wow
just wow.
I hate our politicians, and our crooked political machine, in general.
they tell us we have to go green. cutting off our nose, to spite our face on fossil fuels and energy independence. then, when someone dares to do what they tell us we have to do to "save the planet" they find...
my reason was to gather insight and valuable information, experience + calculations from folks like yourself.
your response has already helped me. I am still new to solar, and as such, am still learning the terminology. as responses are posted, I research all new-to-me terminology and...
OK. as a novice, let me make sure I'm on the right track.
first of all, if the old all-in-one (from here on, it will be referred to as the "blue box") inverter gets trashed/smoked it's not a big deal. I just want to keep the PV, batteries and any new equipment I throw into this mix in good...
just as coincidence, I had a firmware update on my sol-ark 12k yesterday.
painless.
10 minutes, maybe less. instantly came back online, powered everything back up with no intervention from me.
so far, i love our sol-ark.
this is what I actually settled on, before leaving and returning to work:
47.5 low battery alarm
47.0 shutdown
46.9 battery empty
47.9 restart
if these voltages seem low for FLA, I agree. however, I called and spoke to Trojan several times. each time they assured be that you can discharge to...
SOC is monitored by the Sol-Ark I do not have a separate shunt installed.
we do have a relatively low steady load. generally between 80w to 350w with an occasional spike to 800 (HVAC blower fan) or 1700w (dish washer)
I have gathered some good information directly from Mr. Cool technical support. thought I should share it, in case anyone else comes looking for it.
sorry about my terrible scribbles. I can clarify in text later, but I am at work, currently.
Can someone post a photo of some of the various unit data tags?
or even just list actual stats from the tag?
or better still, give real world amp/watt power consumption from experience with them.
After a dismal failure on my first solar adventure, I am back in.
About 2 years ago, I purchased a system, from a vendor online. Nice guy. Honest guy. he was just not particularly well informed on the equipment he was selling.
Basically, he was selling china junk. I honestly don't think he...
yes and yes.
he referenced percentage and voltage.
two different guys, on 3 different occasions. first call about a 6 weeks ago second call about 4 weeks ago, then another just now.
So. I have my Sol-Ark 12k up and going for 4 days now. Of those 4 days, only 2 have been running loads. 2440w of panels on the roof.
Day 1: install 12k and connect 4X trojan T-1275 batteries for 48v. let charge to 100%, no loads.
day 2: connect single load circuit. circuit consists of: one...
Sorry, I mis-typed. collective voltage was 52.6V
readings were all 13.18, 13.19, 13.17 with one outlier at 13.26
About 3 minute after first post, power came back on after update completed. instantly, the Sol-Ark was reading 87% SOC 52.9V
currently at 52v with all loads running normal.
761w...
kind of my thought as well, especially considering my unit does equalization/desulfite charge every 30 days.
that combined with the fact that I only have two parallel strings of 4 each, I thought I might be OK without a separate balancing unit.
I remember back in the 80's & early 90's when 110v was standard AC current.
are there any drawbacks to running modern motors, appliances and electronics that are made for 120v or 115v "modern" AC current on this janky "blue box" inverter that puts out 110v?
aside from items that need to "keep...
in your response, you said that you have 4 batteries running. you also reference one is a trophy 220 and three are DIY 280's. It has always been my understanding that you are not supposed mix batteries. as stated in my original post, I am still quite new to all of this, so I realize I may be...
Ok, went to www.Sol-ark.com/Solar-panel-sizing/solarpanelsizing.html
here is what I got:
According to this max "number of modules in series" per MPPT is 9.
but then is says "number of strings" per MPPT is 2.
9 is not divisible by 2. obviously, you cannot have 2 parallel strings using 9...
"Bright solar" brand: MPPT-5KW 48VDC 60A charge controller.
8x qcell 305w panels, wired series parallel 4&4.
8x Trojan T-1275 12v lead acid batteries, series parallel 4&4 for 48VDC.
just made the switch to full solar last Sunday.
The issue we are having is that we are losing power when early...
I am very new to all of this, so forgive my ignorance. I am here to learn, and get more knowledgable about my system and solar and battery theory in general.
During my research (I have been researching for around 2 years, on and off) I came to understand that your cells should be pretty uniform...
how many do I need?
I see there is a 24v or 48v version. SOL-ARK is 48v, so that part is clear.
I have 8 FLA Trojan T-1275 (12v) batteries. obviously, that means 4s2p bank.
do I just buy one for all 8, or two, one for each parallel bank, or 8, one for each battery?
just by looking at the...
poor quality display menu photos explained in text below, in order from left to right, top row, then bottom row.
1. 126v input (from PV)
2. 5.7A input (from PV)
3. 282w (input/output not designated)
4. grid input "0" working mode [01] grid priority MPPT output 110v
5. grid input "0"...
yes. that is what I did for last year. we got a $2000 credit because of our solar system. we try not to give uncle Sam an interest free loan each year, so we tried to generate a tax deficit. our actual tax refund was $1,600. Prior to the solar system being factored in, we were supposed to owe...
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond and educate me on this.
I will do as you have stated above.
It is running on grid priority now. It was discharged down to 48.7v when I switched the grid supply back on. I will take a voltage reading when it is charged in the morning.
When I...
I'll just go ahead and shamelessly shill for what I have, use and love.
Sol-Ark 12k
they make them in a smaller size, but for the cost difference, you might as well get the 12k. if you ever need to expand, for any reason, it can handle it.
it is 48v
produces split phase 230 AC.
has wifi...
My system has only been online for about 36 days. To my knowledge (and I'm pretty confident) it had never been updated. I actually purchased the Sol-Ark unit back in September of 2021, so I'm sure the firmware was quite out of date.
So in essence, I guess the update was just about getting...
OK, after digesting every comment and reccomemdation from everyone here, and MUCH research on all of the reccomended products and brands... we are currently leaning towards Mr. Cool DIY mini-split line.
us being homestead type folks, the DIY is appealing for us to install ourselves. however...
Sorry, I posted this to the wrong thread a few minutes ago.
I am copying and pasting it here, where it belongs, and will delete the other post.
Since you are also a sol-ark user, and more solar experienced that I, may I ask for some insight?
I am the one who started this thread. I have a...
I was running in % mode.
I have switched to Volt mode.
I will have to do a bit of math to figure out the 10% difference you suggest. I will adjust as needed.
(I was just editing my above comment to reflect the volt/percent issue, but you had posted before my edit was complete)
I have an old hybrid controller, from some crap mfg, that never could perform as sold.
it only puts out one leg of 110v... not a mistype. it puts out 110v. it also does not put out a true 60Htz, which made my clocks run slow.
it was unable to absorb/bulk charge over 55.5v so when sun went...