Victron Orion 30A vs 12A — worth the extra for a narrowboat?

Running a 200Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 on the boat and finally sorting out proper DC-DC charging from the starter battery. Engine's a Beta 43 so alternator output is decent enough.

Been looking at the Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A but the £180-odd price tag stings a bit when the 12A version is sitting around £90. The thing is, I'm doing longish cruises — sometimes 6-8 hours on the cut — so I'd think the 30A earns its keep over a full day's running.

Anyone actually running the 30A on a narrowboat setup? Wondering if it causes any drama with the alternator running at that kind of sustained load, especially older Betas. Some blokes on the canals swear by fitting a Sterling B2B instead but I've always preferred staying in the Victron ecosystem since everything talks to each other via the app.

Is the jump genuinely worth it, or am I overthinking it and the 12A would do fine given the hours I'm putting in?

LakelandWanderer | Posts: 847

@PanelBuff With a Beta 43 and 200Ah of Drift to fill, the 30A is absolutely worth it in my opinion. The Orion-Tr Smart 30A will push around 360W continuously, which makes a genuine dent in your LiFePO4 during a typical cruise. The 12A just feels underwhelming once you're running heating, fridge, and general electrics simultaneously — you're barely keeping pace.

The Bluetooth monitoring alone on the Smart versions is brilliant for seeing exactly what's happening between the batteries. I'd also strongly suggest running two 30A units in parallel if budget allows eventually, though one is a solid starting point.

One thing worth checking — what's your alternator actually rated at? Beta 43 installations vary a fair bit depending on age and spec. Don't want to be drawing more than about 50% sustained.

@PanelBuff on a Beta 43 with a decent alternator, the 30A is worth every penny. The 12A will just tickle that 200Ah Fogstar — you'll run the engine for an hour and barely move the needle.

Key thing people miss: the Orion Tr Smart 30A draws ~360W from your alternator. On a narrowboat doing 4-6 hour cruising days, that's actually meaningful charge. The 12A is honestly more suited to motorhome "trickle while driving" scenarios.

One caveat — engine-off behaviour. Make sure you're using the Orion Tr Smart (isolated version) and configure the engine-detection threshold properly via Bluetooth. Narrowboats have notoriously sketchy voltage sensing due to long cable runs. I'd bump the detection threshold up slightly from default or you'll get phantom charging events draining your starter battery at the pontoon.

Wire it properly with 6mm² minimum cable and you're golden.

SmartSolarFan | Posts: 1,243

@PanelBuff Agree with @LakelandWanderer and @GoldenNomad on the 30A being the better fit here. One thing worth adding — the Orion Smart 30A is isolated, which is exactly what you want with LiFePO4 to keep the battery banks properly separated. Also worth checking whether your Beta 43 has an internal regulator that might not appreciate the additional load; some older alternators can run quite warm with a DC-DC charger drawing consistently. Fitting a decent temperature sensor on the alternator is good practice regardless. The Orion's smart algorithm will also handle the Drift's charge profile properly, which a basic split charge relay simply won't do justice to. Solid choice overall.

Same setup on my narrowboat — 200Ah Fogstar Drift with the Orion-Tr Smart 30A. One thing nobody's mentioned: if you're doing a lot of short locks-to-mooring runs, the 30A actually gets meaningful charge into the bank before you tie up. The 12A just doesn't have time to do much on a 20-minute pootle.

Also worth enabling the engine-running detection feature properly in the VictronConnect app — stops it pulling from the starter when you're just ticking over at a mooring. Made a noticeable difference to my starter battery health over winter.

@PanelBuff one thing worth flagging from my static caravan setup that crosses over here — the Orion-Tr Smart 30A lets you set an input voltage threshold so it won't pull from the starter battery below, say, 13.2V. That's genuinely important on a narrowboat where you might be idling slowly through a lock with minimal alternator output. The 12A doesn't give you the same granular control via the app. I spent an afternoon fiddling with mine through VictronConnect and it's a proper bit of kit once configured correctly. The price difference between the two units is maybe £60-70 — against a £400+ Fogstar bank, that's a rounding error. Get the 30A, configure the thresholds properly, and you'll actually fill that battery on a decent cruise rather than arriving at your mooring half-charged.

CumbrianOffGrid | Posts: 847

@PanelBuff One thing I'd add that nobody's touched on yet — with a Beta 43 you'll likely be running the engine for decent stretches when cruising, so the 30A will genuinely earn its keep over shorter runs too. The 12A would be charging for significantly longer to put the same energy back in, and if you're stopping overnight at a mooring without hookup, that matters.

Also worth checking whether your alternator has a smart regulator already fitted. Some Betas do, some don't. If it does, there are implications for how you wire the Orion's remote on/off line — you'd want to make sure it's not fighting the alternator's own charge profile. Drop your alternator model number and I can help clarify.

The 30A wins for your setup in my view. Not even close really.