Anyone removed the panel behind rear seat?

[Mudnut]

I picked up my Victorn Orion DC-DC charger yesterday, in preparation to connect to my second battery. I am thinking I want to mount it vertically for heat dissipation. Just curious if there is room to mount behind the plastic panel on the rear of the cab. Plenty of room under the rear seat, but horizontal mounting seems to be the norm there.

 

[Tom D]

There's quite a bit of space behind the panel where the jack goes. I fitted a 300w inverter in there.

 

[anand]

You're saying vertically behind the plastics on the sides of the cargo area? There is definitely room aft/below the jack as well as on the opposing side; although there isn't much airflow back there, so for something that gets hot, I think it would nullify any gains of vertical mounting. Also hopefully you grabbed an Orion XS 50A not the older Orion-Tr 12/12 30A as the latter runs much hotter.

For anecdotal reference, I have a trio of Orion-Tr 12/12 30A chargers in our Sprinter, mounted vertically with 3 40mm fans at the bottom of each charger blowing air across the heatsinks (blowing it upwards across the heatsinks which dump into the electrical compartment, which is then ventilated by 2x 200mm intake/outlet fans for constant airflow). After about 30-45 minutes of charging, they start to derate slightly, after 1.5-2hrs of charging they are notably derated.

In the Grenadier I have a Orion XS, mounted horizontally under the rear seat (mounted fairly low towards the rear of the compartment) with a single 40mm fan blowing air at the bottom side (perpendicular to the charger) for simplicity. That unit will happily charge at without derating for up to the 1.5-2hr mark (full battery)

 

[Mudnut]

Just to be clear, I have a Quartermaster, so no cargo area. Just a small panel behind the rear seat

 

[Mudnut]

You're saying vertically behind the plastics on the sides of the cargo area? There is definitely room aft/below the jack as well as on the opposing side; although there isn't much airflow back there, so for something that gets hot, I think it would nullify any gains of vertical mounting. Also hopefully you grabbed an Orion XS 50A not the older Orion-Tr 12/12 30A as the latter runs much hotter.

For anecdotal reference, I have a trio of Orion-Tr 12/12 30A chargers in our Sprinter, mounted vertically with 3 40mm fans at the bottom of each charger blowing air across the heatsinks (blowing it upwards across the heatsinks which dump into the electrical compartment, which is then ventilated by 2x 200mm intake/outlet fans for constant airflow). After about 30-45 minutes of charging, they start to derate slightly, after 1.5-2hrs of charging they are notably derated.

In the Grenadier I have a Orion XS, mounted horizontally under the rear seat (mounted fairly low towards the rear of the compartment) with a single 40mm fan blowing air at the bottom side (perpendicular to the charger) for simplicity. That unit will happily charge at without derating for up to the 1.5-2hr mark (full battery)

Thanks Anand. Any photo's of your horizontal mounted Orion XS, as this is what I have. The fan set up would also be helpful.
Thanks again, Ken

 

[anand]

Just to be clear, I have a Quartermaster, so no cargo area. Just a small panel behind the rear seat

This makes much more sense!!

Ignore the horribly dirty strap holding the battery in place... It's what I had that day because the strap I ordered wasn't long enough. The plastic panel I made (3mm ABS) to mount the Orion has a ~40mm hole drilled directly under the charger with a Noctua 40x40x20mm 12v fan (NF-A4x20 FLX) that is powered by the same trigger that sends Ignition power to the Orion (I have the Orion set to both use smart battery sense and ignition trigger for charging)

 

[Mudnut]

Perfect! This looks like a good solution. I currently have my compressor in that space, but I will remove it and place in the tub in the rear. So just to be clear, your fan trigger wire is the small red wire coming off the battery terminal?

 

[Mudnut]

Ignore that question. I am now assuming that is the power line for a Smart Shunt. Is the fan trigger coming off the wire on the left into the Orion?

 

[anand]

Ignore that question. I am now assuming that is the power line for a Smart Shunt. Is the fan trigger coming off the wire on the left into the Orion?

Correct, well, it's a chicken or the egg style scenario. From the fuse panel aft of the main battery, I used an add-a-fuse to grab ignition-on power (I used the fuse for the power wing mirrors, as if that fails, it isn't a big deal to me). that wire comes across to under the Orion, where it splits into power for the fan and the "remote +" wire for the Orion. Both the "remote -" and ground/earth for the fan also tie together in the same area and are connected to the ground/negative/earth (12v terminology changes a bit around the globe) bus bar.

edit: yes you're right the small red wire from the aux battery is the voltage input for the Smart Shunt