Smart charger stuck in Absorption phase

[cocky9]

Can anyone assist I’m not great with the electrical side

I have an Orion DC to DC 30A smart charger wired to a 105ah Fogstar Lithium Battery.

The smart charger is not charging the battery, it is in the ‘Bulk Phase’ for about 1 minute before then jumping into the ‘Absorption’ phase where it remains. Any ideas how to fix this so it stays in bulk and charger my battery? I’ve attached some screenshots

 

[Dellmassive]

Screenshot the Orion settings page including the battery setting preset that it's on.

It's the cog at the top right of the screen.

You need to be on a lithium battery preset on the Orion.

Then you can tweak the charged voltage for bulk absorption etc.

You should be about 14.2 volts for the charge rate up to a maximum of 14.6 volts.

If the charger is dropping out of bulk mode very quickly that implies that either the bulk charge voltage has been reached or the batteries not pulling a high enough current so it's drop into absorption stage.... Which is more of a fixed voltage with changing current reducing.

 

[Dellmassive]

Also you need to make sure that the charging and discharging tab on the battery is switched on commmm, to allow the battery to actually take in a charge.

 

[cocky9]

Cheers mate. The tabs are on

Here is a screenshot in the settings

 

[roadtripper]

Has it always behaved this way (in which case configuration is more likely the root cause) or has it been behaving and this is a recent change?

It's always worth a double check that all the terminals are secure and making good wire contact.

Does the live voltage in the Orion match the voltage reported by the FogStar BMS ?

 

[Dellmassive]

The pics above show the battery at 13.2v

And charger at 14.2v .

So there's a discrepancy.

Might be time to see pics of the battery terminals and connections.

 

[cocky9]

Just took these screenshots on a journey. The MPPT voltage matches the fogstar. But the smart chargers seems 0.8v over

 

[Anakin]

Your Orion is the isolated version, could it be that it is earthed differently so there is a voltage discrepancy?

 

[ginkster]

The absorption time is fixed to 2 hours in the standard lithium preset, so won’t it stay in absorption until that time has passed then go to float.

 

[cocky9]

Your Orion is the isolated version, could it be that it is earthed differently so there is a voltage discrepancy?

I think they were suppose to send non isolated but I got the isolated I did some research and they said it didn’t really matter. So I’ve earthed it back to the negative busbar. Do you think that would cause it?

 

[Dellmassive]

Just took these screenshots on a journey. The MPPT voltage matches the fogstar. But the smart chargers seems 0.8v over


View attachment 289220View attachment 289221

Possible cable problem.

I'd say volt drop over thin cable..... But the DC DC is seeing a higher voltage.


Lets see some pics of the battery terminals and wire connectors.

How's it all wired up.

 

[cocky9]

Will have to do that tomorrow, it’s all under the seat.

Anyone know any tests I can do with a multimeter to maybe pin point where the drop may be?

 

[Dellmassive]

Need to see pics how it's installed first.

All negs should be to chassis point.

LB pos to mppt and dc-dc pos with fuses.

If all the POS and NEGs are common you should be golden.....

Hence why it may be cable related as there. May be a issue with the Dc-Dc charger to battery link.

Anyway post some pics and we'll see what's going on.

 

[cocky9]

Thanks @Dellmassive I’ll sort tomorrow when I get chance. Appreciate the input thus far. So much more to a self build camper than meets the eye!

 

[cocky9]

So today I have finally got the chance to get the seat out and have a look at the set up. Unbeknown to me two cables where loose effecting the voltage. All resecured and tightened and this is the current voltage.
It was in bulk but gone to absorption but assuming that’s because battery is 95% full.
Got all electrics on now to drain the battery down as much as possible to see if it stays in bulk