Swapped out my split charge relay for a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A — was it worth it?

Finally got round to upgrading the charging setup in my Sprinter conversion after years of just limping along with a basic split charge relay. Picked up a Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger (the isolated 12/12-30A version) from Bimble Solar for about £165, and fitted it last weekend alongside my existing 200Ah lithium bank.

The difference is pretty noticeable already. With the old relay setup I was lucky to see 13.8V at the battery when driving — now the Orion is pushing a proper absorption charge and I'm consistently hitting 14.4V, which the lithium actually needs to top off properly. Connected it up via Bluetooth and the app is genuinely decent for monitoring what's going on. Wiring was straightforward enough, ran 6mm² cable from the starter battery with a 40A midi fuse close to the source.

One thing I'm not totally sure about is the engine detect threshold setting. I've got it set to 13.0V to trigger charging, but occasionally on shorter runs the alternator voltage drops briefly and it cuts in and out. Wondering if bumping it up slightly or adjusting the delay would sort it — has anyone else played with those settings?

Also curious whether anyone's running one of these on a newer Euro 6 van with a smart alternator. I've read the isolated version handles it fine but would be good to hear from someone who's actually done it rather than just going off spec sheets.

@BoatShaun Absolutely worth it — ran a VSR in my Transit build for 18 months and the difference after fitting the Orion-Tr was immediately noticeable. The key thing people miss is that a split charge relay is essentially just connecting two batteries together; voltage drop means your leisure bank never reaches a proper absorption charge. The Orion-Tr actually stages the charge properly — bulk, absorption, float — which matters enormously for lithium chemistry (running Fogstar Drift 100Ah here).

The isolated version is particularly valuable on modern Euro 6 vans where the smart alternator is doing odd things with voltage output. The DC-DC converter handles those fluctuations without your BMS panicking.

One practical tip: enable the engine-running detection via the VictronConnect app rather than relying purely on voltage sensing — far more reliable triggering in cold weather.

Same upgrade journey here — fitted the Orion-Tr Smart 30A into my motorhome about two years ago after the old VSR was barely touching my lithium bank on longer drives.

The bit nobody mentions until afterwards: the Bluetooth monitoring changes everything. Being able to watch actual charge current through the VictronConnect app while rolling down the motorway is genuinely satisfying. You can see it doing its proper absorption/float cycle rather than just dumping voltage and hoping for the best.

One practical tip — make sure your alternator is healthy before fitting it. Mine had a slightly weak diode and the Orion actually exposed that problem rather than masking it like the old relay did. Cost me a new alternator but saved my battery bank long-term.

Worth every penny of the ~£180 outlay, especially if you're running Fogstar or any other lithium cells.