Victron Orion 30 amp B to B Charger

[mikefitz]

It's getting hot because the conversion process is not 100% efficient, this is normal. Note also that as the battery nears full, the current in can accept falls, this is normal.
When we designed electrical products get over hot they protect themselves by powering to a lower level, this is nornal.
The unit has a power limit based on the input power, see data from Victron, this may also limit power output.
Any or a combination of these factors may limit the output to less than 30A.
Mike

 

[DJSmiley]

Just checked the datasheets for output power.

The Orion 30A is rated for 430W at 25 celcius, and 360W at 40 celcius.

360W matches the 30A at 12V, but a battery usually is around 13.2V, depending on the SOC (<12V is only a very low SOC). 360/13.2 = 27.2A

That would explain the short initial higher amps, and it has quickly reached 40 celcius and reaches only its rated output of 360W.

If you have 1A of draw for other things that would explain the 26A going into the battery.

Can you see if the amps are the actual amps provided by the Orion, or the amps going into the battery (thus what is left over from the orions current minus the consumers)

 

[Brockley]

Thanks again guys for getting back to me. I went up to the motorhome today (keep it on a nearby farm). As there is no hook up, I brought along my home build lifepo4 battery, 2000w inverter and a hook up lead. Using the onboard 40 amp mains charger it didn’t take long to get my 200 amp lifepo4 onboard battery back to 100%. It was at 71% SOC, so when I was last out the Orion must have been charging in bulk mode and should have been closer to 30amps/hr. I’d also made sure that there was plenty of ventilation around the unit so I still don’t get why the unit was so hot while driving back to the farm (so hot I wasn’t able to keep my hand on it!). The other point to note is that I switched off the electrics before the drive home so there was no draw from the leisure battery and also there was no solar input (confirmed by Bluetooth devices).

Next time we’re out and the leisure battery is significantly discharged I’ll bring along a digital thermometer and take readings from start up until it settles to 25-26 degrees centigrade while in bulk mode ie not near to fully charged. Perhaps some of you bright sparks will be able to make sense of the readings.

Yours still confused,

Mike.

 

[Brockley]

Just checked the datasheets for output power.

The Orion 30A is rated for 430W at 25 celcius, and 360W at 40 celcius.

360W matches the 30A at 12V, but a battery usually is around 13.2V, depending on the SOC (<12V is only a very low SOC). 360/13.2 = 27.2A

That would explain the short initial higher amps, and it has quickly reached 40 celcius and reaches only its rated output of 360W.

If you have 1A of draw for other things that would explain the 26A going into the battery.

Can you see if the amps are the actual amps provided by the Orion, or the amps going into the battery (thus what is left over from the orions current minus the consumers)

Thanks for this, I’ve just checked with a digital thermometer while charging (plenty of ventilation!). It very quickly got up to 43 degrees centigrade and settled charging at 25.8 amps.

Because I have now provided good ventilation, what could cause this? There is a cavity behind the cupboard wall it’s mounted on. If I cut out a circular hole behind the cooling fins and rigged up a small fan, would that solve the issue perhaps? I know it’s only a loss of 5 amps, but every little helps.

 

[DJSmiley]

Nothing.. thats the design. The charge isn't rated at 30A continuos, it's rated at 360 watt.

Since voltage is not 12V, but higher, current is lower in order to keep it below the 360W output. Assuming the battery voltage is around 13.2V, 360W would equal to 27.2A.
Add some cable loss and the 25.8A doesn't sound too bad to me.

 

[Brockley]

And the high temperature, 43 degrees? How long will an Orion last running at that temperature?

 

[Brockley]

Hi guys, I’ve attached this chart I came across after finding that lots of people are having problems with overheating. It entitles anyone to send their unit back for a replacement unit without question if the serial number predates those in the chart. The way to date them is from the serial number and the part number. So mine is a non isolated PN: ORI121236140 with the serial number SN: HQ2038JP37U so it was made in week 38 of the year 2000. Because mine was made after the cut off date (21st month in 2000) I’m assuming that mine has the modification they talk of.

This made me think it just must just be a ventilation issue so I cut a hole on behind where the unit is mounted and temporarily placed a 12v cooling fan behind the heat sink and ran the engine for half an hour. It kicked in producing 31 amps then settled to 27 amps after about 10 minutes and settled at that. I can live with that. The digital thermometer attached to the heat sink settled at 20 degrees centigrade so I’m hoping once I tidy up the installation and fit a remote switch for the fan that will be the end of the matter.?

 

[rlaggren]

Interesting thread. I'm soon to install one of these units and it's good to have realistic expectations. From my readings, Victron products run hot. But they are well made and generally reliable. Makes you want to give their bean counters a whack... Thank you for sharing your numbers and taking the time and trouble to get actual data.

But also. I have DIY'd most everything for 50 years and have found, pretty much always, that getting "rated" performance in practice from _any_ product, regardless of type, name, country of origin, is not realistic. The last 5%, never. The last 15% maybe but probably not worth the trouble. The real world is just too _real_, and those numbers on a page are just that and nothing more. Very, very specialized and constrained circumstances produce those numbers.

And also. Hear is a link to a graphic found on the Battery University website (mostly a Cadex contribution to public awareness). It looks to me like charge current starts to drop noticeably very early in the charge and will fall off seriously as SOC increases and approaches full charge.

https://batteryuniversity.com/img/content/ion1.jpg

And here is the webpage containing the above graph:

BU-409: Charging Lithium-ion

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com

Cheers,
Rufus