Orion DC-DC and lithium - low charge rate

[drooke]

Hi all,

I've just had to replace my leisure battery after 8 years of service and I went for a Fogstar Drift 105Ah lithium battery. I have a Victron Orion 18A DC-DC charger which I set the profile to LiFePO. I can see the Orion kicking in with input voltage at 14.4V and output at 14.2V in the Victron app. In the Fogstar Drift app I can only see a charge rate of 2A though, so even a 2 hour drive only gives me a 2% extra charge in the battery. I have a Sargent EC155 power control unit in the back which was originally wired with a Voltage Sensitive relay which I replaced with the Orion DC-DC charger a few years ago and I have disabled the Sargent's EHU charger by pulling the fuse. Cabling from SB to Orion to LB is all 16mm2. Temperature of the battery reported at 7 celsius.

Any thoughts what might cause such a low charge rate? I was expecting it to get to roughly the 18A peak.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Dellmassive]

Was the battery already full?

Have you got correct gauge cable from starter to dc-dc and to LB?.

Screen shot the Fogstar App, and the victron app.

A... Engine off with no loads on.

B.... Engine running with headlights on full.

C... Pics of the starter battery terminals, lb terminals, dc-dc terminals

We'll see what we can see.

 

[drooke]

Was the battery already full?

Have you got correct gauge cable from starter to dc-dc and to LB?.

Screen shot the Fogstar App, and the victron app.

A... Engine off with no loads on.

B.... Engine running with headlights on full.

C... Pics of the starter battery terminals, lb terminals, dc-dc terminals

We'll see what we can see.

Thanks I had the seat out again today to better secure the battery underneath. I spotted the problem this time, the 16mm² ground cable from the LB had come out of the eyelet securing it. The Orion was still grounded correctly which must have allowed it to charge at all.

So battery secured and new eyelet and heat shrink on the ground cable and it's now charging at 18A with a 3 hour charge time from 40% - 100%. Much more like it

I might add the IP65 charger for when I'm on EHU and the Ablemail to top up the SB that I've been reading about on other threads.

Thanks for the help!

Dan

 

[Dellmassive]

Cool.