Orion 12/12/18 keeps switching off

[Chris1983]

Bolt, not boot

 

[ginkster]

Yeah, looks like maybe you and a few others nailed it! Will try and sand back boot and seat base where connects to ‘better’ connection tomorrow. Can’t access original grounding point and not sure I have it in me just yet to remove seat base and treat bolt as @EAN had prior. What’s the downside of not having the perfect grounding point? Kaboom?

Need to run down LB a bit too and when get some sun drive and see what happens with LB and Solar relationship. Cos that is deffo a thing I’ve noticed (MPPT switching to 0 watts when DC to DC kicks in.

Downside is odd behaviour like your seeing, or not working at all.

Don’t bother running the LB down and testing until you’ve sorted the ground. At least remove the paint under the negative connection for now and see how that goes. Dig deeper if you need and when you have time.

 

[Chris1983]

Today was a long, but productive day (I think). Thank you all for the hand holding/ guidance.

I shall remove the paint and see what happens tomorrow

 

[Chris1983]

As an aside, will that small draw (nothing really on in van) be the amt12-2 propping up the dying starter battery?

 

[ginkster]

View attachment 269025As an aside, will that small draw (nothing really on in van) be the amt12-2 propping up the dying starter battery?

Probably not as the AMT cycles on/off every 10secs or so. If it’s doing its stuff you’ll see the draw ramp up to about 3A over a couple of seconds then drop away back to zero and repeat every 10 secs or so.

A small draw like that may well be USB sockets plus the power used by the Victron boxes to connect to Bluetooth.

 

[Chris1983]

Sanded paint as planned yesterday. All seems fine numbers wise until dc to dc kicks in, then numbers are crackers.

Shunt reads exactly what the multimeter reads across poles?!

 

[Chris1983]

 

[Chris1983]

I think I am at end of my ability to sort (with the handholding). May try and find a local auto engineer get them to have a look in new year

 

[Chris1983]

Could it be wire gauge issue?

 

[n10n]

All seems fine numbers wise until dc to dc kicks in, then numbers are crackers.

There is added resistance to chassis from shunt negative and negative bus bar.

When dc-dc kicks in, the current from alternator / SB travels through dc-dc input and then through the poor connection and chassis itself. This in turn means voltage drop forms between shunt negative and chassis - I bet if you measured SB poles when dc-dc is on you would see little bit higher voltage than what dc-dc reports as input voltage.

All is fine when there’s no current - it’s the current that make resistances do what do: dissipate heat and offset the voltages.

To understand why different units show different voltages it should be understood each unit has internal resistance of it’s own. The voltage reported by each unit is determined by the amount of it’s internal resistance in relation to the resistance of the poor chassis connection. [google resistors in series to learn more]

Shunt reads exactly what the multimeter reads across poles?!

Good! Shunt probably measures the voltage accross it’s battery side pole and Vbatt and thus it’s practically the same thing as multimeter accross battery poles.

 

[Chris1983]

There is added resistance to chassis from shunt negative and negative bus bar.

When dc-dc kicks in, the current from alternator / SB travels through dc-dc input and then through the poor connection and chassis itself. This in turn means voltage drop forms between shunt negative and chassis - I bet if you measured SB poles when dc-dc is on you would see little bit higher voltage than what dc-dc reports as input voltage.

All is fine when there’s no current - it’s the current that make resistances do what do: dissipate heat and offset the voltages.

To understand why different units show different voltages it should be understood each unit has internal resistance of it’s own. The voltage reported by each unit is determined by the amount of it’s internal resistance in relation to the resistance of the poor chassis connection. [google resistors in series to learn more]



Good! Shunt probably measures the voltage accross it’s battery side pole and Vbatt and thus it’s practically the same thing as multimeter accross battery poles.

So, all could be confirmed as being the improper (but not unsafe) use of the seat bolt as chassis negative, are you telling me to leave it alone now as the numbers are at least consistent (now the loose wire was fixed)

 

[n10n]

I can’t tell you what to do with your van. But I don’t think it’s unsafe as it is now, just that you will have hard time getting all charging schemes to work as they should. Also I would avoid high loads to leisure battery (inverter specifically) until sorted out.

 

[Chris1983]

I can’t tell you what to do with your van. But I don’t think it’s unsafe as it is now, just that you will have hard time getting all charging schemes to work as they should. Also I would avoid high loads to leisure battery (inverter specifically) until sorted out.

Thank you, not asking for an insurance guarantee, just reassurance. Don’t use an inverter so there is that.

Thank you all for your efforts

 

[Chris1983]

One last thing. A foible or a clue?

When running hab electrics, turned off electric is to hab with isolator. Lights etc all stayed on (due to solar) BUT the readings for battery dropped to 10v

See pic?

Could this be a clue if I have wired incorrectly somewhere?! Is the 10v the shunt etc reading the solar panels as the battery?! Any thoughts

 

[Chris1983]

But seemingly ONLY when this switch is flicked on for pop top lights (this is a dav tec inserted two way light switch for hab or pop top)

 

[n10n]

One last thing. A foible or a clue?

When running hab electrics, turned off electric is to hab with isolator. Lights etc all stayed on (due to solar) BUT the readings for battery dropped to 10v

See pic?

Could this be a clue if I have wired incorrectly somewhere?! Is the 10v the shunt etc reading the solar panels as the battery?! Any thoughts View attachment 269058

Smart Shunt will show whatever voltage Vbatt is connected to. Looks like it is now connected to bus bar so it would indeed show solar voltage when isolator is switched off. The solar is not quite capable of providing decent power so the voltage drops.

 

[ginkster]

One last thing. A foible or a clue?

When running hab electrics, turned off electric is to hab with isolator. Lights etc all stayed on (due to solar) BUT the readings for battery dropped to 10v

See pic?

Could this be a clue if I have wired incorrectly somewhere?! Is the 10v the shunt etc reading the solar panels as the battery?! Any thoughts View attachment 269058

What does the Fogstar app say the battery voltage is?

Shunt red lead should go direct to LB positive, not busbar or anywhere else. Or at least to the output side of the isolator switch. That way it will give you the true readings of the LB.

Sounds like there are some fundamental issues with your wiring! Logically trace each cable and draw the system. Check with multimeter as previously covered.

 

[Chris1983]

What does the Fogstar app say the battery voltage is?

Shunt red lead should go direct to LB positive, not busbar or anywhere else. Or at least to the output side of the isolator switch. That way it will give you the true readings of the LB.

Sounds like there are some fundamental issues with your wiring! Logically trace each cable and draw the system. Check with multimeter as previously covered.

Shunt positive (small red) deffo goes to the positive side busbar.

Just to be clear, I should move that onto the LB positive post?

 

[ginkster]

Shunt positive (small red) deffo goes to the positive side busbar.

Just to be clear, I should move that onto the LB positive post?

I would (and have on mine). It will then give you the LB voltage directly. The cable is fused so no issues there.

 

[Chris1983]

I would (and have on mine). It will then give you the LB voltage directly. The cable is fused so no issues there.

I’ve attached to LB positive now