Just bought an eco worthy 100ah lithium

[Lenny HB]

Lenny,
why is D+ the "proper way"
Genuinly interested to know.
I've just fitted an Orion TR12:12:30 B2B for my AGM battery but I too have an Ecoworthy 100AHr on the way.
The Victron manual with the B2B says that the charger is compatible with Smart Alternators (I do have one) using "engine on sequence". Does this feature not work properly?

If you use voltage sensing and have a mains or solar/Batterymaster charging the starter battery when the starter battery voltage increases with the charge the B2B will turn on and charge the leasure battery depleting the starter battery. And so it will keep cycling.

Using the D+ the B2B will only work when the engine is running.

 

[Barti Ddu]

If you use voltage sensing and have a mains ormBatterymaster charging the starter battery when the starter battery voltage increases with the charge the B2B will turn on and charge the leasure battery depleting the starter battery. And so it will keep cycling.

Using the D+ the B2B will only work when the engine is running.

But a battery master doesn't raise the starter battery voltage to a level where the B2B activates, so it really isn't an issue. Everything works well together - at least in my experience, and certainly with a non-smart alternator.

 

[Lenny HB]

But a battery master doesn't raise the starter battery voltage to a level where the B2B activates, so it really isn't an issue. Everything works well together - at least in my experience, and certainly with a non-smart alternator.

I only used Batterymaster as an example as there are loads of other devices and solar chargers and the mains chargers that will take it high enough.
If you are going to do a job do it properly.

 

[Richard n Ann]

If you are going to do a job do it properly

That was my thinking, it probably will work by sensing starter battery voltage, but it DEFINITELY will work with D+ and I don't want to have to do the job twice

 

[Affinite]

If you use voltage sensing and have a mains or solar/Batterymaster charging the starter battery when the starter battery voltage increases with the charge the B2B will turn on and charge the leasure battery depleting the starter battery. And so it will keep cycling.

Using the D+ the B2B will only work when the engine is running.

Thanks, makes sense now.
I've often wondered how mutiple charges co-exist without compromising each other and I can now see that without D+ this would be a case-in-point.

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[Barti Ddu]

If you are going to do a job do it properly

There's nothing "improper" about using the starter battery voltage detection facility that is a key part of the Victron B2B.

A picture tells a thousand words - so here's a screenshot from the Victron Connect app from about an hour or so ago.

The orange line is the starter battery voltage.

The blue line is the current charging the lithium leisure battery as measured by the Smart Shunt.

We've been parked up in Ludlow overnight. Hazy sun this morning. Solar is slowly topping up the lithium, and the CBE CSB2 "battery master" is maintaining the starter battery at just over 13v. This is obviously nowhere near the 14v threshold I've set for the voltage detection in the Victron B2B, so your concerns about false triggering are unfounded.

After walk around Ludlow to see the river, castle and market, we then set off to go to Lyons Boatyard in Birmingham (just arrived now). The non-smart alternator instantly outputs 14.1v which it then maintains rock steadily for all the time the engine is running. As you can see the current going into the leisure battery instantly jumps to over 22 amps, 18a of which is from the Victron Smart Orion 12-12-18 B2B, the remainder coming from the solar. Everything working exactly as advertised. Nothing interfering with anything else.

There's more than one way to install a B2B. You're happy with using the D+ trigger, I'm happy with using the voltage sensing function. Explain exactly why my way is less "proper" than yours?

 

[AdrianChen]

There's nothing "improper" about using the starter battery voltage detection facility that is a key part of the Victron B2B.

A picture tells a thousand words - so here's a screenshot from the Victron Connect app from about an hour or so ago.

The orange line is the starter battery voltage.

The blue line is the current charging the lithium leisure battery as measured by the Smart Shunt.

View attachment 1036202

We've been parked up in Ludlow overnight. Hazy sun this morning. Solar is slowly topping up the lithium, and the CBE CSB2 "battery master" is maintaining the starter battery at just over 13v. This is obviously nowhere near the 14v threshold I've set for the voltage detection in the Victron B2B, so your concerns about false triggering are unfounded.

After walk around Ludlow to see the river, castle and market, we then set off to go to Lyons Boatyard in Birmingham (just arrived now). The non-smart alternator instantly outputs 14.1v which it then maintains rock steadily for all the time the engine is running. As you can see the current going into the leisure battery instantly jumps to over 22 amps, 18a of which is from the Victron Smart Orion 12-12-18 B2B, the remainder coming from the solar. Everything working exactly as advertised. Nothing interfering with anything else.

There's more than one way to install a B2B. You're happy with using the D+ trigger, I'm happy with using the voltage sensing function. Explain exactly why my way is less "proper" than yours?

Glad you are happy!

I had the same as you at first except the 12/12/30 version, worked perfectly, untill one day without thinking I turned a 16amp charger on to top up the start battery, and the B2B kicked in at 30amps.......

So because I seem to be getting ever more forgetful I put in a D+ feed, took all of 30mins since the supply was right next to the B2B.

Now it's foolproof!

 

[Barti Ddu]

Glad you are happy!

I had the same as you at first except the 12/12/30 version, worked perfectly, untill one day without thinking I turned a 16amp charger on to top up the start battery, and the B2B kicked in at 30amps.......

So because I seem to be getting ever more forgetful I put in a D+ feed, took all of 30mins since the supply was right next to the B2B.

Now it's foolproof!

But I don't need to use an extra charger periodically to top up the starter battery - the battery master keeps it topped up automatically.

 

[AdrianChen]

But I don't need to use an extra charger periodically to top up the starter battery - the battery master keeps it topped up automatically.

My similar to BM didn't keep up with the TV sound, which for some reason Carthago like to supply from the vehicle battery.....

I suppose that means we all have different situations, but the D+ seems the most comprehensive.

 

[ChrisL]

Part of the issue with the older 30A Victron B2B using voltage sensing was in order to get the full 30 amp output it is necessary to reduce start voltage to around 13v (I set mine at 13.2v) so if you have a battery maintainer it's easy to exceed that and start the B2B, so it's better with these to use the D+ rather then voltage sensing, if you check out RogerIvy video on these on YouTube you'll see what i'm on about.

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[Richard n Ann]

Thanks everyone
It's actually gone up to 19.6 now

 

[Richard n Ann]

Victron ip22 15 amp Mains charger working too..
Is storage mode automatic? It's in the settings and it's 13.2v but no mention of how to activate it.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Mains charger settings:

 

[Richard n Ann]

The victron mains charger seems to be charging much better than the previous 10 amp photonic universe one. It's maintaining 14.9 amps at the moment where as the other one the amps were tailing off continuously

 

[ChrisL]

Is storage mode automatic? It's in the settings and it's 13.2v but no mention of how to activate it.

It is automatic and if you wish to change the value, turn advanced settings on then tap on the advanced settings box just below, then tap on storage voltage and you can change it to whatever you need it to be, but the default will be fine unless you have a CBE battery maintainer which requires 13.6v to work, if you have one of those you may wish to raise the float and storage voltage to just above 13.6 volts, or fit a battery master.

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[Richard n Ann]

It is automatic and if you wish to change the value, turn advanced settings on then tap on the advanced settings box just below, then tap on storage voltage and you can change it to whatever you need it to be, but the default will be fine unless you have a CBE battery maintainer which requires 13.6v to work, if you have one of those you may wish to raise the float and storage voltage to just above 13.6 volts, or fit a battery master.

No it's lithium so 13.2v which is 50% or something.
Thanks for answering

 

[AdrianChen]

Mains charger settings:

View attachment 1036663

I don't think you need the gassing thing on, its for lead acid really