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Sol-Ark needs a serious Change!

At this time I don't think there is one out there that has the similar ease, efficiency, or overall price to performance.

I own the 12k and did not opt for the EMP and I am not worried about the perceived security risks with remote monitoring servers located in China. If you were to sniff your own internet connection or setup a block on unauthorized tracking cookies,

So do you think their extra "EMP hardened" ad-on feature is fluff to capture extra $$ or is legit? It does make you wonder if this company has been deceptive about being "American Made" will they cut corners elsewhere? I don't need nearly the 12k output either but it seems that is the unit (the only one listed on there web page) they are pushing right now. They also make a 8 and 5k but the price difference does not seem to be proportional?

Yeah your right data capture concerns are definitely not limited to Sol-Ark. I am studying up on these issues and should probably set up more blocks, I would be interested in learning more about this, I currently use Brave browser and run Linux Mint on my desktop and looking into Lineage or eOS for my phone, but maybe this would be getting 'off topic' so another thread or PM me.

An even greater concern would be a malicious attack that could disable the inverter! Before anyone says oh that would never happen I have had first hand experience with "updating" my HP printer and having them permanently brick my printer rendering it totally useless because I used an aftermarket cartridge instead of their genuine HP $150.00 ink cartridge set. Mind you there was nothing physically wrong with the cartridge I was using and the printer was working just fine before the "update". I am NOT making this up, there was a successful class action lawsuit on HP in the public record that anyone can search. Now this was just a printer, what is to say China could not do the same to our inverters during a war, or if they simply get pissed off!?
 
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So do you think their extra "EMP hardened" ad-on feature is fluff to capture extra $$ or is legit?

No idea. I assume it works but I just did not have interest in spending the extra $$ for that option.

I do have concerns that they dumbed down the 8k and 5k versions. The 8k 'used' to support parallel functionality but they now state it is not supported. The 5k launched missing that feature. I assume their goal is to upsell you to the 12k whereas DEYE and Sunsynk both offer those features out of the box on ALL of their versions, 3.6k and up to 15k. So kidda a crappy move in my book that they did that.

If I was to do it again today, I would try and get one of the last DEYE versions that are being produced (per another thread here DEYE will no longer make the split phase version) . main selling point is similar features, cheaper (1/3 of the price) and a number of members state side are now using it. cons - unknown tech support and possible warranty issues.
 
I do have concerns that they dumbed down the 8k and 5k versions.
You have a right to be concerned about this! If they are making a track record of doing this then what is keeping them from dumbing down future "updates" on their current hardware in the future. Then maybe start offering "subscription" services to fix it? I am skeptical considering my experience with "updates" breaking stuff. I hope Sol-Ark is reading this and starts to realize their potential customer base does NOT like the direction they are heading.

Maybe I should be looking at a simpler setup that is already dumbed down and not connected if it will save $ anyway, I was just hopping not to have to switch on, off-grid power manually every time it gets cloudy. But I at least need the split phase to run my well pump.
 
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This should be very concerning! If they are making a track record of doing this then what is keeping them from dumbing down it future "updates" Then start offering "subscription" services to fix it? I am skeptical considering my experience with "updates" breaking stuff. I hope Sol-Ark is reading this and starts to realize their potential customer base does NOT like the direction they are heading.

Maybe I should be looking at a simpler setup that is already dumbed down and not connected if it will save $ anyway, I was just hopping not to have to switch on, off-grid power manually every time it gets cloudy. But I at least need the split phase to run my well pump.
or you could simply get the Deye/sunsynk version.

even if Deye doesnt release a split phase anymore, there is nothing holding you back using an auto transformer.

and i agree with your other statements.

i understand a company needs to make money, but a margin of 300% , under false pretences ( made in usa, which changed to designed in USA, which now seems to be rebadge and marked up in USA), Dumbing down devices just to push for extra revenue isnt something i would like in a company ..

truely sad thing is, it is a great product, and from what i understand , they provide good, customer friendly and proper technical support and they request specific market features ( or possibly contribute to the programming of it).

i simply do not understand why they would behave like this, milking the cow completely dry.
i am fairly certain , that what they would miss on the single unit margin, they would make in sheer selling numbers
 
I was considering a Sol-Ark and this forum caught my interest. So what I'm getting from this if Sol-Ark is not really American made or securely monitored and updated then there is no point in paying a premium for it. Then the bottom line is, what is a comparable hybrid inverter that provides the same features? Reliability and EMP hardening is an important, but the question is can it be 3rd party verified (who want's to be the one to put there $7,000.00+ inverter to the test :)
I was talking to a Sol-Ark installer who says that by the time all the add-ons are factored in; charge controller, sub-panel... that the competition ends up being close to the same $ ? He is comparing it mainly with the Schneiders XW Pro.
Any suggestions of reliable lower cost options would be helpful.

I have been a bit of a lurker and watching the Sol-Ark saga with great interest. The great thing about this forum is we have a community who are willing to question statements and debate with civility (most times).

I was going to purchase a Sol-Ark but feel at this point it's the "iPhone" of inverters, but without the innovation of Apple. It appears to be a rebranded high-quality inverter from overseas with its only "innovation" of great customer service and a user interface. Great customer service is really important, but not at the extreme margins Sol-Ark is demanding.

At first I thought it was a good start that the Sol-Ark CEO made a post on our forum, but the response actually left me with more questions than answers. He has not come back to address issues because I think hard questions do not have answers that fit the Sol-Ark narrative well.

What's clear is that there are a lot of different veteran accounts on our forum who are asking those hard questions. And the picture they paint does not make me want to continue my purchase of the Sol-Ark.

That Sol-Ark has now spent their resources on quasi-anti-competitive behavior with an exclusive distributorship pushes me away further. The clock is now ticking on the Sol-Ark / Deye relationship and it will be interesting to see how Deye feels at the end of the exclusive term on whether sales increased or decreased by granting Sol-Ark the exclusive for 2022.

I think reliable lower cost options are out there, and I intend on exploring them more fully now that Sol-Ark is not a slam dunk for me.
 
An even greater concern would be a malicious attack that could disable the inverter! Before anyone says oh that would never happen I have had first hand experience with "updating" my HP printer and having them permanently brick my printer rendering it totally useless because I used an aftermarket cartridge instead of their genuine HP $150.00 ink cartridge set. Mind you there was nothing physically wrong with the cartridge I was using and the printer was working just fine before the "update". I am NOT making this up, there was a successful class action lawsuit on HP in the public record that anyone can search. Now this was just a printer, what is to say China could not do the same to our inverters during a war, or if they simply get pissed off!?
Pull your WiFi Dongle out and the problem is solved. So long as you have anything connected to the internet it is vulnerable to an attack from Russia, China etc. I suspect that if the world got to this point the least of your problems would be someone hacking your computers.
 
Just to add my 2 cents....

My guess is that SolArk bought a Deye Inverter, opened it up and found a couple things here and there that might need to be improved "bigger capacitor here, beefier contact there" (I'm not an electrical engineer, but you get the picture). SolArk then went back to Deye and said "make these changes, and re-brand to Sol Ark.... and please don't make these changes for anyone else".
 
Just to add my 2 cents....

My guess is that SolArk bought a Deye Inverter, opened it up and found a couple things here and there that might need to be improved "bigger capacitor here, beefier contact there" (I'm not an electrical engineer, but you get the picture). SolArk then went back to Deye and said "make these changes, and re-brand to Sol Ark.... and please don't make these changes for anyone else".
Good theory now if you can find a Deye Hybrid Inverter being sold before April 2018 when Sol-Ark was already selling theirs, you might have a point. Deye has been talking about a Hybrid Inverter from 2017 but they never produced anything until late 2019 and it was later on the sales market in early 2020.
 
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i understand a company needs to make money, but a margin of 300% , under false pretences ( made in usa, which changed to designed in USA, which now seems to be rebadge and marked up in USA), Dumbing down devices just to push for extra revenue isnt something i would like in a company ..
Wow and you know they make 300% how? I assume it's the same source that gave you the secret IP info?
Deye shipping an Inverter to South America means that they pay Zero customs duty on the Item and shipping is cheap to SA, especially if it's anywhere near Panama. The Dealer in SA puts a small markup on it and ships it to the USA, once again no Tariff on the item. He also has no Warranty obligations and he is offering Zero customer support. It's typically a one man band with all the money going in his pocket and no lingering expenses.

Sol-Ark on the other hand has to pay Deye for a much more expensive higher quality made unit and they have to ship it to Texas which is more expensive than SA. Then they have to pay 25% in Tariff fee's and then have the equipment checked by humans that actually make a living wage. After that it is sold to distributors with some unknown markup on it by Sol-Ark. The distributors like eco-direct are now going to sell it to you with a pretty sizeable markup on whatever price they paid for it form Sol-Ark, making it probably 30- 50% or higher in price. So when you see a 25% Tariff added to a product it is not just 25% to the end user. it's compounded upward by the profit margin each person adds to their sale price.
 
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Wow and you know they make 300% how? I assume it's the same source that gave you the secret IP info?
Deye shipping an Inverter to South America means that they pay Zero customs duty on the Item and shipping is cheap to SA, especially if it's anywhere near Panama. The Dealer in SA puts a small markup on it and ships it to the USA, once again no Tariff on the item. He also has no Warranty obligations and he is offering Zero customer support. It's typically a one man band with all the money going in his pocket and no lingering expenses.

Sol-Ark on the other hand has to pay Deye for a much more expensive higher quality made unit and they have to ship it to Texas which is more expensive than SA. Then they have to pay 25% in Tariff fee's and then have the equipment checked by humans that actually make a living wage. After that it is sold to distributors with some unknown markup on it by Sol-Ark. The distributors like eco-direct are now going to sell it to you with a pretty sizeable markup on whatever price they paid for it form Sol-Ark, making it probably 30- 50% or higher in price. So when you see a 25% Tariff added to a product it is not just 25% to the end user. it's compounded upward by the profit margin each person adds to their sale price.
dude, i have a ddp quote here for the deye 12k 3 phase eu for 2400 ex import taxes of 21%
the sol-ark 8k goes for 6500 last time i heard
do the math.

funny thing is how you skip over het more important parts of my statement

not sure where you get the SA part, but gosh you do seem to have some intimate knowledge on how deye / sol-ark and sunsunk do their busines
care to elaborate on that :)
 
i simply do not understand why they would behave like this, milking the cow completely dry.
i am fairly certain , that what they would miss on the single unit margin, they would make in sheer selling numbers

they know the jig is up so they need to extract every cent now
 
dude, i have a ddp quote here for the deye 12k 3 phase eu for 2400 ex import taxes of 21%
the sol-ark 8k goes for 6500 last time i heard
do the math.

funny thing is how you skip over het more important parts of my statement

not sure where you get the SA part, but gosh you do seem to have some intimate knowledge on how deye / sol-ark and sunsunk do their busines
care to elaborate on that :)
There was something of importance in your statement :ROFLMAO:
You do the math and compound out the shipping plus the 25% tariff plus a reasonable profit for Sol-Ark and the a typical retail stores profits and see what you get. Also keep in mind a Deye is a lot cheaper to make than a True Sol-Ark. BTW how many different ways are you going to spell Sunsynk?

The SA part comes into it because we have an SA dealer selling Deyes to NA on the forum.
 
There was something of importance in your statement :ROFLMAO:
You do the math and compound out the shipping plus the 25% tariff plus a reasonable profit for Sol-Ark and the a typical retail stores profits and see what you get. Also keep in mind a Deye is a lot cheaper to make than a True Sol-Ark. BTW how many different ways are you going to spell Sunsynk?

The SA part comes into it because we have an SA dealer selling Deyes to NA on the forum.
i am dyslectic..so shoot me..

petty comment by the way, but in line with the rest of your statements
 
Good theory now if you can find a Deye Hybrid Inverter being sold before April 2018 when Sol-Ark was already selling theirs, you might have a point. Deye has been talking about a Hybrid Inverter from 2017 but they never produced anything until late 2019 and it was later on the sales market in early 2020.
It can be seen there that Deye released their first hybrid inverter in 2017. Looks just like the SolArk.

Pv magazine also saying Deye launched its hybrid 2017
It wasn’t splitphase but Deye didn’t have 3 phase available in 2017 either. They only made singlephase. Yes then in 2018 SolArk wanted splitphase and MAYBE a slightly different look and higher output. But DEYE made the single phase hybrids FIRST, then SolArk had Deye make Deyes 8kw into splitphase with higher output and some other stuff..
 

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or you could simply get the Deye/sunsynk version.

even if Deye doesnt release a split phase anymore, there is nothing holding you back using an auto transformer.

and i agree with your other statements.

i understand a company needs to make money, but a margin of 300% , under false pretences ( made in usa, which changed to designed in USA, which now seems to be rebadge and marked up in USA), Dumbing down devices just to push for extra revenue isnt something i would like in a company ..

truely sad thing is, it is a great product, and from what i understand , they provide good, customer friendly and proper technical support and they request specific market features ( or possibly contribute to the programming of it).

i simply do not understand why they would behave like this, milking the cow completely dry.
i am fairly certain , that what they would miss on the single unit margin, they would make in sheer selling number

Would that work having a single phase Deye and using an auto transformer to make splitphase. I’m asking due to the SolArk having the bidirectional AC input that it outputs it’s grid tie power through. I’m sure putting an auto transformer on the Load output would work but the Deye also puts grid tie power out of its AC input. I know with my GTIL2s they output 240v single phase which is fine because our meters read our power usage at 240v not splitphase. Would the SolArk operate the same way.. with my GTIL2s I had to wire 2 CTs in series to properly read all of the splitphase power being used by my home. Then the inverter supplies all that power at 240v single phase.
So I’m saying putting an auto transformer on the load output would work to get splitphase. But when outputting grid tie power to the main panel, would the homes power have to be sensed the same way I do with the GTIL2s.
I’m not asking for myself until Deye or SolArk allows for higher battery voltage. But I figured others might be interested and I’m interested to understand
 
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Just to add my 2 cents....

My guess is that SolArk bought a Deye Inverter, opened it up and found a couple things here and there that might need to be improved "bigger capacitor here, beefier contact there" (I'm not an electrical engineer, but you get the picture). SolArk then went back to Deye and said "make these changes, and re-brand to Sol Ark.... and please don't make these changes for anyone else".

And just to add my 1 cent - if there really are any substantial contributions from Sol-Ark, why is Sol-Ark going to the trouble of negotiating and paying for an exclusive distributorship to Deye that covers not only the Sol-Ark inverter, but also the Deye inverter? Surely the changes would be worth the margin they are charging?

Myself, I think I'd be happy without the bigger capacitor... From what I see of SunSync / Deye, plenty of DIY folks who have bought them outside the US are impressed with the quality and price (!) of their inverters. When I read from DIY people in the US, they are impressed with the Sol-Ark quality but almost everyone consider them pricey.
 
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Would that work having a single phase Deye and using an auto transformer to make splitphase. I’m asking due to the SolArk having the bidirectional AC input that it outputs it’s grid tie power through. I’m sure putting an auto transformer on the Load output would work but the Deye also puts grid tie power out of its AC input. I know with my GTIL2s they output 240v single phase which is fine because our meters read our power usage at 240v not splitphase. Would the SolArk operate the same way.. with my GTIL2s I had to wire 2 CTs in series to properly read all of the splitphase power being used by my home. Then the inverter supplies all that power at 240v single phase.
So I’m saying putting an auto transformer on the load output would work to get splitphase. But when outputting grid tie power to the main panel, would the homes power have to be sensed the same way I do with the GTIL2s.
I’m not asking for myself until Deye or SolArk allows for higher battery voltage. But I figured others might be interested and I’m interested to understand

Autotransformer works fine with bidirectional AC power flow.
 
Autotransformer works fine with bidirectional AC power flow.
I’m referring more so to the limiting grid tie functionality of the Deye single phase inverter when used with a splitphase grid supply.
Are you implying that 2 transformers should be used, one for each output of the inverter and if so how would the single phase Deye inverters single CT need to be wired to properly read and then supply the splitphase power (of both legs) the home is using
 
It can be seen there that Deye released their first hybrid inverter in 2017. Looks just like the SolArk.

Pv magazine also saying Deye launched its hybrid 2017
It wasn’t splitphase but Deye didn’t have 3 phase available in 2017 either. They only made singlephase. Yes then in 2018 SolArk wanted splitphase and MAYBE a slightly different look and higher output. But DEYE made the single phase hybrids FIRST, then SolArk had Deye make Deyes 8kw into splitphase with higher output and some other stuff..
Is this a repeat post? We went through that announcement by Deye two or three pages ago! Deye never produced that Hybrid Inverter in 2017, 2018 or 2019. It seems to be vaporware that never saw the light of day. They did not make a Hybrid inverter until they partnered with Sol-Ark in late 2019.
 
Is this a repeat post? We went through that announcement by Deye two or three pages ago! Deye never produced that Hybrid Inverter in 2017, 2018 or 2019. It seems to be vaporware that never saw the light of day. They did not make a Hybrid inverter until they partnered with Sol-Ark in late 2019.
Nothing repeated here. I have been following this post from the start and have read it all thoroughly. There has been pictures posted with no dates. You argued that they didn’t have dates. Now I give you information from 2 different sites saying Deye launched their hybrid inverter in 2017 (single phase) and its still not good enough for you. They sold 30,000+ Single phase hybrid inverters from 2017 to 2019. Did you read the information on Deyes website and on pv magazines website, they both say the Deye single phase hybrid was launched in 2017.. are you saying that information is incorrect and if so what proof do you have. So your saying the SolArk splitphase hybrid came before the single phase Deye hybrid. That doesn’t even make sense. The single phase version of inverters almost always come out before 3 phase and split phase versions become available
 
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