DC to DC Converter--Orion 24/12 70 amp sparks when attached

[chrisski]

I installed my Victron Orion 24/12 70 amp DC to DC Converter and it sparks. Something is wrong with it.


I was pretty surprised to see that has one post for both 24 volt and 12 volt ground. Sparks when a lead is added. I removed the ground leads to troubleshoot, and it still delivered 2.5 volts with nothing attached to the black post. I remove the 12 votl lead and only have the 24 votl lead attached, and nothing on the 12 votl side.

When I energized, I put a resistor in line at the battery since I was also installing a new 3000 watt inverter. Perhaps a resistor in line with this converter caused this to go bad. Perhaps the resistor should only be inline with the inverter.

I was doing a 12 volt to 24 volt upgrade in my fifth wheel trailer today. The 24 volt inverter works and the 24 volt DC circuit also works. Just not the 12 volt. Unfortunately, the breakaway battery is attached to the 12 volt side.

 

[HRTKD]

It sparks on the terminals or it sparks internally?

 

[chrisski]

Not internally. Whichever terminal in the system completes the circuit sparks excessively.

I wonder if I ruined it when I put a 25 watt 30 ohm resistor for a pre-charge. I don’t think that’s the case because I’ve seen builds where a pre charge resistor is put in a switch. This is what I’ve seen to precharge an inverter that had been off for a while

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Replacement arrived today and works fine. Hooking up and testing to a power supply first and it worked fine. There was a small, normal spark. Installed on the RV and works fine.

 

[HRTKD]

That's a lightning fast turnaround on a replacement unit!

 

[chrisski]

I ordered a second unit which came in the next day. Contacted the seller to return the first order for a full refund and I will mail the broke one in a couple days. Not a true replacement.