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Hey, Shout out to Sol-Ark, Here in Alaska I purchased a Sol Ark inverter from a local installer. Price was good or about average for the lower 48 prices. Installer did a good job getting it put together with PV on my roof, main panel and safety switches. I am currently just waiting on a grid...

I live in Alaska. Getting stuff here is almost impossible. Signature Solar did a great job. Got panels, mounts and a few other items. Way cheaper than my local sources even with the high cost of shipping. Everything arrived intact minus one damaged solar panel. Not on them, shipping issue...

According to my installer and Poco the Sol Ark can and will be used in grid tie only. Sol Ark engineers actually has a zoom meeting to go over the specs, set up and programming with my electric company and installer. I was impressed at how good, professional and available Sol Ark support was...

Frost heaves in Alaska are wild. Talking more than 6 inches in some places and at some depths. Can easily break a conduit in two and cause damage to wires. Deeper is better. PVC can get brittle up here in the well below zero temps so going below the frost line is important and safe. There...

Hey everyone, I just recently had a system installed. While I did not look at anything as high has >100 VOC or even over 60 VOC some were close to 50 VOC and when you factor in cold temps during winter you will easily exceed 50 VOC per panel. My main concern was the size of the panel. Some...

Hey Shadowmaker, My home is pretty efficient in regards to heating. I have a 5 star energy rating and would say I pay less for heating per sqft than about 98% of the people in my city. I have a condensing boiler, tons of zones, all radiant and all digital controls...

Hello JBoffgrid2022, I have a solar shed, 10 by 20 feet and muni approved. I did have to ground the shed x 3 and have DC shut off at the shed and back at the house, (inverter). I used super strut and bonded them to the copper grounding rods. I also ran 10g copper wiring underground back to...

Heat pump dryers, I have been trying to compare them to gas dryers. Efficiency and cost per load are very different. If you are going pure electric then a heat pump dryer is the way to go. Skip the standard electric dryer if at all possible If you have a gas line in place, and access to...

I just ran a bunch of trenches. My local Home Depot rents a trencher for 69 USD for 4 hours. I used EMT pipe. 3/4 inch and ran four 10 gauge copper wires through them using a wire snake every 10 to 20 feet before compression coupling for a water tight seal. Use lube to help guide the wires...

Hey, At our place in Mexico we installed an indoor drying line. looks nice to me. Placed by a windows it works well for towels. Electricity in Mexico is expensive. Here is a picture of it. Bought it on Amazon. Green and saves money. Super low costs and not bad looking. For an off grid...

I would consider using super strut. Most solar panels can be fitted with a strut nut then mounted to super strut rails on a structure. You can bond them to the super strut and ground them with simple copper grounding rods and wiring. They make mounts for both metal and asphalt shingle roofs...

Hey everyone, Okay the spec sheet on my Sol Ark 15K is rated down to -40C confirmed. This is important for me as I am in Alaska. My main panel and meter are near (just on the outside for meter) and inside my mechanical room (my main fuse box). My house is serviced with radiant heat via a gas...

No batteries as of yet. Grid tie application in process. If I did get batteries would put them in my mechanical room, wall mounted up high or in my garage would be an option. Garage would be a long run with expensive cables so my least favorite option.

Brucey, Not likely to be covered but access in the winter will be difficult. Over hang above, but 3 stories above. The first 2 feet around my foundation are without snow commonly do to radiant heat in the concrete slab. The meter is also low but higher than the Sol Ark. The exhaust from my...

Wow, not a lot of love to EMT. While not always the best option please keep in mind every situation is different. EMT that is zinc coated galvanized steel should make it about 50 to 75 years. All connections must be sealed if underground. Probably a longer life than the shed it is running...

I am sure PVC would have collapsed just as easily as the EMT though not due to rust. Newer EMT that is zinc coated should last a while. Some good news, 6 to 8 months of the year there is no water or wet as everything is frozen where I am at. Then the thaw comes so a month of constant wet...

Agree fully. I am set up to control what I use and what I sell back via the Sol Ark. The fee is kind of a processing fee I guess. Goal is use first always. Batteries may make some sense but the fee is really small when net metering so not sure if I will ever do that. I like keeping it...

Hey everyone, Maybe my inverter is old, I know I am. The temperature rating was important to me as my unit is mounted outside in Alaska. That being said it is mounted along the wall to my mechanical room. We could not put the unit in the mechanical room due to copper and water. I have...

Here in Alaska, Gas used over electric for drying clothes. Cheaper so I am told. That being said, drying racks work the best. Bonus you get to add humidity to a dry house for free. Drying racks are pretty cheap as well. Last I heard about 6% of all electrical consumption in the US is used...

Hey Oldphile, That is not a bill or the price per KWH. That is the price for banking a unit from Solar Generation and taking it back for use at my house. My Net meter fee per unit. Plus 8 usd per month for a solar grid tie. So banking fees are .061 (Distribution Charge)+...

May I ask if you are mounting your EG4 18k outside? I saw you set -40C as your low temperature extreme and the EG4 18k is only rated to -25C.

Huh, where did you get 15 cents from? 21 cents a KWH where I am at. Plus I have 2 EVs. They perform terrible in cold weather. Vampire loss is extreme. I need lots of KWH and the grid tie is likely to close. 8% increase in rates coming. So I installed solar. Those who went before me in...

Oldphile thanks for the info, As for inverter it is about 2 or 3 feet off the ground. Snow could be an issue but not up against the house. Over hang helps a bit. Also a bit of a hill there. Radiant heat helps a lot. The first 2 or 3 feet all around my house will be green year round...

Sorry I am late to this post, Your solar shed, does this price include the shed? What is the size of the shed? Typically under 200 sqft and you do not need a permit. Will the shed be insulated? What is the roof angle and type? "A" frame or "one way?" Are you planning to heat/cool the shed...

Hey Shadowmaker, I agree the snows reflection of light and colder temps increase production more than most people account for. My few but growing number of solar friends in Alaska stress that as a big benefit having snow reflect the light . My solar shed dreams...

Oldphile, Sorry I missed the part about the loads. My home is efficient as we did a energy audit a few years ago. We averaged 8 to 12 kwh a day for 3800 sqft. Then we got 2 EVs. Now we average about 35 to 38 KWH a day with some days passing 40 KWH. With free charging at my work it helps a...

Hey Shadowmaker, I do not intentionally heat that areas around my house just excess or a biproduct of my radiant system. I doubt it gets to the 140F temperature of the water being sent through the pex and concrete. Pure accidental conduction. I need just...

Hey Everyone, I am stuck with Sol Ark as I was concerned about the minimum temperature. At -25C or -13 F as a temp limit, that will be an issue where I live up north. On windy nights during the winter we can dip below -25C though not by much. Has anyone tried using one...

I did not say it was decent, only said it was on sale. I let Amazon shoppers do the ratings.

I have Sol Ark 15k and 2 active mmpts . Is it possible to add third MMPT for only battery charging or off grid use and use other two for a grid tie (limit 10k grid tie)? My grid tie is only for 10kWH max. I wish to add another 5 KWH MMPT on the third position matching the other two. So if I...

Hey guys, As for Mirco Inverters versus String Inverters there is little difference between them in regards to production and life span. I quote PV magazine Nov 29 2021. In this study out of France, failure was more common on the micro inverter side but a system using micro inverters has many...

In the 2023 NEC, Section 358.10(A)(1) was revised to specifically allow EMT in direct burial applications with fittings identified for direct burial.

I have a Sol Arc 15k. Installed with 9 KWH of solar. I am in a city of 330k people with a request for a grid tie. The Sol Arc is approved by my local electric company online as a recommended inverter. The city has also permitted the build. I have spent over 100k on two EV plus solar going...

Per my previous message: Enphase inverters are rated to -40C but they experience about 50 to 100% failure of at least one micro inverter yearly with an average system having about 20 micro inverters. So your results are similar at 1 failure every 2 years of an optimizer, though your system is...

Wow, You are way ahead of me. That is impressive! Do you suffer much production loss in summer from the steep angle? Your are a pro man. My install was by a professional though I may solar up my shed. POCO will not allow it to be grid tied though. Are you using super strut between posts...

Can you tell us more about the mission? Battery to inverter? Solar to inverter? Maybe both? 24 or 48 volt system? What type of loads if any are you looking to run?

Okay, I have my Sol-Ark 15k up and running. Two MMPTs are being used and bring in 8700 watts of solar. All panels are REC and face the same direction, 190 degrees Southwest. These two MMPTs, each having 12 panels per MMPT are well balanced and producing better than expected in my current...

Sorry, did not see your reply in time. This was on sale on Amazon for prime day.

Enphase claims a failure rate of 0.05%. Of what, I have no idea? 0.05% per year, per hour or per KWH? What does 0.05% of blank mean? Sol Ark claims a failure rate of 0.1-1.0% per year after year one. I can quantify that, though the range is rather large. I have a Sol Ark 15k with one open MMPT...

Can a Sol-Ark 15k be used directly for bidirectional charging to an EV? The car in questions is a Volvo Ex 90 (107 KWH battery) with a port Type 2 Combo 2 (CCS). I would love to have this as a back up battery for the home. Would it even be possible to for the car to back up a battery already...

I have the same question as Dymailbox. I have a Sol Ark 15k with 2 MMPTs used up. Set up a south west solar shed with 11 panels, max amount per Sol Ark panel calculator and my lowest temperature of the year. I am setting up a ground mount, will match with 11 panels but will face south East...

I have a Bluetti 500 pro. Currently it is powered by two MMPT strings (so both MMPTs in use) 3 panels of 300 watt Canadian Solar. Often I get about 1600 watts Max or so with good perfect sun and average about 1400 watts on per hour on a regular day about 5 hours full sun in a day. Battery...

I have a place in Mexico. AliExpress will deliver to Mexico. You can purchase a Deye inverter on that site and have that shipped to Mexico. Similar to Solar Ark, well pretty much the same thing minus a few extras to make both code in the USA and for an easy install in the USA. Deye inverters...

Wow, I am shocked a heat pump gets warm enough to dry clothes. My friends Tesla has trouble heating the cabin in cold weather. Amazed how efficient it is as well. Wow!

May I ask what is the capacity of the heat pump dryer? Sam

Hey Guys, Spec sheet from my installer.

Thanks timselectric, While I enjoy generating my own power and saving money I really like my grid tie as well, the one I should be getting. My electric company does a good job on providing me with power year round. In 7 years my power has only gone out twice and...

Please forgive me, are you saying the Sol-Ark transfer switch is always open when the grid is active or tied? This is the concern of my power company. They only want one AC input at a time plus solar. So they want the generator input off when the grid is connected and active.

Please note we have offered a zoom meeting between all parties, Sol Ark, homeowner, installer and the power company. The power company does not wish to attend. I assume my only option is mechanical go around.

What is the POCO?