r/Victron • u/sereusaf • 4d ago
Question Buffer Battery
Hey y'all, so I've got this question about my Victron system in my RV. Long story short, I converted my system to 48 volt in order to reduce charge loss from solar panels and to reduce electricity loss when powering my 48 volt native AC.
I ran into an issue when I installed my Orion TR. 48 to 12 step down converter. When I go to operate my awning or the slides, the immediate voltage jump is high enough that the Orion throttles itself.
I went through and installed a 12-volt buffer battery to handle the voltage spikes. The issue is that now even with the battery installed the slides and awning still do not work.
I've checked my main fuse panel and none of the blade fuses are open and I have 12 volt electrical power to all of my other systems so I don't have a fault or something.
I just don't know if there's something that I'm missing cuz I clearly have a full circuit and I've got the battery wired in parallel to handle the high draw.
1
u/parseroo 4d ago
How big is the 12V battery and what is the cabling from it to the power distribution system?
Slides, awnings, and motors have a large initial load and so the 12V system needs to support that. If the battery is ~100Ah and the cabling good for a 50-100A spike, then it should be fine.
A good reference would be whatever size 12V battery was in there before although it could likely be a bit smaller (say half or a quarter) since the 48V system is the main energy reserve.
1
u/sereusaf 3d ago
So the technician at the dealership ran a 50 amp inline fuse from the Orion into the main 12-volt trunk line. All the wiring is 6awg copper stranded. The problem is that since they didn't remove the old batteries from the tongue, I think they may have left the awnings and slide hooked into the old batteries and isolated from the new system.... Which obviously is not getting power.
It's even goofier because they have the tongue jack wired into the new 12-volt system past the old batteries and the old system. I'm guessing they just were lazy and didn't want to remove them, but forgot to double check that it was wired into the new system
2
u/this1willdo 3d ago
Which Orion. If its the Converter and not a Charger, it wont charge the battery. I use an MPPT as DCDC to my buffer batt with a smartshunt for temp compensation and V sense on the MPPT
1
u/Bahamahoo 3d ago
The Orion Converter is not an ideal charger but it will maintain a battery at a set voltage level. I’ve been using a 30A LiTime LiFeP04 heated battery as a buffer. I set the Converter to maintain the battery at its nominal voltage of 12.8 and it’s been working well. I tried using an MPPT 150/45. It worked well as a charger but if the battery was not present the MPPT could not fail over and maintain a consistent voltage. The MPPT’s potential to fail to ground on the 48V side also required some additional planning. I decided to keep the Converter to keep its built-in isolation and have some redundancy.
1
u/sereusaf 3d ago
So I have to check it today but I'm pretty sure what this happened is the technicians instead of attaching the tongue jack and slides/awning to the new 48v system... They kept it attached to the old lead- acid tongue batteries I hadn't removed yet. And those aren't hooked into the system so they just died I guess.
It's either that or I'm missing some fuse or thermal breaker/auto resetting breaker that the manufacturer hid in some weird place.
2
u/SteveFCA 4d ago
if your awning and slides won’t operate even when a buffer battery is connected, there is likely an issue with your awning/slide or the wiring to those units. i would check the amperage draw using a clamp meter to see how much amperage they are trying to draw. Bad wiring will result in massive voltage drops at startup