Sol-Ark 15k Power Outage Mode? (SA too if needed)

[Mr.Hyde]

I looked for this answer and was surprised I couldn't find it.

I have a Sol-Ark 15k between my meter and main panel. I have 28kWh of batteries connected to it.
I haven't yet switched to TOU billing, so I just have it configured to try and zero out grid use, and charge the batteries with any leftover PV.
I have it configured to discharge the batteries down to 35%.


In the event of a grid failure, I'd like to continue discharging the batteries down to 5%, but I'm not sure how to automate that.

I also have Solar Assistant hooked up (I was skeptical of closed-source, but it works great!) and so I was looking at the automations there.
I see in the automations, it has a parameter called "Stop battery discharge capacity".

Is this the right parameter to change to 5%?
Should I add a condition so that it doesn't repeatedly set it to 5% if it already is?

I assume I also have to create an automation to restore the value to 35% if the grid comes back?
Again, should I add a condition so that it doesn't keep trying to set it to 35% during nominal operation?

 

[Tulex]

So you are using TOU though to restrict discharge below 35%, right?
Outage should override TOU. I have mine set to sell at all times to 30%, I have my BMS, which overrides the inverter because of being closed loop, set to stop at 5%. If there is an outage, pretty sure it will go below that 30%. If it's below 30% when there is grid, it will use all PV for battery until it gets to 30%. Though, that may be only if you have battery first, of which I do.

 

[DIYrich]

During grid down, it basically becomes Limit to Load, and provides power from batteries until you hit the Shutdown level on the Batt Setup > Discharge tab. Everything else goes out the window since the Grid isn't there (can't export to grid, can't charge from grid, PV goes to battery since that is the only place it can go, etc.)

 

[Mr.Hyde]

During grid down, it basically becomes Limit to Load, and provides power from batteries until you hit the Shutdown level on the Batt Setup > Discharge tab. Everything else goes out the window since the Grid isn't there (can't export to grid, can't charge from grid, PV goes to battery since that is the only place it can go, etc.)

Great, thanks! I guess I should've just tested it to see what would happen without messing with anything.

 

[Carlos_Sol-Ark]

During grid down, it basically becomes Limit to Load, and provides power from batteries until you hit the Shutdown level on the Batt Setup > Discharge tab. Everything else goes out the window since the Grid isn't there (can't export to grid, can't charge from grid, PV goes to battery since that is the only place it can go, etc.)

Thats right. The Shutdown V or % indicates the battery level in which the inverter will completely shut down. The Low Battery level will highlight the battery icon yellow as a warning and is the lowest value you can set TOU to in the settings. Finally, the Restart value is for dark start mode. If you were to ever hit the SHutdown value the inverter will turn off and go into a standby mode ( it will look completely off). It will then wait for incoming PV and try to charge your batteries back up. The inverter should automatically turn back on when the batteries reach the "Restart" value. Hope this helps.

 

[robby]

Personally I would put the Shutdown at 10% and the restart at 20%.
I think you would want as much time on batteries as possible before the house goes Dark and you would also want the Inverter back up as soon as possible when the Sun starts shinning.

I think 35% is being really conservative on your TOU. I get that your trying to save more power for an emergency but that extra 15% not used each day really adds up on your electric bill over a one year period.
I would only use 35% if the Grid was really unreliable.

 

[Mr.Hyde]

Personally I would put the Shutdown at 10% and the restart at 20%.
I think you would want as much time on batteries as possible before the house goes Dark and you would also want the Inverter back up as soon as possible when the Sun starts shinning.

I think 35% is being really conservative on your TOU. I get that your trying to save more power for an emergency but that extra 15% not used each day really adds up on your electric bill over a one year period.
I would only use 35% if the Grid was really unreliable.

System has been up and running for less than a month, so I'm still dialing it in

The 35% was based on a conservative estimate of running the house load through the night, and it almost isn't enough. It definitely won't be if the AC has to run much into the evening. Clearly I need more batteries

Using grid isn't the end of the world for me either. PA has 1:1 net metering (which isn't quite because it only credits the production cost and not the transmission cost, so I still try to minimize grid usage).
I also plan to switch to TOU billing, in which case the middle of the night is exactly when I want to use the grid (~0.5x cost) -- I might even want to charge the batteries to some level during that time period just to make sure all of my solar production for peak (~2.0x cost) gets sold back.

 

[Mr.Hyde]

View attachment 213107

Thats right. The Shutdown V or % indicates the battery level in which the inverter will completely shut down. The Low Battery level will highlight the battery icon yellow as a warning and is the lowest value you can set TOU to in the settings. Finally, the Restart value is for dark start mode. If you were to ever hit the SHutdown value the inverter will turn off and go into a standby mode ( it will look completely off). It will then wait for incoming PV and try to charge your batteries back up. The inverter should automatically turn back on when the batteries reach the "Restart" value. Hope this helps.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

I did a test by turning off the service disconnect at night. The lights had the barest flicker, but nothing in the house noticed or turned off. After a few minutes, I turned the service disconnect back on, and shortly afterwards, the 15k connected back to the grid.
Worked perfectly. Hurray for whole-house UPS!