Another Parallel Sol-Ark 15k Thread

Hi all,

been lurking here for a while, watching and re-watching every solar video on YouTube, etc.

I am trying to wrap my head around how to get to the finish line and start spending a bunch of money on solar equipment.

We have an existing 400a service that we paid to put in a couple of years ago. The impetus was two-fold: 1) remove the existing overhead service that landed out in the middle of our yard (low WAF) and increase the available power for the eventual 50x50 man cave aka "the garage." The "ranch panel," a Siemens MC0816B1400RTLM is rated at 400a, but 320a continuous. The meter has dual lugs which feeds two 200a main breakers. We are on over 5ac and have a well which has two pumps...one in the ground pumping into a large water storage tank and another pump to pressurize our water.

One of the 200a feeders runs to the house (approx 150ft) and the other 200a feeds a line that runs about 100' to the well side of the property (90 degrees from the panel).

The goal is to be independent of the grid if we want to be, but still be tied (at least until the "off grid" capability is tried and tested). We live in the hill country west of Austin, TX. So, we get plenty of sun. In the cool months, which I think there are about two of, we use around 60kwh/day. Currently, we are around 130kwh/day as the house we live in, while relatively new, is an air sieve. The spray foam crew is blasting my attic right now with 6" of open cell foam...we will see if that helps.

I have some toys and a number of them like electricity. The shop will have a 25a/240v lift, a number of welders, 5hp air compressor, etc...so, while I don't plan on using 400a...or even 320a, I would like to have it available if possible. Because of this, and the SA15k's "pass through" capability of 200a each I figured they would be my best bet. That, and that I can stack them in odd configurations rather than having to buy two of something else should I need more current available. I was looking at the Victron Quattro 15k, but it only appears to do 100a pass-through.

I am planning on building a small equipment shed, with cooling, to house this whole setup about 10-15 feet away from the service panel.

After reading through a lot of threads here I started wondering how well the "pass through" actually works. Has anyone actually run loads north of 60-70 amps and had no issues? It seems that I am hung up on the 400a service and pass-through capabilities...if I don't have that, I am wondering if I even need to deal with all of that and go with a more traditional AC coupled style setup that just backfeeds in to a panel?

Pretty much talked myself around in circles at this point.

-Jason

Welcome, funny you should mention West of Austin TX. I'm reading this in a construction trailer at the Samsung Semiconductor Plant near Taylor. In admitting such at thing I understand it could either be perceived as good or bad.
The project brings jobs and capital to the area but also congestion, traffic and a massive building that is not exactly in "tune" with the farming and ranch life around here. I'm sure the nearby neighbors are just horrified. Of course one doesn't know the circumstances of a job until the company sends you there.

Your thought process is right on target but missing some important information. What you really need to do is make a spreadsheet and list all of the appliances and equipment as well as their respective electrical demands. Based on the above I suspect the total power requirement is going to be a large number. However, unless you are operating a business, the compressor and multiple welders are not all going to be running at the same time.

If you take the time to analyze your usage patterns you will probably find the actual average current is well below the 200A pass thru rating. Do you have an energy monitor like an Emporia Vue? They are very reasonably priced.

Yes, I have three!

Curious to see what the foam they just sprayed upstairs will do if anything…especially with the forecast for next week. I have all of the big circuits on the house panel in the Vue…another on the Well house leg…and one further down on that leg for the 20’ container pantry.

The well house leg is pulling about 20kwh a day. The house has been around 120kwh/day right now with almost 80% of that to run the 2.5ton heat pump.

We will be adding around 650sqft soon and I am planning to pull the siding and air seal everything when we put on new windows. 1-2” of exterior foam is also planned…going igloo mode.

Right now I would need the mother of all battery banks to be self sufficient…and I have not even built the shop.

But, you know…shiny new object named solar.

Tagging in here. Struggling with a similar large farm project. Will not go into details to avoid derailing your thread, but curious about the discussion.

superchachi said:

Has anyone actually run loads north of 60-70 amps and had no issues?

Click to expand...

Not near 320A but my record is about 78A @ 246V (19.2 kW). No issues whatsoever but 9.1 kW of that was grid assist as it was in the early evening and I had to charge our EV for a trip the next day (time of use/battery discharge was disabled at the time).

I've been helping a local guy with his new setup that's a near copy of mine and I believe he mentioned he hit either 23 kW or 26 kW while charging multiple cars, running his pool pump, and 3 AC units. Something crazy like that.

Both of those are nothing compared to what a pair of 200A AIOs should be capable of with pass-through.

Do you have enough space for panels near where the meter is?
Where do you want to put all the batteries?
Build a solar shed between the two buildings?
I'm guessing you may end up with two independent systems, one at each location.

When you need to replace your Air Conditioner, consider geothermal.

2TrevorJ said:

Not near 320A but my record is about 78A @ 246V (19.2 kW). No issues whatsoever but 9.1 kW of that was grid assist as it was in the early evening and I had to charge our EV for a trip the next day (time of use/battery discharge was disabled at the time).

I've been helping a local guy with his new setup that's a near copy of mine and I believe he mentioned he hit either 23 kW or 26 kW while charging multiple cars, running his pool pump, and 3 AC units. Something crazy like that.

Both of those are nothing compared to what a pair of 200A AIOs should be capable of with pass-through.

Click to expand...

Awesome…100a+ seems like a reality here at times. I felt like I read something about potential pass through issues when running parallel units…maybe it is the fumes

Thanks for posting that

DIYrich said:

Do you have enough space for panels near where the meter is?
Where do you want to put all the batteries?
Build a solar shed between the two buildings?
I'm guessing you may end up with two independent systems, one at each location.

When you need to replace your Air Conditioner, consider geothermal.

Click to expand...

I have plenty of room. My plan is to build a stand alone shed for all of this stuff near the service entrance panel.

Since gardening in central Texas is a bust in the summer, I have plans to build a steel pergola type structure to mount 30 Bifacials on and hopefully that will shade things enough. Agri Voltaics I believe. I had already had plans to build something similar for a large garden area I have built from steel to use shade cloth. Bifacial panels sounded like a lot more fun.

Geothermal is a no go. About 4 inches of clay and then solid limestone

superchachi said:

I have plenty of room. My plan is to build a stand alone shed for all of this stuff near the service entrance panel.

Since gardening in central Texas is a bust in the summer, I have plans to build a steel pergola type structure to mount 30 Bifacials on and hopefully that will shade things enough. Agri Voltaics I believe. I had already had plans to build something similar for a large garden area I have built from steel to use shade cloth. Bifacial panels sounded like a lot more fun.

Geothermal is a no go. About 4 inches of clay and then solid limestone

Click to expand...

Can you dig a deep well? I mean, if its "just" limestone, its pretty easy digging. Ground water somewhere down there? But even without groundwater, you can get a lot of cool out of a 200 ft deep hole. I don't know lot from first hand experience, but have always been fascinated by it. And geothermal is benefiting from the newest heat pump technologies as well. It is expensive. But so is a lot of things...... I guess if you have lots of space and Texas sun, PV has gotten cheaper.....

superchachi said:

Because of this, and the SA15k's "pass through" capability of 200a each I figured they would be my best bet.

After reading through a lot of threads here I started wondering how well the "pass through" actually works. Has anyone actually run loads north of 60-70 amps and had no issues?

-Jason

Click to expand...

The Sol-Ark is UL listed, meaning it's been critically tested to carry and switch 200 Amp. You can have faith in the 200 Amp rating.

Geothermal is something I have always been interested in...digging in solid limestone is not. I have an auger for my 75hp skid steer and a couple of rock bits, "easy" is not how I would describe my experience. Sure a purpose built rig would probably do it much more easily. I am more interested in generating power with my money right now.

Well, at this point I think I am leaning toward moving everything on to one of the 200a services and trying my best to build everything out so that I can run a second system later if I am that crazy. I can't seem to justify all of the fuss of maintaining 400a to one "system". I am not sure there is a point for me.

With that said, and spending time reading through the huge 18k thread, I am not sure which AIO setup to go with. In my heart of hearts, I think an LF system like the Schneider would be my preference...I just wish it was a little bigger unit. It looks like you can stack up to four of those in their Backup Control Switch literature...but, that would be somewhere around 21/22k for a 27k continuous system. I am sure it would run anything I could throw at it though.

Right now I am showing 17-18kw peaks total from my emporia vues. That is not running any of the toys...but, unless armageddon comes, I am not sure I need to run a 5HP compressor, welder, etc when the power is down.

From what I have read, my local utility wants everything UL rated...is the 18k UL rated?