Why am I seeing Sol-Ark 12k's being sold on Craigslist lately?

[SHTF Power Anyway]

I'm strongly considering bailing on my Sol-Ark 12ks due to their self-consumption. But when preparing to do so I've seen 3 being sold in my area for such low prices, I'm struggling to let go of what I have due to the significant loss I'd incur. If people are bailing out of this product and taking large losses on their investment, I can't be the only dissatisfied customer out there.

Who else is selling and why?

 

[DIYrich]

IMHO the 8k and 12k are a niche market. The 15k and eg4 18kpv make a lot more sense. If someone wants to save a little, then go with the cheaper stuff like growatt.

I am looking at AC PV into my 15k vs the higher cost of paralleling a 2nd 15k (there are other reasons a 2nd 15k is a problem in my situation - utility limit). Any cheap grid tied inverter would work for me. Discounted 12k would be nice.

People may be selling because their 12k isn't enough, but a 15k is. They would rather go to a 15k with 200 amp passthrough than parallel a 2nd 12k.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

IMHO the 8k and 12k are a niche market. The 15k and eg4 18kpv make a lot more sense. If someone wants to save a little, then go with the cheaper stuff like growatt.

I am looking at AC PV into my 15k vs the higher cost of paralleling a 2nd 15k (there are other reasons a 2nd 15k is a problem in my situation - utility limit). Any cheap grid tied inverter would work for me. Discounted 12k would be nice.

People may be selling because their 12k isn't enough, but a 15k is. They would rather go to a 15k with 200 amp passthrough than parallel a 2nd 12k.

I'm seeing one as low as $3k in Eugene, Oregon. Is that cheap enough for you?

I bought my 12ks just before the 15k came out. :-( I'm looking at possible replacement with Victron equipment but I'd have to rewire my arrays to make them work. My best solution appears to be the Midnight Solar Barcelona and Rosie but I'm not seeing those even really available. Most I've seen is beta test on the Rosie.

 

[DIYrich]

I'm seeing one as low as $3k in Eugene, Oregon. Is that cheap enough for you?

I bought my 12ks just before the 15k came out. :-( I'm looking at possible replacement with Victron equipment but I'd have to rewire my arrays to make them work. My best solution appears to be the Midnight Solar Barcelona and Rosie but I'm not seeing those even really available. Most I've seen is beta test on the Rosie.

I would pick one up for $3k, but I am on the other coast.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

You need a LOOOOONG road trip!

 

[rhino]

Rosie but I'm not seeing those even really available.

MidNite Solar MNROSIE7048RE Rosie 7000 watt Inverter and 120Amp Charger

Note: If you wish to use this inverter in a Mobile applications(RV, truck or marine). Please look at the Mobile ROSIE, MNROSIE7048M.

www.solar-electric.com

I had enquired about them couple months ago and they were in stock even then.

I am not sure about the Barcelona though.

 

[G00SE]

I wonder sometimes why the 12k gets no love. I get intrigued by twin 12ks as that nets effectively 18k of inverter. I’m stuck on LF but maybe with that much overhead I’d never notice
Heck, I wish they were 3k in the SW. I never really see any inverters in general for sale

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

I wonder sometimes why the 12k gets no love. I get intrigued by twin 12ks as that nets effectively 18k of inverter. I’m stuck on LF but maybe with that much overhead I’d never notice
Heck, I wish they were 3k in the SW. I never really see any inverters in general for sale

I'm having a lot of trouble with the self-consumption numbers. I'm fine all summer but once we hit winter it gets more than dicey for us. We need a lighter load.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

MidNite Solar MNROSIE7048RE Rosie 7000 watt Inverter and 120Amp Charger

Note: If you wish to use this inverter in a Mobile applications(RV, truck or marine). Please look at the Mobile ROSIE, MNROSIE7048M.

www.solar-electric.com

I had enquired about them couple months ago and they were in stock even then.

I am not sure about the Barcelona though.

For some reason, when I've been looking I haven't seen them for sale. I hadn't been looking at NAZ as I already spent north of $60k with them and refuse to repeat my experience. I did see the Barcelona many places and it kept saying the Rosie was the companion but the Rosie wasn't available on the sites. I was looking in the middle of the night when I had insomnia so maybe that explains things.

What did you end up going with, if you don't mind my asking...?

 

[robby]

I'm having a lot of trouble with the self-consumption numbers. I'm fine all summer but once we hit winter it gets more than dicey for us. We need a lighter load.

60W of self consumption is bothering you?
I could have upgraded to a 15K but I have never ever maxed out the 9.6KW on my 12K so I see absolutely no point. Another thing is that the only advantage to the 15K is the Pass through. If your seeing 12K for $3000 dollars I would get two of them! You would have 19KW of power which beats the 15K and the EG4 18kPV power and it's around the same price, plus you have redundancy should one fail.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

60W of self consumption is bothering you?
I could have upgraded to a 15K but I have never ever maxed out the 9.6KW on my 12K so I see absolutely no point. Another thing is that the only advantage to the 15K is the Pass through. If your seeing 12K for $3000 dollars I would get two of them! You would have 19KW of power which beats the 15K and the EG4 18kPV power and it's around the same price, plus you have redundancy should one fail.

Yes, 60W x 2 plus .05 of consumption is bothering me but only in the winter. I do have two already so my lowest consumption is 2880 watts for 24 hours (that's idle consumption). In winter I can have days as low as 2,000 watts in production. I need to know I can refill my batteries when I can have multiple days of this uptake. With a Victron setup I can get down to 30W/hour by reducing my inverter number from 4 to 2 as my power needs are significantly reduced for winter. I'm also sitting on 10 eFlex which, idle (powering NOTHING), will consume over 12W per hour (120W per hour for me with 10 in my bank) but that's only when idle. It's worse when active. So I'm sitting on a system that's not fit for my purpose. I've been working at this problem for months and keep coming back to the same answer. I'm about to post these batteries for sale again. I did so once before but had a hard time with the loss I'm about to take. I don't think my loss is avoidable though now.

 

[RV10flyer]

I love my two totally off-grid 12K’s. They are HF inverters. Most problems with these occur from trying to run high inductive loads. Get rid of those power hungry batteries or have someone rebuild them like I said before using JK BMS’s. Then go buy more PV. I will have 33,000W of PV this winter. Most going into the 12K’s, the rest into two separate SCC. 143kWH diy LFP. You can’t run a normal all electric home on 2000W.

This is the USA, where many can’t even park in their garages and rent storage buildings just to store all of their STUFF. You know, all that stuff that has been replaced with the latest and greatest models. People can’t stand having the older model of anything. Car dealerships love it. Divorce lawyers love it. China sourced solar equipment salespeople love it.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

I love my two totally off-grid 12K’s. They are HF inverters. Most problems with these occur from trying to run high inductive loads. Get rid of those power hungry batteries or have someone rebuild them like I said before using JK BMS’s. Then go buy more PV. I will have 33,000W of PV this winter. Most going into the 12K’s, the rest into two separate SCC. 143kWH diy LFP. You can’t run a normal all electric home on 2000W.

This is the USA, where many can’t even park in their garages and rent storage buildings just to store all of their STUFF. You know, all that stuff that has been replaced with the latest and greatest models. People can’t stand having the older model of anything. Car dealerships love it. Divorce lawyers love it. China sourced solar equipment salespeople love it.

I couldn't get the one person I thought might have the chops to rebuild the batteries as you said to touch the project. We're not capable. And the batteries have welded cells. I do need to dump them and I've been working with Dan to replace them I noticed there was a post of yours with problems with a Trophy. You don't mention Trophy in your setup. What happened with your issues? Would you recommend them?

And, not to beat a dead horse, I am not going to attempt to run my whole home on this system in the winter. There's no size of a PV array that will actually let me do so in my area. When there's no sun, there's simply no uptake. My measured needs are under 1.4kWh in a day that time of year so I just need equipment that won't swallow the little production I do get. My uptake has been awesome this summer and I have zero issues powering my whole home. I've had some good conversations with others in my area about this very issue. When I redeploy after modifying my existing system, I may well add more panels but they won't help in heavy cloud cover. Only careful, limited consumption will fix the issue.

 

[Tulex]

I'm assuming it's from moving up to the 15K or EG4, but if it were me, I would be keeping it for a backup.

 

[hwy17]

When I first started dreaming of a hybrid inverter for my house, I really wanted something that would accept a large (100-200 amp) feeder wire in a pass through configuration. It's was the simplest conceptual design to start thinking about.

Only because I started my journey before the era of the 15k/18k was I forced to think in other directions.

So I think this will drive a separation in the market with a lot of newcomer interest flowing into the big pass through models, and this is probably what's going on here with the 12k. We see their value, but the market doesn't and is going in a different direction.

What I find interesting is that the pro market is going the complete opposite direction to zero passthrough systems, it's all backfed batteries with remote sensing and switching located upstream, Powerwall style and it looks like Schneider is going to chase them in that direction. So small (60a) passthrough systems are going to get stranded here.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

I'm assuming it's from moving up to the 15K or EG4, but if it were me, I would be keeping it for a backup.

It's absolutely a consideration we're mulling over.

Honestly, I was surprised to see so many ads come up in my area for Sol-Ark 12ks all of a sudden. We've had a few issues with our setup which were caused by an issue with the board in our master unit. When that board was replaced, we've had few issues since. I thought maybe there was something else going on with them causing the sales.

 

[Mattb4]

I'm strongly considering bailing on my Sol-Ark 12ks due to their self-consumption. But when preparing to do so I've seen 3 being sold in my area for such low prices, I'm struggling to let go of what I have due to the significant loss I'd incur. If people are bailing out of this product and taking large losses on their investment, I can't be the only dissatisfied customer out there.

Who else is selling and why?

Bit like what happens to a brand new car once you drive it from the Dealers lot, the resale price drops like a stone from the new price.

I'm seeing one as low as $3k in Eugene, Oregon. Is that cheap enough for you?

I bought my 12ks just before the 15k came out. :-( I'm looking at possible replacement with Victron equipment but I'd have to rewire my arrays to make them work. My best solution appears to be the Midnight Solar Barcelona and Rosie but I'm not seeing those even really available. Most I've seen is beta test on the Rosie.

$3k seems awful high for a used piece of electronic equipment. Now if it was $500 I might be interested.

 

[SHTF Power Anyway]

Bit like what happens to a brand new car once you drive it from the Dealers lot, the resale price drops like a stone from the new price.

$3k seems awful high for a used piece of electronic equipment. Now if it was $500 I might be interested.

I personally think that it's all relative to what the equipment is going for new. As prices have dropped on the 12ks while I pondered what to do, the value has certainly taken a huge hit. Then you look at lack of warranty and loss of any tax credit and go from there. They will support a new user. We've at least asked that question. It's good equipment in the right circumstance and may well be fine for us for the time being. We're sitting tight this winter on the Sol-Ark setup but I'm watching the market and asking questions so I'm making informed decisions.

 

[Supervstech]

I did a Craigslist search, and the deals seem to be in Hawaii and Denver… Chicago has em, but pricy…

 

[jasonojordan]

I have a 12k and considered moving on from it for a 15k with how my house/garage is wired it would make the most sense for whole home power loss backup. The 12k does not have enough passthrough to be able to support powering my whole home from batteries during a grid down event.

Currently I have a work around so that I can feed power back to the house during a grid down event still but only 40a worth. Whole house is run on propane for large power draw appliances but wanted to have some ability to feed back to the house to keep the well pump running for extended down events.

I bought my 12k about a year before the 15k came out.