Victron Orion TR Smart 12/12/30 and other electrical ramblings

[Justin Cook]

Hi Chet,

No more performance reports as we haven't gone anywhere and my 795 watts has no problem keeping up with the DC fridge even in gray weather.

The Orion has canned algorithms as well as user defined. Setting to match Battle Born recommendations is no problem. You are also able to set on/off voltages on the chassis side and also a place for a manual switch on/off. I do need to add this switch. I don't want it charging every time I turn the key on and my 20 watt chassis battery maintainer will kick it on.

As Shade said, get the Victron Connect app if you can and you can play with the settings in the demo library .

Battle Born has been fantastic on customer service and has "blessed" my system. They even took care of a warranty replacement of my original 100/30 controller without question even though I didn't buy it there. I did buy my 2 x 75/15 controllers from them. They called me to ask about my system and pre programed them for me

My Battle Born batteries, BMV712, the Orion and a bunch of other stuff all came from Bay Marine Supply in San Diego. We go to SD a couple of times a year and it is nice to walk into a place that has stacks of the components that we use. @Justin Cook works there, is a member here on ExPo and is a moderator on the Victron forum. I highjly recoment this vendor and they sell the unit the same price as everyone else on the net.

I did just learn something this morning. On the phone display BMV712, you can go into the Tools>Settings>Misc>Temp and set F* or C* If you select F* it will show as such on the hardwired display unit but will revert to C* on the phone display. What I found this morning is if you click on the list icon next to where it says Device List (see picture above) go to Settings and select F* , it will now display F* on your phone YaY!! In the mean time, I learned to convert C* to F*

Cheers,
David

Thanks for the reference, @DRP, we appreciate it!
Just as a general note for everyone, though, during these times there's no walking in anymore (technically we've always been "by appointment only" for walk-in inquiries, but now we're "nope, not at all"). We're still fully operational, with all sales and support now being handled remotely and two dedicated shipping staff going in to the warehouse M-F to ship out orders, but for the foreseeable future there's no more walking in, unfortunately.

 

[DRP]

Thanks for the reference, @DRP, we appreciate it!
Just as a general note for everyone, though, during these times there's no walking in anymore (technically we've always been "by appointment only" for walk-in inquiries, but now we're "nope, not at all"). We're still fully operational, with all sales and support now being handled remotely and two dedicated shipping staff going in to the warehouse M-F to ship out orders, but for the foreseeable future there's no more walking in, unfortunately.

I guess a trip to the Gaslamp or Little Italy would be a little useless right now too ?

 

[Justin Cook]

I guess a trip to the Gaslamp or Little Italy would be a little useless right now too ?

LOL yeah, probably
We're all pretty non-social who work there to begin with, so between that and our enhanced isolation protocols and things like our package sanitization procedures and other measures that we've taken, we're really trying to stay in business and keep our customers happy; last week alone I heard of 6 other Victron distributors in the US who have had to shut down entirely, so we're -beyond most of us being isolated offsite already- sticking to extremely stringent disinfection and isolation protocols in the warehouse and, fingers crossed, we're going to be able to ride this one out.

 

[DRP]

Help with a switching matter, please, does my switch exist?

I want a simple rocker to manually turn on and off the Victron BtoB. That's easy enough, run an 18/2 to the dash with a SPST and I'm done.

But that's not the operation I want.

I want it to only be able to be turned on if the engine is running and disconnect when key gets turned off.

I know I'll have to restart the charger every time I want it and I want to be able to turn it off when I want

I guess what I'm looking for is a switch with a relay in it?.

Does it exist?

 

[SBDuller]

the engine shutdown detection works good. i did the L-H pin switch because I want the Orion to be off unless i need it. I sometimes charge the dual starter batteries, but don't want the Orion to charge the service battery at the same time. Fig 3 a works fine.

 

[DRP]

Yes Fig 3 a is good as I only want it on when I want it on. But I could forget to turn it off

In my old sprinter I started the engine, turned on the inverter and it would run until engine shut down. At restart it would be off and I would have to push the button again if I wanted it on.

I did test the engine shutdown and it works fine. It just restarts every time without the switch

 

[Rando]

Wouldn't figure 3b work, if you connect the far side of the switch to an only on when running circuit? With the switch on, it will run when the engine is running, and only when the engine is running. With the switch off it will never start.

 

[DRP]

Yes it would only run when engine is running which would stop my battery tender from turning it on,

But, it would turn on the next time I start if I haven't turned off the switch.

I think I'm just going with 3a and try to remember to turn it off.

With 795 watts of solar I cant see turning it on for more than an hour or so now and then.

I'll put a lighted switch where Ill see it

 

[SBDuller]

lighted switch sounds good. I figure should I choose to switch it on, I'll set my smartPhone timer for no more than 2 hours.

 

[biggoolies]

Where did you get these and what are they called?

 

[Justin Cook]

Where did you get these and what are they called?

Boy that sure looks like our 250A 4-post busbar, though I can't tell whether it's in 3/8" or 5/16"...

 

[biggoolies]

Thanks

 

[DRP]

Boy that sure looks like our 250A 4-post busbar, though I can't tell whether it's in 3/8" or 5/16"...

4 - 5/16" and 3- #10 Busbar.

I got a switch installed on the Orion today but for the life of me, I couldn't get it to light up.

I've installed plenty of lit switches before, line in>load out>light grnd. I tried three different switches today and could not get any of them to light.

Swapped H and L pin with no results

??????

 

[Justin Cook]

4 - 5/16" and 3- #10 Busbar.

I got a switch installed on the Orion today but for the life of me, I couldn't get it to light up.

I've installed plenty of lit switches before, line in>load out>light grnd. I tried three different switches today and could not get any of them to light.

Swapped H and L pin with no results

??????

Hmmm well the Orion pins aren't providing any voltage out, you know... If you want your switch to light up, you'll need to supply it with 12v from a separate source, like in the "ignition switch only" diagram in the manual - except that in your case it's a physical switch rather than an ignition switch. So, external 12v positive to switch, external ground to switch, switch positive out to both sides of remote bridge.

 

[DRP]

Thanks, Ill try that.

I thought I measured 5.? volts at the bridge :headscratch