Victron Orion DC to DC Charger Install (30A Charge From Driving!) | Transit Van Conversion E35

In this video we're finally getting round to our Victron Orion DC to DC Charger Install. Up until now we've only been able to charge our lithium batteries using solar, but after installing our DC-DC/B2B charger we'll be able to also charge up via our alternator as well just from driving the van down the road!
We went for the Victron Orion 12/12-30 Smart Isolated DC-DC charger. It's a nice simple setup as it is smart alternator aware so does not need a separate ignition trigger, and with Bluetooth built in it's easy to configure and monitor via the app.
Thanks for watching! Any comments or questions? Let us know below!
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Products used in this video (includes affiliate links *):
↠ Victron Orion 12/12-30 Isolated - geni.us/6u2CH (Amazon)
↠ Victron Orion 12/12-30 Non-Isolated - geni.us/O2LhORA (Amazon)
↠ Victron Lynx Distributor - geni.us/BRX0 (Amazon)
↠ Victron MPPT 100/50 - geni.us/0JE2o (Amazon)
↠ Renogy 175w Solar Panels (x3) - geni.us/YfXF (Amazon)
↠ DC Amp Clamp Multimeter - geni.us/AtpImBc (Amazon)
↠ Blue Sea 6006 Battery Switch - geni.us/KNpAfSd (Amazon)
↠ Blue Sea Fuse Hub - ebay.us/82Ohou
↠ Battery Terminal Fuse - geni.us/9uLRK (Amazon)
↠ Lithium (LiFePo4) Batteries - www.ksenergy.co.uk/store/prod...
↠ Wire Strippers - geni.us/9v1Bs (Amazon)
↠ Ferrule Crimp Tool - geni.us/qaqN (Amazon)
↠ Wire Ferrules - ebay.us/2SRaoE
↠ Heat Shrink Crimp Tool - geni.us/cL4uFP (Amazon)
↠ Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink - ebay.us/Ap6huk
↠ Heat Shrink Crimp Terminals - ebay.us/dQYD0Q
↠ Heavy Duty Crimp Tool - www.12voltplanet.co.uk/heavy-...
↠ 100A Red Isolator switches (we bought from eBay, similar listings ebay.us/zHqIzS, or www.12voltplanet.co.uk/batter...)
↠ Wire/Cable - mostly from ebay.us/WtL24D and www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable....
↠ Nylon P Clips - ebay.us/beXZQr
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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↠ www.buymeacoffee.com/selfbuil...
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↠ See our full van conversion playlist: • Transit Van Conversion
Filmed with:
↠ Sony ZV1 - geni.us/LW73Jx (Amazon)
↠ GoPro Hero 8 - geni.us/PsIIH9 (Amazon)
↠ Zhiyun Crane M2 - geni.us/WhUBT7I (Amazon)
↠ Rode VideoMicro - geni.us/tzPbJ (Amazon)
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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All our videos are for entertainment and show our process of converting our campervan. They're not intended to be tutorials and we may make mistakes along the way, so always do your own research and if in doubt about anything then make sure to get advice from a suitable professional
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#vanconversion #campervanconversion #vanlifeuk

[@SelfBuiltStories]

All the different bits of kit and products we used in the video should be linked in the description, thanks for watching! 🙂

[@sigma6725]

ALWAYS IN SUPPORT WITH YOU. ...👍❤

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@sigma6725 thank you 🙂👍

[@klatlap]

Using a solar charger and a separate dc to dc charger would be similar to using a Enerdrive 12V 40A+ DC2DC ePower Charger/MPPT (DC-DC) except your system can charge from both sources at the same time.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

​@@klatlap Some of the combined units do look quite nice but they wouldn't work for our setup as the maximum PV input voltage of them is lower, so that Enerdrive for example can only take up to 45V which would mean we'd have to switch to parallel wired panels over series which we wouldn't want. But like you said we also benefit from a higher charging rate and having redundancy so we can still charge if one fails and we're in the middle of nowhere. Great to have all the different options these days though! 👍

[@Murray_23]

I started to watch this video and after about 30 seconds I’m sorry I had to stop! I stopped because I went to the start of your playlist and have watch the whole van build! And now I’m back where I started. Great build!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha, you got us in the first half 😅 thank you very much and hope you enjoyed them all 😀

[@SmithyScotland]

Thank you for taking the time to show us what you were doing, how you were doing it, and why you are doing it in a certain way. Very useful.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome, glad it was useful 🙂

[@Boatlife1964]

Your attention to detail is fantastic

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you 🙂👍

[@MrAdam100576]

Great (and helpful) video! Thanks for sharing all of the details...from crimping to amp measuring to fuses and all!!! Keep it up.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem! We like to share all the details as we often couldn't find them when we were researching everything, so glad they're helpful 🙂

[@132435465768798030]

I really enjoy the patient; methodical approach you take to the work you do. I'm working on a 12v system for my own (Much smaller) campervan conversion and feel inspired watching how tidy the electrical work is here. Great job done by the both of you, Cheers

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you, and good luck with your build too! 😊

[@danfraser107]

Great video! Thanks for taking the time to share it.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome, thanks for watching it 🙂 Cheers! 👍

[@JackFalltrades]

Nice to see you again! 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! 😊

[@outthere9370]

Well done! I do like yr relaxed demeanor combined with yr technical abilities.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! 🙂

[@gnarlybadger690]

Comprehensive as always guys, informative and clear thanks for sharing 🤘🏻

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome, thanks for watching 😊

[@milanmicka2580]

You have the most beautiful remodeling videos, you do it precisely, you are very kind and beautiful people, good luck!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you very much! 😊 And glad you like the videos!

[@rosetta6285]

Great info guys, thanks for your detailed build!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome, thanks for watching! 🙂

[@lifeadventureprojects]

Great video, as always! Loving what you have done with your van. Exciting, adventures soon!!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! Yeah, we can't wait 😀

[@timhaywood2282]

Fantastic video it’s looking brilliant soon be able to enjoy it. After all of your hard work

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! Yeah we're looking forward to it 🙂

[@PresidentBust]

Yaaayyyy great to see this

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! How's your build coming along? 🙂

[@tonycooper6528]

Great video explanation in everything you do is brilliant 😊 keep the videos coming

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! Will do! 🙂

[@user-se1ur4tf4x]

Great work perfect for my 12v system very helpful

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem, glad it was helpful 🙂

[@Macktheknife11]

Another great video guys. Very neat job, as always. The van is coming along nicely. The light at the end of the tunnel must be just about in view now 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you, and yeah just about! Still quite a few projects to do yet though... Getting there one step at a time 😛

[@Sonofsun001]

Thanks, I am about to install the same device to a smart alternator and thought I needed to connect the extra wire you talk about to let the charger know the engine isn't running. Very informative series.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! And yeah our orion is working great without the dedicated wire and the built in engine shutdown detection. It sounds like for some others with different vans they've had more difficulty having that consistently work, so probably worth just testing it in your own setup and seeing how it performs 👍

[@rvtechman3619]

Tremendous video! A wealth of knowledge. Here in Texas, I’m researching how to convert my Class C motorhome built on a 2020 Ford Transit 350HD to lithium, I will need to add a DC to DC charger to limit the current so that Ford fuses are not blown or alternator damaged. I have done extensive studying and your video does the best job that I have seen appropriate to my application. On a separate note, my motorhome was originally wired incorrectly, and the 60amp Ford fuse under the driver’s seat blew several times before leaving the dealer. It was eventually fixed by the manufacturer, Tiffin.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks a lot! And that sounds like a bit of a pain, not the best design from Ford to put the fuses inaccessible under the seat...! Good luck with your build 🙂

[@ou4290]

Great video! I'm actually using your experience to help build my daughters camper van using the DC-DC charger and lifepo4 battery, this helps a lot thanks!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome, hope the build is going well she has some great adventures with it 😊

[@deancarlyle7431]

Great video 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Midlife_mike]

Super informative video

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers 👍🙂

[@hamzaaktag4468]

very good education video.. thank you

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, and you're welcome 🙂

[@wrxs1781]

This is a great video, van camper series and hope to see more in the future. Also after your first excursion an update on what you would change or add to the build. We are still suffering a Canadian winter and it is snowing outside.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! Glad you think so, and yeah that would make a good topic for a video down the road 🙂 we've taken it out a bit already but it's waiting for the real test 😀

[@chriscrook7511]

Another great video. Although I have now completed my build I’m still finding enjoyment watching van build vids, yours in particular. One thing to note which you may or may not be aware of but don’t overlook the bus bar connections to the main input battery cables on the Victron Lynx. Additional insulation is required on the terminals. Something I overlooked initially until I looked over the instructions again 5.1.2. I just used insulation tape over the studs. Keep up the good work ,it’s coming on a treat

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And thanks for the heads up, we hadn't seen that sub point either actually. We were planning on covering the terminals on the batteries already so we might get some of the rubber battery post covers for that and get an extra couple to put on those leftmost lynx posts too, can't hurt!

[@johnhuggins3700]

Love watching your video. the only downside is they are to far apart 🙂 you both done a really job 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you 🙂 and yeah sorry about that, we would like to have them more frequent but they take a while to build and then edit so at the moment they just come out whenever they're ready 😛 for a while we were aiming to have them every fortnight but life got in the way 🙃

[@kevinbeckwith7740]

Nice job guys

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! 🙂

[@markmcsharr8777]

Great tips 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers 🙂👍

[@PeakyBlinder]

Very professional

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers 🙂

[@daniospeak6604]

Very good video guys 🙏

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you 🙂

[@RoaminRob]

I might get round to fitting my dc now after watching this 😂 I decided to drive my van to Albania for the summer first 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Nice! Looking forward to also having some adventures on the road, have fun in Albania 😃

[@RoaminRob]

@@SelfBuiltStories thanks 👍 can't wait to see u guys actually driving 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@RoaminRob Yep us too! See you out on the road 😀

[@andreasfunke6156]

Thank You guy for showing Your van built. You certainly do a better job than most dedicated craftsmen. Yet I have two remarks to make: 10:06 Your Orion offers the possibility to achieve a fully isolated setup when requierd. You use it in a non isolated configuration by connecting both negatives with the chassis of the vehicle. The more straight forward way to do this, would be a short bridge between the two negatives of the Orion in addition to the connection with the Lynx negative bar, which is very generously connectetd with the chassis of Your car. The black cable to the frontseat with it's extra resistance then becomes redundant. 25:15 Deviding the two currents (30A/34A) to obtain the efficiancy of the Orion is only valid as long as input and output voltages are equal, which might not necessarily be the case.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers :) Yeah that is true we could have also joined both the negatives together and then just made the one connection to the lynx. We actually tested it that way briefly but surprisingly found it was less efficient than using the wires direct to the battery and as we already had the wires there we figured we might as well use them. But we also like having the dedicated wires too so we can test each one easily with the clamp meter as we find it easier to reason about what the system is doing. In the future if we ever wanted to add a second dc-dc charger we could rewire it pretty easily to free up that extra cable too. And yeah good point about the calculation, the voltages were pretty close to give a decent ball park figure but you're right that might not always be the case. Thanks for the comment 🙂

[@user-dd6xy6qi5q]

nice drawing

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks 😛

[@welshieonwheels]

Excellent 👍👍👍you answered a lot of my questions I never needed to ask thank you good luck 👍👍👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇨🇦🦢

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem, glad it was helpful! 😎👍

[@gonefilming2020]

Uh oh. Nailing cable clamps in your otherwise so meticulously built van - that hurt. I will now need to seek psychological support. 🙈🥴🤣 On the brighter side, I do love the vice / hammer crimper - got one of those way back and would not want to miss it. I still need to get one of those Amp-Clamps - very handy to have. The DC/DC Charger looks right @ home and will give you some added autarchy. 👍 Nice job & video, you two. Stay safe! 🚐☁🍀

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha, we thought they looked quite neat with the little charging arrows! Don't you think? Thought it was nicer with the multicolours than a piece of black tube! Yeah the amp clamp is so handy, it was on our nice to have list for a while but actually after getting it, realised it's going to be so useful to have around. Have been using it to check that the figures from the shunt and the batteries (via the bluetooth app) look normal, checking the solar cables and stuff. Very cool gadget! Thanks for watching 🙂

[@patriciafrance6101]

I like seeing your animals .I find them funny.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! We like having them around, and they definitely like to get their screen time! 🙂

[@scopex2749]

Ive just bought a Renogy DC-DC as I couldnt charge my lithiums as im early in my camper build and dont have EV panels yet. I have bought a split charger only to find out DO NOT charge LiPos from a split charger without very strict voltage control that the DC-DC gives you! WOW your alternator is SO EASY to get to! On the VW transporter it is s DIRECT DRIVE from the engine on the front right down the bottom! Direct drive is great as no belts braking but to change one it the WHOLE FRONT off SO Ive changed mine already to be safe it was on the way out!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah lithium is a bit more needy but works out great when it's all setup. And haha ouch, will remember that if we ever have to replace ours then 😀

[@ched999uk]

Great video, thanks. I am sure you have this in hand but can you put a nice insulated cover over the battery terminals as I worry that something metal could fall on them and short causing a big fire! Also it might be worth adding some extra cable clips on the interconnecting cables around your various components as it's quite surprising how much cables can vibrate when travelling and either come loose or suffer stress fractures. Great videos, well done to both of you, so great to see you working as a team.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers :) And yeah we're going to put battery covers over the terminals, but also we're going to build a frame/box that goes over the batteries anyway because our inverter will be sitting over them when we add the AC side. Our batteries have built in short-circuit protection too which although we'd never try it, is designed to disconnect within a few microseconds. The company tests it in their video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGXadmOErLOcis0. And yeah for sure we're lacking some clips at the moment, the whole board needs a bit of a tidy up but we decided we'd wait till the AC wiring is done so we can get the neatest routing for everything. Lots of the 12V wires are too long at the moment too and we'll probably cut and recrimp them so they're all more snug 🙂

[@sigma6725]

DEAR TIM AND ABI 💑. ... YOU BOTH ARE MADE FOR EACH OTHER. ..KEEP IT UP. ...👍❤

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you 😊♥️

[@sigma6725]

@@SelfBuiltStories 👤 KEEP IT UP ON REGULAR BASIS. ...👍❤

[@SelfBuiltStories]

👍👍

[@sigma6725]

@@SelfBuiltStories DEAR TIM AND ABI ..💑... ARE YOU MARRIED OR LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP. ...? PLEASE REPLY

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@sigma6725 We have been together a long time and had our wedding last year 😊

[@irenedunne352]

EXCELLENT VIDEO MATE A+++++++++++++++++

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! 👍

[@herkko61]

Exceptionally good tutorial with all voltage and current measurements! Now, after one year are you happy with the system? I would do it just like you did.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And yes we've been really happy with it so far and it's worked great to give us charge when we've had no solar The one modification we've done since the video is to add a cooling fan behind the orion with a temperature controlled relay that turns on if it starts to get hot, which these units are known to do. It throttles the output 3 % per °C above 40 °C which can add up to a fair amount on a long drive. There's now a new version, the Orion XS, which is a lot more efficient and doesn't get hot like this model but it's a bit pricier so we went with a cooling solution for now. And the only other thing we might do at some point but haven't yet is run the ignition signal wire. We recently changed our starter batteries in the van as they were pretty shot, and now the SRC kicks in whereas it didn't really for us before. So because the van is happier with the state of charge of it's own batteries it lowers the alternator voltage which means our orion sees a lot lower voltage too. For now we've just adjusted the charging parameters to quite a tight margin and it still works with the engine-on detection pretty well, but means we're not generating quite as much power as we were before. HTH! 👍

[@hunglikeadonkeybutnotassmelly]

I'm shocked and mildly outraged. You could have used nice 25mm white trunking to run the cables under the bed. You put your membership of the Perfectionists/OCD club in jeopardy. Plus you forgot to heat shrink the earth lead at the van battery. ( I cant breath ) 😂 Nice job as always. 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Pftt, I think you'll find there is indeed heat shrink on that cable: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmSUq5iBqat2fdU 😉😀 You made us check though... Would have had to go back and redo it otherwise 😅 thanks!

[@hunglikeadonkeybutnotassmelly]

@@SelfBuiltStories Made ya look...😂

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Dang! 😂

[@superstrings4768]

I cant help but feel a 'box trunking' wiring method would work wonders here. run a length of box trunking horizontally through the middle of the board and have everything run cables through the trunking. would look so neat and tidy and something to be proud to show to people in the future. watch any house solar install from people such as Oval or Artisan electrics for a flavour of what I mean. well done though, van is looking good.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And yeah it needs a bit of a tidy up, we decided we'd wait till we've done the AC wiring and the inverter first so all the wires are there but it's on the todo list 😛

[@jacobcarton3961]

You explain everything so clear and faultless. Keep up the work. Do you have a link to the crimping tool that you used to crimp the 16mm2 cable?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers :) And yep, there should be a link for it in the video description. It's the heavy duty tool from 12V Planet 👍🙂

[@errolmagill1611]

I'm not totally sure, but I have heard that the LifePo4 batteries charge much faster than you have suggested - something to do with less resistance. Thanks for another helpful vid. 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey Errol! Yeah you're right they do have very low internal resistance so they will try to draw a large amount of current to charge, basically whatever they can get, but they can only charge as fast as the current available. The orion is regulated output and will only provide 30A to them (although actually it does go a bit higher than that at times, but only marginally to around 35A from what we've seen). Then the charging time is just a calculation, we have 200Ah so charging at 30A would take 200/30 = 6.6 hours. If we connected them to something that would provide more than 30A charging current, they would take it up to their specced rating which is max 100A per battery. But the max that we can supply to them would be 80A and that's only theoretical if we had perfect solar conditions. If we linked them directly to another battery they would likely try to charge with a very high current which we mentioned in the video, but not something you'd want to do. If we wanted to charge faster we could add a second DC-DC though, which our alternator should probably still handle, so we could have 60A DC-DC and 50A solar for a combined theoretical max of 110A. But we don't think we need that... yet 😛

[@niallbrady187]

I have started watching you on your camper van build. Both of you are absolutely amazing, your attention to detail is unique. It's something I want to do hopefully next year. What size budget did you have for the conversion if you don't mind me asking. I have learnt so much from both of you. Keep up the amazing work guys, and safe travels.. Ps I hope its still up on you tube when I go about doing mine 😂. Niall (Ireland) 🇮🇪🇮🇪

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey Niall, thank you very much! And hope that you're able to start your build next year 🙂 Our initial budget we aimed for was £20-25k for the full build including the van cost. It's hard to predict exactly at the beginning as there's so many unknowns but we keep track of everything we've spent on it so will have a pretty accurate idea by the end. And they should still be up, hopefully with more as the build should actually be finished by then 😂

[@miasheb1452]

Merci!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Pas de souci 😄👍

[@nickpmoody]

Great work guys! I would recommend if you are still able to, run a 12v ignition live to the Orion in case you find later on it’s needed. On my VW T6 Caravelle, the Orion’s engine shutdown detection ramps up / down the charge current depending on the voltage of the starter battery. The ignition live wired to the ‘H’ pin on the remote input overrides the engine shutdown software and enforces the charger to be on regardless of the starter battery voltage. You still have the voltage lock out feature to rely on which will disable charging if the voltage is too low. You might find you don’t need it, but if you have an opportunity to run the wire now I’d do it just in case. When you start travelling regularly you might find the Smart Alternator behaves differently. Cheers.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! Yeah we haven't had any problems with it auto-detecting so far but if we do need to switch it with one of the pins in the future then we have a wire already going to the front that we could repurpose, or use to pull through another wire hopefully. Shame there's no ignition triggered feeds in the rear clusters as that'd be a really easy place to hook up to. Thanks for the comment 👍

[@herfstmys4125]

I'm also doubting to connect the ignition wire. What's the downside to not doing it? Is there so much current loss without? Thanks

[@nickpmoody]

@@herfstmys4125 On my VW T6 the ignition wire is a must in my opinion, without it the Orion lowers the output depending on the voltage of the starter battery. I don’t want it to do that, I want full output of the charger whenever the engine is running. I did need to lower the voltage lockout on the Orion to 11.5 volts, eventually the smart alternator decides to start putting out amps.

[@herfstmys4125]

@@nickpmoody I see... well I have a Renault Master from 2009 with what I'm guessing is a dumb alternator, haha. So in my case it wouldn't be that big of an upgrade?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Without the ignition wire the orion is essentially using an algorithm to figure out when the engine is running, but depending on your van that might not get it right all the time. So having the wire you can just disable that feature so there's no guess work and it knows categorically when the engine is running. So no downside to having the extra wire, aside from having to physically run it and finding an ignition triggered feed for it. For us as the orion is at the back of the van it would have been a bit of pain to run a trigger wire as we'd have to take it back to the cab, but thankfully the smart detection has been rock solid for us. We've just set it up and it works, checked it quite a bit at different times when we've been on the road and has worked every time. We do have an isolation switch in the cab now as well, so we can completely isolate it and switch off the whole unit if we want, but in normal daily life we just leave it on with the software detection. HTH 👍

[@davidpatrick1813]

I use the isolated model as I hope to wire in my ham radio .. it makes the signal "cleaner" than relying on the ground being forced to flow through the frame etc. Sometimes (most of the time) my solar keeps the batteries 100% all the time anyway... so I found the DC 2 DC will keep chrging somewhat before settling down.. point is .. in the software we can simply turn it off so I will only use it if I think I want to give extra charge driving just before camping ... making 100% at the start of each night camping.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah we like having the isolated model too instead of using the chassis. We actually tested it wired the other way and found we were getting 88% efficiency using a dedicated wire and 83% using the chassis which was interesting. We also like that we can measure the current in every wire and reason about what it should be for debugging issues, and knowing that the ground wire shouldn't be carrying any real current. It's nice to have the option of solar and dc-dc, we also use solar mostly at the moment, especially as the van spends most of its life parked right now 😛

[@petewarby7158]

Did I miss something about screen time for pets and adverts? I thought it was a great video and the mog looked very sweet :)

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks Pete! That's Jackson, he likes to get involved, especially near the end of each project and skip out all the building time 😀🐱

[@steevs33]

Another brilliant informative video, can i ask what the second (smaller) ground is for going into the lynx?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And not sure which wire you mean exactly? But if it's the one from the Orion to the Lynx then that is just the negative for the leisure battery side of our setup. As we used the isolated charger we're not using a common ground so both the positive and negative from the starter battery and leisure battery are wired into it 👍

[@ovchannelag5238]

👍👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

🙂

[@TSadz1878]

Thank you for these brilliant videos, going to help massively setting up my electric system. Could I ask what AWG cable sizes are used from each device? (Dc/dc , mppt , 12v fuse bus bar and from battery to lynx)

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem, glad they're helpful! And sure we used 70mm2 for the battery connections and to the lynx, 25mm2 for the inverter, 16mm2 for solar, DC chargers and fuse hubs, 6mm2 for the fridge and heater. And 3mm2 for most of the rest. Those were good sizes for us working out wiring lengths, expected current draw and voltage drop, but obviously what works for us will vary depending on your own setup and what kit you're putting in 👍

[@jonbeddall5838]

Thanks for a great video- helps a lot. Have you got a link to the wire sizing chart you used please?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Sure, here you go! assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg

[@baggiecamper]

I'm just about to fit the same DC TO DC so many thanks for posting this. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have a Lynx unit too.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome! Yeah we really like having the lynx, it's not necessary exactly but makes everything nice and compact all in one unit. We figured it would be a lot neater and easier than having two separate bus bars. We still need to do the mod to activate the lights... 😛

[@baggiecamper]

@@SelfBuiltStories Thanks for the reply. I've purchased bus bars but I'm still going to look at the Lynx sizes, price etc. I wish it had an isolater and a few small fuse holders on board too. I guess that's too much to ask.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome :) It does have the space for the mega fuses but yeah not for the 12V blade fuses. There's also the Lynx Power In which is a bit cheaper that can be modified to have the fuses and act like the Lynx. Some videos on the explorist.life channel about that 👍

[@baggiecamper]

@@SelfBuiltStories oh thanks I'll check that out 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem 👍

[@nipuldon9348]

Awesome video as usual, was waiting for this one! Just a general question about the bolts and nuts you used in your system(for spots where it's not provided), what's the best material to use for it? Can't find much information on it anywhere, zinc plated and stainless steel being the main available options.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! Hope it was worth the wait 😛 And do you mean for the electronics? If so for pretty much everything the nuts and bolts were provided with the kit, but believe that Victron and BlueSea use stainless steel. We did need a nut for the connection to the CCP as there wasn't one already on there, and for that we used a spare from one of the midi fuse holder kits we had.

[@nipuldon9348]

​@@SelfBuiltStories definitely was! Yeah places like the ground connection to the van, for some reason my lynx didn't come with any for the battery connection point either, inside ones are all there, so was searching for what to use, maybe I'll grab some stainless steel ones in that case thanks!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@nipuldon9348 Ah now that you mention it, those ones on the left of the lynx outside the cover might not have comes with bolts actually, as they came with the protective rubber sleeves on them. Think we just sourced our own for those but was a while ago so can't remember exactly 😄

[@cartes5996]

Hi great job on your electrics very neat,question why have you not earthed to the vans chassis but earthed to the vans internal structure .

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, cheers :) And the electrics is grounded to the van chassis via the 70mm^2 cable that runs from the ground stud on the lynx to a bolt into the van behind the board. There are designated grounding points from Ford that are in the lower left corner of that wall, but we decided not to use those in the end as the bolts they use were way too small to securely fix the hefty 70mm^2 cable we wanted to use, and also being so low would mean the wires would be more in the way at ground level. So instead we made a new ground point by sanding back the paint and using a rivnut onto the van chassis to bolt to.

[@Truckinman2000]

You should have put a disconnect switch from between the dc-dc charger and the van batteries. You have one on the board but didn't use it. Maybe its for the inverter later. Don't get me wrong, you have a fantastic build going on.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers :) and yeah we're putting in a disconnect switch for it in the cab, it doesn't necessarily need one as you can use the remote port for a switch to avoid a high current one. But we like the idea of being able to completely isolate the system when we're working on it. The second switch on the panel we've used for a another 12v hub 😛

[@kevwhitbread9341]

Great Videos. Any chance you could tell me what size cables you have used please

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers 🙂 And yep, replied to your other comment 👍

[@garypollock1949]

I would suggest you check the torque specs for the screws in the charging equipment. I put mine in using the (that's tight enough method), and when I went back and checked them with torque screw driver, they were all to loose. I believe Victron uses 35 or 41 foot/Inch (?) pounds, and I only had 20. With the power going through them, you could get expansion in the connection, causing problems.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, yeah the recommended torque for the terminals is 1.6Nm. We've tightened down all the bolt connections we have for the lynx, batteries and shunt etc to the exact specs using a torque wrench, but we don't yet have a torque screwdriver, would be a useful tool to have and will check the terminals when we get hold of one 👍

[@cccmmm1234]

You can use a screwdriver bit in a torque wrench.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Don't think we didn't have the right attachments for that but good to know 👍

[@byrne8525]

hi, brill vids guys, all of them. I am just starting my first build also on a transit jumbo, would you mind just confirming what size the unistrut was that you used for the roof rack, thank you so much for your vids they are helping me no end👍👍👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, glad they're helpful 🙂 And we used the 21mm light slotted channel: directchannel.uk.com/21mm-light-slotted-channel-x-3-metres 👍

[@byrne8525]

@@SelfBuiltStories thats great many thanks for quick reply👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@byrne8525 You're welcome!

[@billyk7831]

Great video! Question. You used a 40Amp fuse at the lynx distributor, what size amp fuse did you use in line at the CCP?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And we used a 50A midi fuse for that one, which is lower than the 60A midi fuse already in the CCP so ours should blow first if there is any problem 👍

[@dave300m7]

Without wishing to sound negative about your fantastic build, you really need to install some protection to ALL the cables you have installed. There’s a reason that all the existing van wiring is in plastic conduit. The risk of fire due to damaged cable insulation is very real (particularly given the large currents you are dealing with) and its the cause of the majority of car fires. There’s also an assumption that “I’ve installed a fuse, so that will protect things”, Unfortunately thats not the case with an “overload” type fault, which is what you get with a damaged cable, the fuse wont blow until at least twice the rating, so for your 40 amp fuse thats 80 amps, which the alternator will happily provide, until something goes up in smoke!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, yeah we have studied the time delay curves for the mega fuses we're using, so the 40A fuse should blow above 40A but the time delay is logarithmic. At 50A it takes around 300s, 100A takes 3s etc. At 80A it's around 7 seconds. We went with branded mega fuses so we can look up the spec sheets for them, Littelfuse has particularly good ones (www.littelfuse.com/media?resourcetype=datasheets&itemid=9fe0cd60-17bf-4fd7-b18d-977d32179af9&filename=littelfuse-mega-datasheet ). Our cable is rated to 110A too so the fuse should blow well before the limits of the cable. But protection is never a bad thing of course, we've run all the wires in the walls through plastic conduit, the section going across the garage wall is pretty much the only exposed section of wire we have. We did think about putting that through a conduit as well but figured it's quite high up out the way of any objects so went with that approach for now but something we might revisit in the future as we realised we have a few more cables that need to pass across that section too, like the monitor cable for the BMV etc as we want to have the controller unit in the middle of the van. Thanks for the comment!

[@goingmouch3753]

Great job once again..thanks for sharing…Q, does your DCDC stop bulk charging when it gets up to 80% batteries? Mine does and I don’t know how to change it on the settings from 80 up to 100%..

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers :) And we haven't had any issues with our setup so far. In the settings we have a user defined battery preset and we put everything in to match the specs from our batteries. It will move from bulk to absorption when the voltage reaches whatever you have set for Absorption voltage. Or after the bulk time limit has been reached. If all that is good and firmware up-to-date then it should work if all the connections are nicely torqued, so measuring voltage with a multimeter at the orion output terminals and the leisure battery should be very close to each other. HTH 👍

[@glennclark762]

Have you got a link to the wiring chart you showed as that looked really good.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, it's this one: assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg 👍

[@alexpott1893]

Great Videos, been bin watching and dont even have a van (yet). I'm curious though, what backgrounds do you guyse have from your work? You guys say you watch a lot of KZbin, but when explaining things off the cuff it often sounds like you already have some idea of electrics, voltmeters etc. Be interesting to hear what you guys do as a day-job.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And I'm a software engineer and Abi is a nurse. We didn't have any specific experience with any of it and hadn't really done any DIY since school (save putting up the odd shelf etc) but we both like to get stuck in and figure out how to fix things in the house when they break, stuff like that. I'd repaired laptops, phones and built a PC back in the day but no real experience of 12V electronics. So we just did a lot of research and slowly built up our knowledge and comfort using all the tools along the way 🙂

[@kevwhitbread9341]

To add to my earlier message I was wondering what size cables you have used on all sections

[@SelfBuiltStories]

For our setup we used 70mm2 for the battery connections and to the lynx, 25mm2 for the inverter, 16mm2 for solar and DC charges, 6mm2 for the fridge and heater. And 3mm2 for most of the rest. Those were good for us based on the length we had to run the wires and the voltage drop we calculated with the charts etc, so your setup might vary but hopefully that gives an idea 👍

[@Yo-ht6iv]

Have you already tested the dc/dc while driving for a longer period? We ended up installating a D+ simulator inour Sprinter because the voltage while cruising drops to around 12.4 volts. This causes the dc/dc to stop charging (even with the smart alternator setting enabled). We tweaked a lot with the voltages and settings but in the end the dc/dc couldn't detected a running engine from a stopped engine reliably because the voltage was basically the same. Only on engine start and deceleration the voltage came up.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, yeah we've had it in for a few months now and monitored it a lot while driving, for us in our transit it's worked perfectly every time, but a few people have said they've had similar experiences to you in other vans. So guess it depends on the alternator 👍

[@Yo-ht6iv]

@@SelfBuiltStories So I guess your voltage is always a constant 13+ while driving? Or at least reliably higher than when the engine is switched off?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

It does fluctuate but mostly in the higher range so it's been okay for us. We do have a manual switch now behind the drivers seat too, so if it ever starts misbehaving we can just set it to always be on and use the switch

[@gearstil]

Hello, nice video! Can you set the maximum output current from the Orion DC to DC charger? How did it knows to limit the output current?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, cheers :) And unfortunately not on this model, though they have just brought an an updated version (Orion XS) which lets you do that. With ours you can't limit the current, it will try to output up to 30A whenever it's on, though in practice it's usually somewhat lower than that as it throttles the output down if the unit gets too hot. The newer version is also much more efficient so runs a lot cooler as a result and doesn't have that quirk. For our one we're going to install a PC fan behind it to keep it cool so we can get the max performance out of it. HTH! 👍

[@gearstil]

@@SelfBuiltStories Thanks so much for the info!!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@gearstil You're welcome 🙂

[@redwood1957]

Nice job is there a drawing of you total solar and battery system i could down load? Thank you

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, all our diagrams are here: www.buymeacoffee.com/selfbuiltstories

[@andrewford80]

Don't forget the additional load of charging your starter batteries in your calculations.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey, if you mean the charging time figures at the end of the video then the state and charging of the starter batteries doesn't affect it actually as the Orion is fixed to output 30A all the time. Having said that the calculations are a simplification as it's not always 30A, it derates the output 3 % per °C above 40 °C so slows down as it gets too hot, which the orions are a bit notorious for (and sometimes can exceed 30A if sufficiently cooled). It changes as it moves through the different charging stages towards float as well, but it's a pretty good ball-park estimate. But if you mean the total current we measured when running everything then yeah the state of the batteries will play into that, but our alternator is 150A so we have more than enough capacity there 👍

[@andrewford80]

Yeah, I meant when you are calculating the loads on the alternator at the beginning. You have 150A alternator, but some people may not and it is important to know what your starter battery recharge load is if you're testing capacity. @@SelfBuiltStories

[@SelfBuiltStories]

​ @andrewford80 Cool yeah important to know for sure as it varies a lot with different vehicles/alternators. We tested that at the beginning and measured ~60A output from the alternator when running the engine and charging the the starter battery with everything on 👍

[@mange2]

Is there a reason why you attached the cables to the starter battery and not the front battery? Or can it be attached to either?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, we actually attached the positive to the CCP on the Transit, which is the fused connection by the seat designed for accessories like this. The negative just needs to be run to a good ground, and we decided to take that one to the batteries as it was a convenient place to get to (much more accessible than the nearest ford grounding point in that area). Our dual batteries are wired together in parallel too so they operate as one large bank. HTH 👍

[@jonnytacooutdoors]

Using same charger. Gets so hot I can’t touch it for more than a few seconds! Is that normal? I’m using 6awg wire and 60amp fuse at the battery. Is the burning hot normal?!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah, of all the kit the orion is noticeably the hottest running and hot to the touch. There's a few threads about it on the victron forums, like: community.victronenergy.com/questions/46901/orion-dc-dc-overheating.html. In that thread they also list some production dates as the early units can be recalled due to the heat. But generally they do run hot and will start to throttle the output current down after a while if necessary. Having good ventilation around it is important, and then to make them run cooler and more efficiently the general approach people take is to add some kind of fan. Here's an example that shows two orions side by side, one with a fan and one without, and the difference it makes with a thermal imaging camera: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqe7nJedodNkhKM. We haven't added any fan to ours but it does run fairly hot, so it's something we might consider at some point. HTH! 👍

[@mehmetcirik4954]

Videolarınızı keyifle izliyorum. Özellikle aile mahremiyetine özen gösterdiğiniz için tebrik ediyorum. Maalesef çoğu bu tarz videolarda hanımlar kendilerini teşhir ediyorlar. Bu çok rahatsız edici. Masumca işinizi yapıyorsunuz. Elinize sağlık. Türkçe yazıyorum, çevirirsiniz. Hello from TÜRKİYE.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Teşekkür ederim 🙂

[@MrAdam100576]

Question: Have you ever wired your L&H to the ignition? Did you consider a switch? Do you ever turn the 12 12 30 off or do you trust it to be on even when your leisure bank is 100% full?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey, nope we didn't use the L&H pins as there wasn't a convenient ignition trigger at the back where we have the Orion. The engine detection works great for us and we trust it to be on when the batteries are charged as it moves into float mode so we have it on pretty much permenantly. But we have also since added a manual switch behind the drivers seat so that we can choose to isolate it completely if necessary, like when we're working on the electrics. As otherwise it felt a bit strange that you can turn off the master switch to the electrics panel but the orion is still powered on from the starter battery 👍

[@Nakolesnikov78]

Hi from Russia )) My data on current consumption on a 2020 Ford Transit car (the car is equipped with two batteries and a 150A generator) The temperature outside is -2 degrees Celsius, alternator is broken, not charging, power only battery. The engine is running, the heating plugs are partially working 27.7A 12.23 V + the additional Eberspacher heater is broken, does not turn on ( when starting about 20-25 A, when working about 5-6A ) + marker lights 29.9A 12.14 V + Low beam 36.4A 12.12V + High beam 45.4A 12.10V + interior heater at 4 speeds 61.9A 12.04 V + heated exterior mirrors + wiper 72.9A 12.00 V Total total current consumption, if the additional heater will work, the car can be about 95A With batteries discharged by less than 80%, the charging current of the batteries can reach 70 amperes or more. I advise you to increase the delay time of charging the battery of the residential module for a time of 10 minutes or, if it is impossible to set such a time, then for the maximum possible time. 120 seconds is a very small delay to replenish the charge of the starting battery. Generators of Transit cars are very sensitive to overload with large currents, the diode bridge fails on them and the car will not be charged. At the same time, the charging system malfunction lamp on the instrument panel does not light up, you will continue driving until the starter battery is completely depleted. I would advise installing a voltmeter to monitor the voltage on the main starter battery, or by all means monitor the voltage of the starter battery from time to time.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey, thanks for the info. Interesting, yeah we've never been able to measure the vans draw as high as 95A. And yeah we have already setup monitoring of the starter battery voltage via our BMV. We ran a cable back to the van battery and use it for the auxiliary input, so we can see the starter voltage in the app at any time, and it also triggers an alarm both on the app and audibly in the van if it drops too low 👍

[@matthewalkman386]

Where do you get the metal things that cover those wires like that? And what tool is used to put the metal things on the wires? Never saw that used before

[@SelfBuiltStories]

They're called ferrules or bootlace ferrules/terminals and they need a special crimp tool. They're really useful when you're using fine stranded wire particularly if you're inserting it into screw terminals, as without a ferrule the screw can crush the individual strands and cause a poor connection that weakens over time. They also make for a really nice tidy install and make it quicker and easier to do any maintenance so we use them quite a lot. There should be links to both the ferrules and crimper in the description 👍

[@duncanwilson5170]

Hi Guys, are you planning to box in your electrical panel, and if so are you going to use a solid panel or perspex with ventilation?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey, no plans to box in the panel but we might around the batteries, or get some rubber protectors for all the exposed terminals 👍

[@joshquin6151]

Hey guys, doing great! Just wondering if you’re going to add a 230v hook up (shore power) to your system? 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And no we decided not to add shore power in the end, we went to be off grid most of the time where we wouldn't be able to plug it in. If we've done our numbers right we reckon we should have enough charge with the combination of solar and DC-DC 👍

[@joshquin6151]

@@SelfBuiltStories nice, fair enough. Your numbers look good and I don’t doubt it’ll workout, I’m going to run a very similar system in my new sprinter but just know when travelling round in our old transit every now and then it was good stopping in a campsite so want to take full advantage of power. Even up in Scotland in the winter gets quite grey and driving daily didn’t quite give us enough. Maybe catch you on the road as we’re just down the road from you guys. Have a good one 👌

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah it's something we could add later on if we wanted, but we travelled around in the van for a month or so last summer and didn't find we needed it, although the van wasn't finished of course so there will be a bit more load now. And cheers! Yeah see you on the road 😛

[@p9917j]

Hearing a lamb bleating and thinking you’re overdubbing swearing. #KZbinLife

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha, they do tent to bleat and baa at interesting moments 😛

[@Espiritiv]

What primary side fuse did you use inline on the van side battery? I missed that part

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, we used a 50A inline midi fuse, which is less than the Ford 60A midi in the seat base so should blow first 👍

[@fatwax3d]

Hey guys. Have you got a link to the NM torque wrench you used? And what was the NM value? 14?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, if you mean for the batteries then yeah ours have a recommended torque of 14nm. For the victron kit there's a useful table here: www.vanlifeoutfitters.com/torque-guidelines-for-victron-energy-equipment/. No link to the wrench though I'm afraid, it's an old one we've had lying around for ages!

[@B4x4]

Any reason you did not follow the recommended installation in rhe manual and put the dcdc on a flame resistant backboard?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

We did consider it but in the end we're happy with having it mounted on birch ply as although it's combustible the ignition temperature is around 270C. We've monitored the temperature when it's in use and although it does get hot it's nowhere near a level that we're concerned about. We did make sure it has a lot of space around for decent airflow and it has been fine, but possibly at some point we'll also add some thin sheet metal between it and the board as we have some leftover from installing the oven. The orions are known to get hot and they throttle down their output if necessary to lower the temperature, so down the road we might possibly add a small fan too to increase the efficiency 👍

[@franciscoburgos787]

I installed the same unit and now I find I have to jump start the battery every morning. I have a switch instead of ignition power but the switch has a light so I know I shut it off and still idle the engine to top off my lead acid battery. I replaced it once thinking it was a weak battery and the new one does the same even though it’s a better brand. I even replaced my 95 amp alternator with 130 amp alternator.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hmm strange yeah that doesn't sound right, we've not had any issues like that with ours. As soon as the engine is off the orion shuts down. We have a manual switch for it too but we only turn it off if we're working on the electrics

[@JeepTJay6]

Do you know if this DCDC allows you to dial down the Amp output to the batteries? I have a small 56Ah bank which has a max charge rating of around 5.6A BTW, cool diagrams 👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

That would be a nice feature for sure but no it's not possible to do that at the moment. You can get smaller orions but only down to 18A. There are some like the Renogy ones that you can limit the current, but don't think down to as low as 5.6A. Maybe a DC buck boost converter with low current limiting could work? And thanks!

[@ziminyan]

Your video is great! I am completely a layman, but I hope to know what you have done. I have two questions: 1) How to get information about the power of the generator? 2) The maximum current output of your generator is 150 amp, lighting and other electricity consumption is 30 amp. Why do you have only 20 buffer of the motor, isn't it 150-30 = 120 amp?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And do you mean the alternator? If so we knew it was a 150A alternator as that's what our model comes specc'd with. But there's also a sticker on the back of it which lists that, so to confirm we took a picture on our phone of the back of it. It's a little awkward to get to but just about managed it. And the 20 was 20%, so from what we've read it's a good idea to have a 20% buffer and not run your alternator at max capacity as it shortens its life and can lead to it overheating etc. So for our 150A alternator, keeping that rule of thumb we'd leave a 20% buffer meaning we have about 120A to play with. The DC-DC charger uses up to 40A, and 30 ish for what the van was using when we tested it. That still gives us around 50A or so capacity we could use in the future if we wanted, possibly to add a second DC charger if we ever wanted to charge faster 👍

[@ziminyan]

very thankful 👍👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@ziminyan You're welcome :)

[@dudeleboski2692]

Question, we all know that when the engine is running it charges the House batteries, BUT how about when you are just parked up? Does the charger also charge the STARTER Battery via the solar panels?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, the Orion can't do that as it is only one way, so you would need to reconnect the input and output wires the other way around (or add in some more complex switching) and then change the settings as well. So not very practical for day-to-day use. One option is to add a second small solar panel just for the starter battery, and another which we're probably going to do at some point is fit a battery maintainer which just trickle charges the starter battery from the leisure battery and keeps it topped up. There's a few out there, like the Vanbitz Battery Master, Ablemail AMT12-2, and Votronic 3065 👍

[@alicezumstein7124]

Omg guys but are you engineers by profession??? How do you know all these things?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha, just lots and lots and lots of research! 😄

[@PoncePappas-zo1ot]

I am considering buying a 12/24-15 Orion DC to DC charger my question is will it Charge my 12 V battery bank until I get a 24 V set up?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, hmm unfortunately not as the output voltage would be too high and likely damage the battery or cause a safety issue. A 12v battery charges at ~14v, whereas that model Orion has an output range of 20-30V. So you would need to either connect to a 24v battery bank or use another device to safely step down the voltage to the right level

[@fernandox189]

Is posible put the battery in serie ?for 24 and put one prion for charger 2 batteries ?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah you can connect the batteries in series to have a 24V bank if that's what you want, you'd just have to use a 24V version of the orion. Assuming the vehicle alternator is still 12V, they have something like the 12/24-15. The one other thing to check is how many batteries the manufacturer allows wiring in series, most are happy with 2-4 👍

[@olivierbourgeois3230]

Hi, some people suggested me to use the ignition as a safety. Apparently the auto shut off could lead to some issues since the alternator can run at various voltage which could cause the device to go on and off. In the last year, dis you experience any issue using the jumper with the auto detection? Cheers!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

A lot of it depends on what van you have and how the alternator behaves/whether it's a smart alternator or not. The Orion uses an algorithm to make an educated guess of when the engine is running based on the voltage the starter batteries rise to. If you have a standard alternator it will likely just work with no issues, as the battery voltage will always be >14.4V. If you have a smart alternator though with smart regenerative charging then the voltage might be as low as a little over 12V or as high as 15V depending on driving conditions and temperature. In that case the algorithm might not work perfectly, and some people have commented that on their van it doesn't work very well and switches on and off as the alternator voltage rises and falls. Funnily enough we had no problems with it for over a year since we installed it, worked 100% of the time on every drive we did. But just recently we changed our starter batteries as the old ones were pretty shot, and now it's a lot more unreliable. We realised it's because the old batteries were so tired that they would never reach a decent SOC as far as the van was concerned, so the smart alternator capability was affectively disabled and it was always requested to deliver a high charge. So we got great new batteries, but lost some charging efficiency! 😛 There's no downside to running the ignition trigger wire other than the faff to do it, but if you can wire one easily it's definitely the gold standard as it takes out all the guesswork. We've got ours working again now by adjusting the settings to be quite tight around the voltages (i.e. assuming the van to be on when it's ~13V not 14.4+V), but we're not able to generate as much power when driving as we used to. So we'll probably get round to running the ignition wire at some point as well. HTH!

[@olivierbourgeois3230]

Thanks alot that makes alot of sense. I have a Ford Transit 2023 so I would probably have those problems as well with a new rig. An upfitter in my region strongly suggested me to run a ignition wire exactly for that reason but I dont see anyone on youtube showing it unfortunalty. Everyone seems to use the jumper since its easier. Even Explorist didnt do that and he has a Ford Transit as well.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem! I would imagine with the 2023 Transit it's a very similar setup, in which case there is likely an interface connector under the driver seat around the starter batteries that can be used to get the engine run signal. There's a few posts on the ford transit forums and elsewhere of people that have done it, e.g. moreysintransit.com/engine-on-signal-via-ford-transit-vehicle-interface-connector/ and www.fordtransitusaforum.com/threads/transit-2021-ignition-signal-line-installation-walkthrough-for-renogy-dcdc50-with-c-33-2-connector.89038/ . If you check the BEMM for your model year I'd imagine there would be a section in there for it. 👍 We're going to do it at some point but haven't got round to it yet as it requires running another wire all the way from the driver seat to our orion at the back which is a bit of a pain! While we're at it we might also add a switch that we can mount on the dash to temporarily disable the smart alternator, which it tells you how to do in the BEMM as well. Then if we're very low on battery power we can switch to use standard alternator mode and get more juice quickly at the expense of slightly worse fuel consumption for that drive.

[@olivierbourgeois3230]

@@SelfBuiltStories Thank you so much for all this valuable information.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@olivierbourgeois3230 No problem 👍🙂

[@pconhispc2759]

I cant get my Victron to work on my transit due to the smart alternator. How did you do it?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Ours is working nicely with the alternator type set to Smart Alternator and engine shutdown detection enabled in the settings, and with a start voltage of 14.00 and shutdown voltage of 13.10 👍

[@hodkin124]

Can i use the Dc/Dc charger in the opposite way you’re using it? I have a my battery bank from my solar panels and i would like it to charge my battery for my Electric start generator.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

It's not bidirectional so can only work one way round as you wire it, but it could go the other way, you just have to change the settings to match the input and output battery chemistry and make sure the variant you have matches the input/output voltages. One thing though that would be different is how it is triggered, as if using the engine detection algorithm it is designed to start the charging process when it detects that the alternator is running. You would need to play around with the settings a bit so that it starts correctly when the solar power is coming in. Or you would turn off the engine detection and use a different trigger on the remote L/H pins to turn activate the charging. If it's just to keep a starter battery topped up though you can also get trickle charges/battery maintainers like the Ablemail AMT12-2, which is something that we're looking at adding at some point 👍

[@duncanwilson5170]

have you guys installed wifi yet? or any plans to do so?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, not yet but we will be. We have all the kit but haven't got round to that project yet 👍

[@jzimmer223]

What video is your AC connection with the inverter?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

It's not released yet actually, but as it happens will be the next one 😎

[@user-dc2ot2tj2b]

thanks not knowing thatvictron is now also there with no manual like chinese. or do you make a translation from the only chinese manual?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, not sure what you mean exactly but all the victron kit has english manuals: www.victronenergy.com/dc-dc-converters/orion-tr-smart#manuals . They're available in some other languages too, you just have to change the language dropdown at the top of the page 👍

[@benkelly5319]

Do you have a link to the wire gauge chart?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Sure, it's this one: assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg

[@Thegioibentrong]

The starter battery is a lead battery and the reserve battery is lifePO4, can I use this charger? THANK YOU

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, yes the orion works fine with lead acid and lithium, you just need to configure it in the app 👍

[@mdf417]

in continus use wire is 80% capacity, it's mean the wire have to be 40 amps. Also, you should have a switch back to the seat.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

We're using 16mm^2 cable rated to 110A so no issues there, and you can put a switch on the H or L pins in the remote bridge to avoid needing a high current switch on the input wires to the batteries. We decided not to do that in the end as the smart detection works great for us, but we might actually put in switch in the input wires at some point as we quite like being able to isolate everything completely 👍

[@mdf417]

@@SelfBuiltStoriesespecially since it's bad for the alternator when idle

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@mdf417 We've added a manual switch in the cab to completely isolate it now, gives more peace of mind to be able to shut everything down completely if we want :)

[@mdf417]

@@SelfBuiltStories Well done, always privilege shore power for longevity of alternator.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@mdf417 Cheers, we don't have shore power but pretty much all our power needs are met by solar at the moment 👍