diy solar

diy solar

Sol-Ark 15K All in One Inverter Released.

I don't recommend anybody do it but all the electricians I have had come by just cut the seal and take the meter out. I am a little surprised but they just tell me if the power company asks just tell them you had an electrical issue and the electrician had to cut the power immediately. The power company does show up anywhere from a day to a month later and I tell them what he said and they just put on a new seal and left. I mean when you think about it what else is an electrician going to do if you have a faulty main breaker in the panel or a bad busbar? Leave you in darkness for several days waiting on an appointment.
I am only relaying what I am told. I live pretty damn far from town so its hard to drag electrians out here. I am trying to find another as these aren't being uber responsive :)
 
So my old growatts if you had PV and battery connected, but the inverter turned "off", it would still power on and run the MPPT when the sun was up to charge batteries, there would just be no DC -> AC inverter running.

Other inverteres have a "power saving mode" where there will be no AC output if there isn't a load detected.

This would bring down the ussage to basically 0 overnight when there is no AC load...

I am seeing if this exists for the sol-ark. Right now (until I get the electrians out) I was planning to just let the sol-ark charge the batteries for a day or three, until full, then swap over to it for ~4-7 days until eventually usage outdraws the re-charge rate.

I would like it to be on "mppt only" mode during the "charging time"
If I am understanding you correctly then no there is no power saving mode like that but....
If you set the Inverter battery shutdown voltage to a number higher that your current battery level the Inverter will shutdown completely and will restart when the PV is energized in the morning. It will then start charging the battery but I have no idea if it produce AC power or not as I have never tried it.

Pretty much a band aid solution for the next few days.
 
I am only relaying what I am told. I live pretty damn far from town so its hard to drag electrians out here. I am trying to find another as these aren't being uber responsive :)
Ahem,, just saying that they did not even ask for the electricians name etc.
 
If I am understanding you correctly then no there is no power saving mode like that but....
If you set the Inverter battery shutdown voltage to a number higher that your current battery level the Inverter will shutdown completely and will restart when the PV is energized in the morning. It will then start charging the battery but I have no idea if it produce AC power or not as I have never tried it.

Pretty much a band aid solution for the next few days.
might be worth a shot. Can just set the battery shutdown to 56V or something.

Or you know, since this is a 500voc mppt, I can just toss another panel to each string and that would probably cover the power loss heh
Ahem,, just saying that they did not even ask for the electricians name etc.
technically, our county has "right to wire", so I Can do the work myself as long as its to code (and then get an inspection). Maybe I should just do it... that said I've never worked on mains before
 
If I am understanding you correctly then no there is no power saving mode like that but....
If you set the Inverter battery shutdown voltage to a number higher that your current battery level the Inverter will shutdown completely and will restart when the PV is energized in the morning. It will then start charging the battery but I have no idea if it produce AC power or not as I have never tried it.

Pretty much a band aid solution for the next few days.
Hmmm just wondering if this is a good idea as you may not be able to get the inverter running again at night or until the battery goes past the threshold as you have no AC Input.
 
Hmmm just wondering if this is a good idea as you may not be able to get the inverter running again at night or until the battery goes past the threshold as you have no AC Input.

When I swap the house back onto this i'll set the disconnect voltage back to 46v so it can run 24/7. Itd only be set to 56 when I am "offline charging" for a few days.

TBH since this is now a 3 string 500v (vs 2 425v growatts) MPPT I might be able to put enough panels out to sustain 24/7 until late fall
 
Hmmm just wondering if this is a good idea as you may not be able to get the inverter running again at night or until the battery goes past the threshold as you have no AC Input.
Omg the alarm. It won't shut up lol
 
FYI 89 watt idle consumption

When pulling 6.61kw it was using 6.57 from battery and .47 from pv, for a toal effeciency there of ~94%. This was no shunt verified though, will do more effeciency at different load tests this weekend
 
FYI 89 watt idle consumption

When pulling 6.61kw it was using 6.57 from battery and .47 from pv, for a toal effeciency there of ~94%. This was no shunt verified though, will do more effeciency at different load tests this weekend
How about no load consumption?
 
How about no load consumption?
It would be nice to see a chart of the efficiency or power usage curve under varying loads. This is something the manufacturer should have and provide in the manual or documentation. A nice graph charting the consumption vs load curve.
 
It would be nice to see a chart of the efficiency or power usage curve under varying loads. This is something the manufacturer should have and provide in the manual or documentation. A nice graph charting the consumption vs load curve.
I can sorta do this.

I am planning on putting in an outlet directly to the output, then I can put a killawatt meter on to verify its output power accuracy, assuming those line up, I can then re-hook up the house, and put different loads from ~300w to 12kw and see. Likely won't post this data until sunday though
 
Some initial thoughts:
1.) its hard to install laying flat lol. the battery bolts have washer + lock washer, and getting those off a vertical terminal requires a bit of finagling.
2.) You connect the batteries to a breaker protected connection, which is nice. However, there is no built in bypass resistor, so flicking the breaker makes a spark. Kinda annoying, as you are stuck choosing to connect with the breaker on and using the resistor, or bypassing the breaker, but there isn't really room to do that.
3.) It won't energize the AC output unless there is a N/G bond in the system somewhere. The inverter itself (obv) is not bonded, so its expecting in the mains. Normally I energize the AC outs, probe the outputs to ensure good split phase, then attach to interlock, but that doesn't work. Has to be connected to interlock (thus connecting to your n/g bond in your main panel), then you can turn on AC output
4.) PV Connectors are pretty nice but don't fit 10ga ferrules (easily), so I had to just put the stranded wire in directly. But they clip in like a wago connector and didnt budge on a pretty good tug.
5.) screen is touchscreen, works well enough
6.) Plenty of room in electrical cabinet to do whatever
7.) using the bus-bars for N/G that expect terminals is kinda dumb imo.
Referencing from my experience with my 12k here.

#3 You can get around the N/G bond issue temporarily by using a jumper wire between the two in the sol-ark. I've done it, it works, but I was only doing a function test at the time.
#4 I have 8ga bare stranded wire in mine. It fits. Pretty snug, but it isn't coming out.
 
Referencing from my experience with my 12k here.

#3 You can get around the N/G bond issue temporarily by using a jumper wire between the two in the sol-ark. I've done it, it works, but I was only doing a function test at the time.
#4 I have 8ga bare stranded wire in mine. It fits. Pretty snug, but it isn't coming out.
Agreed on #4, I think the PV connector is very solid, no complaints

#3 is what I did for a very temp solution as well before going to the interlock (bonded, probed, verified... turned off, unbonded, connected to interlock, rebooted)
 
? yeah the "beep" under display did it.

Got my rs232 --> USB cord so now I have it connected to my solar-assistant. Works without issue there.
Excellent! (Did you update to the current firmware 11 May?)

Please post a pic of the bottom panel where all the cables pass through.
Are you going grid-tied?
 
Excellent! (Did you update to the current firmware 11 May?)

Please post a pic of the bottom panel where all the cables pass through.
Are you going grid-tied?
No firmware updates yet, what changed?
Not yet either, electrian working on that soon
 
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