Setting up an Orion XS for a Roamer LiFePO4 lithium battery

The Orion XS is the latest DC-DC charger from Victron Energy and is our recommended option for charging your Roamer battery from the alternator. This small but mighty unit offers up to 50A of charge at 12V and runs cool, thanks to its high efficiency design.

Make sure you have the following:

• Smartphone or Laptop with bluetooth connectivity

• The VictronConnect app installed

• Victron Orion XS

• VE Direct cable, or USB-VE Direct cable (optional, for connection to GX device)

Open the VictronConnect app, and connect to your new Orion XS. You might be prompted to change the PIN code, or the PIN code may not be "000000"; in which case it will be printed on the label on the side of the Orion or on a small card included with the Orion XS.

Tap on the Settings icon on the top right corner.

For a Roamer battery, enter the settings as displayed in the image.

The Input current should be no more than 40% of your alternators current rating, as this will ensure your alternator does not get overloaded.

For example: If your van comes with a standard 100A alternator, we would recommend you set this to 40A, (0.4 x 100A), as this will ensure your alternator is not stressed too hard. If you have a particularly large alternator, you may have the ability to run multiple Orion XS units in parallel. In the case of a 220A alternator, the maximum we would recommend is a Input current limit of 88A, so you'd set each of the 2x Orion XS units to an Input current limit of 44A each, or a single unit to the full 50A.

The Output current should remain at 50A for all installations, unless Roamer has advised otherwise during a technical call. This is because all Roamer batteries have charge current limits far exceeding 50A. Note: this may change with very low temperature and when multiple Orion XS unit are in parallel configurations. Consult Roamer directly if you are unsure.

Tap on "Battery settings".

Tap on "Battery preset". (The button is "Factory default" in this case).

Tap on "User defined".
Toggle "Expert mode".
And tap "OK" on the pop-up warning.
Enter the details as per the image below:

Within the main settings menu, select "Engine shutdown detection". There are two options for how you request the Orion XS to start charging. Method 1 is easier and works well for most people but some people have reported problems with charging. Method 2 requires a bit more effort but is a pretty failsafe way to ensure charging works reliably.

This method uses the incoming voltage from your alternator/starter battery to detect when the engine is running. The loop of wire between L and H must remain in place if you use this method, and the connector must be fitted.

Select your Alternator type and adjust the values accordingly - the manual for the Orion XS (linked in the app) will give you more info on this.

The 'Start voltage' will default to 14.00V and shutdown voltage to 13.10V with a smart alternator. If you find that charging is not working reliably, you can try reducing these values (we find that 13.7V and 12.8V work well). If this still isn't working well for you then you will need to use method 2.

This method overrides the engine shutdown detection and instead uses a signal from engine to tell the Orion to start charging. It is a pretty failsafe method to start and stop charging and can overcome some issues with smart alternators that idle at low voltages (becoming more common, especially with brand new vans). The downside is that you need to run an extra wire to either a D+ feed from the alternator or an ignition live feed from the vehicle fusebox.

For this method, you will need to remove the loop of wire in the remote port, and supply a +12V D+ or Ignition feed from the vehicle to the H terminal on the Remote connector. This will simply cause the unit to rely on the vehicle's signal to start charging.

When using the remote connector method;

From the Settings menu, tap on Engine shutdown detection.

Toggle the slider off next to Engine shutdown detection enabled.

All done, your Orion XS is now set up for use.
For any help or support, contact Roamer: support@roamer.com