Orion-Tr Smart lädt nicht richtig bei aktivem Solar

Anyone else had their Orion-Tr Smart throw a tantrum when solar's already got the batteries happy?

Running a fairly standard setup in the van — 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4, Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30, and an Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30 for the B2B charging off a Ford Transit Custom with that annoying smart alternator.

Problem is, on a sunny day when the MPPT's already pushed the bank up to say 13.8V, the Orion decides it's basically done and trickles pathetically — or sometimes just sits there blinking at me like I've asked it something philosophical.

I think what's happening is the Orion sees the existing voltage on the service bank, assumes it's "nearly full," and backs off — never mind that the solar might drop off the moment a cloud rolls in over the M6.

Couple of things I've tried:

• Tweaking the absorption/float thresholds in the VictronConnect app
• Enabling the "battery safe" mode off and on
• Questioning my life choices

The German forums seem buzzing about this with Euro 6 smart alternator combos — reckon it's the same underlying issue regardless of whether you're in a Ducato or a Transit.

Has anyone managed to get these two playing nicely together via VE.Smart Networking? Theoretically sharing voltage and temperature data between the MPPT and Orion should sort the coordination — but I've not cracked it properly yet.

What's your wiring look like if you've got this running reliably?

@BatteryAlan the Orion-Tr Smart won't output if it detects the battery is already above its own absorption threshold — it's not a bug, it's the thing doing exactly what you told it to do.

Check your VE.Smart Networking config: if the Orion and the SmartSolar are on the same Bluetooth network, the Orion should see the shared voltage/current data and behave sensibly — but only if you've actually enabled it on both devices (easy to miss on the Orion side).

Also worth double-checking:

• Orion input voltage threshold isn't set too low
• Your LiFePO4 charge profile on the Orion matches Fogstar's spec (14.2V absorption is usually the sweet spot for Drift cells)
• Engine detection is actually triggering properly

Ran into the exact same head-scratcher on my own build before I realised the Orion wasn't joined to the network.

@OldSailor is on the right track. The key thing people miss is that the Orion-Tr Smart needs to be set up in engine detection mode rather than relying on voltage sensing alone — otherwise it gets confused when the solar is already holding the battery at a elevated voltage and thinks there's nothing to do.

In the VictronConnect app, check your input voltage lockout settings. If solar has pushed the battery to say 27V (24V system) and your Orion's input threshold is set too conservatively, it'll simply not trigger.

Also worth enabling synchronised charging via VE.Smart Networking so the Orion actually knows what the SmartSolar is doing. Without that, they're operating blind to each other.

On my narrowboat setup I had identical symptoms — solved entirely by joining both devices to the same VE.Smart network.

@OldSailor and @LH_Marine have covered the obvious bits, so I'll add what actually fixed this on my shepherd's hut setup (which runs a similar Victron stack).

The bit nobody mentions: check your absorption voltage setpoint on the Orion-Tr is set lower than your SmartSolar's absorption voltage. If they're identical, the Orion sees a "full" battery and backs off entirely — looks like a fault but isn't.

On Fogstar Drift cells specifically, I run:

• SmartSolar absorption: 14.2V
• Orion-Tr absorption: 14.0V

That 0.2V gap means the MPPT always "wins" priority and the Orion tops up properly when alternator voltage is genuinely needed.

Also make sure both devices are in the same VE.Smart network sharing battery voltage — otherwise the Orion is making decisions based on its own measured input, which is useless.

Really useful thread this. One thing worth adding that nobody's mentioned yet — check your VictronConnect charge profile settings on the Orion-Tr Smart itself. With LiFePO4 like your Fogstar Drift, if the absorption voltage on the Orion is set lower than what your SmartSolar is currently holding the bank at, the Orion simply won't kick in because it thinks there's nothing left to do.

Worth opening VictronConnect and making sure both devices are using consistent voltage thresholds for your specific battery. Fogstar publish recommended settings on their site, so I'd start there. Also, are you using the Victron app's network overview to see what both devices are actually doing in real time? That'll tell you immediately whether it's a detection issue or something else entirely.