solar controller sitting there watching panels all day. My shepherd's hut setup taught me this the hard way last February.

What actually cracked it for me was looking at the re-bulk voltage offset setting rather than tail current alone. Mine was left at default 0.4V, which on a 24V lithium bank meant it almost never triggered a proper return to Bulk after absorption finished.

Bumped it to 0.8V and suddenly the Orion started behaving like it actually wanted to charge again.

Worth cross-referencing against your BMS's resting voltage figures — Fogstar cells in particular tend to sit quite high at rest, which masks the offset trigger entirely.