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Yes, we brought them all down since fully 50% of them were significantly cracked. We started putting the new ones up, only to realize that the railing isn't quite long enough, since the new panels are about 3" wider than the old. So, we need to add a bit to the railing before we can continue.

Update: It looks like the Tigos are ok. A few of the panels had significant cracks, 2 or 3 quite significant. The Tigo reporting the lowest watt / hours generated (A8) was attached to the panel with the most damage.

Is turning the PV Disconnect switch on my Sol-Ark 8k inverter to the Disconnected position enough, or should I power off the Sol-Ark entirely before swapping the Tigos between the A8 and A10 panels?

OK, i'll try that first. My original question still remains, though - how do I safely remove / replace the panels, since i'll still need to do this in order to switch the optimizer with one from another panel (i.e. swap the optimizers between A8 and A10)? Regards, John

Hello, all ... I've an array of 10 Hyundai HiS-M300TI panels that I bought used. While 5 of them work well, 2 are only so-so and 3 are definitely underperforming. I have no shade issues, so I think it's the panels themselves. Anyway, I want to replace the worst of them, and if I can DIY, even...

Hello, all ... I have a Fortress Power eVaultMax (18.6kwh) connected to a Sol-Ark 8k that works well. I also have a BigBattery Kong Elite Max (19kwh) that I want to connect in parallel. The chemistry is the same (LFP). the cell config is the same (16S), but the charge voltage recommendations...

Hello, all ... I have a Fortress Power eVaultMax (18.6kwh) connected to a Sol-Ark 8k that works well. I also have a BigBattery Kong Elite Max (19kwh) that I want to connect in parallel. The chemistry is the same (LFP). the cell config is the same (16S), but the charge voltage recommendations...

I'm still looking for Hyundai HiS-M300TI / M310TI panels. A few of the ones I have aren't performing that well, so i'd like to replace them with better ones. Does anyone know where I can find ones that I can test to be sure?

Hello, all ... So, PG&E finally inspected my solar upgrade today, and they found one issue - the installer ran conduit within 2ft of the gas meter. While I'm confident that I can hire an electrician to get this corrected quickly, I'm wondering: Does this kick me out of NEM 2.0? The application...

Hello, all ... Can anyone point me to a vendor from whom I can purchase 10 Trina TSM-DE19 550w panels? I'm in northern California. Regards, John

Hmm, said application has suddenly re-appeared. I logged in again just now, and it's baaaaack, specifying review in progress. I'm still hopeful that it'll be good.

The city did the inspection a year ago, and everything passed, as indicated on the permit PDFs I sent them on 3-23-23. So, hopefully it's all good? This has been _quite_ the arduous process - from buying this place a bit over 2 years ago and immediately starting work to get the then-3kw PV...

Hello, all ... i've a question. After going back and forth with PG&E for over a year trying to get this NEM application through, said application has now disappeared from the PG&E interconnect portal. The last communication I had from them (on 3-27-23) was verification of their receipt of the...

Same, actually. The people i've contacted so far about trying to get my NEM application corrected, have been quite busy. I'm concerned that they won't have enough bandwidth to fix my application, despite their best efforts / intentions, so i'm also interested in seeing if this person can...

The Sol-Ark now switches to battery power automatically! The problem was that the original contractor did not install a critical loads sub-panel and just wired everything into the existing subpanel in the garage. Once this was fixed, the Sol-Ark immediately switched to using the battery when the...

Eric, Many thanks for the info! It looks like I found someone who is willing to fix the issues i'm having. He came out today, is very familiar with Sol-Ark and battery systems, immediately figured what was wrong and gave me a quote to fix it. I believe he'll be doing the work this coming...

I'm in northern California, just south of Napa. I'll try to scrub the personal info from the SLD and post it here in a bit.

Fair point! :-) (though I really do think that they're awesome)

Yes, agreed. I put the 2 items together because if I need something else installed like a transfer switch (though Sol-Ark support suggests that I don't need one - Sol-Ark support has been very helpful as far as they can be without actually being here, i've nothing but good things to say about...

Hello, all ... I _love_ my Sol-Ark 8k. It's awesome. I have it connected to a Fortress Power eVaultMAX - also awesome. Those being said, i've an issue where the Sol-Ark doesn't automatically switch over to battery power when the grid is down. The grid wires from the utility breaker are...

Hello, all ... I've a Sol-Ark 8K connected to a 48V 18.6kwh 360Ah Fortress Power eVaultMax. This works well, though I also have 3 48V 5.3kwh rack-mount 103Ah LFP batteries from another manufacturer. From what i've read, I can't put these in parallel with the eVault bc they're too far apart in...

Can you provide his contact info? I had my PV system expanded from a 3kw grid-tie PV-only system to a 6kw hybrid PV+battery system, but the local installer I found - who did a good job, no real complaints - did not do any of the NEM paperwork. I've tried doing it myself, but PG&E always finds...

These are very helpful, many thanks! I'm thinking of using a simple Particle Photon or Argon to monitor a few lines from the battery tap, a temperature sensor or 2, do a bit of math and format the CAN messages in a way where the Sol-Ark would hopefully be able to read them :)

Hello, all ... I have a Sol-Ark 8k and a Fortress Power eVaultMax, and they communicate over CANbus. Since I think this is really cool, I'm looking to add CANbus to some other batteries I have, so _they_ could also communicate with the Sol-Ark. However, I don't know the specific CAN messages...

Yes, I've decided to either find a suitable source inside the battery (looking to see if perhaps the BMS has a 9V DC wire that I can convert down to 5V) or use a tiny battery just for the MCU. I plan on using a Particle Argon for this project and found CANbus transceivers that should work. I...

Hello, all ... As a personal project, I'm looking to power a microcontroller from a 48V LFP battery (BigBattery LAMA). The interesting thing is that if the battery is discharging, I want to power it from the LAMA, but if the battery is charging, I want to power it from the charge controller...

This is the CSXC100A3: https://apelectric.com/generac-cxsc100a3-pwrcell-100a-1ph-120-240v-nema-3r-automatic-transfer-switch I have basic 100A service from the utility (PG&E). I just want to be sure that if the grid goes down, my battery backup powers the house without back feeding the grid.

Hello, all ... I have a 6kw PV / battery grid-tie system using a Sol-Ark 8k and Fortress Power evaultMax battery. If the grid goes down, I want to be sure I don't backfeed the grid, so I think I need a xfer switch. My neighbor suggested the Generac CXSC100A3. Will this work with my system...

BigBattery got back to me just now. They tell me that they found a BMS that should work much better and they'll be able to replace the faulty BMS in the LAMA with this new one. Given that they replaced an earlier LAMA that had a different BMS issue (and that replacement LAMA continues to perform...

I've asked them to clarify what the extra costs would be, if any. I let them know that I'd be happy to drive the LAMAs to them and pick up the HSKYs to save them shipping. I probably won't hear anything until Monday or Tuesday, so I'll post again when I know more. If they want me to pay to...

Unfortunately, I am in a similar situation. I purchased 4 of the 48V LAMA batteries and their combiner box from BigBattery about a year ago. While 3 of the LAMAs continue to perform very well, 1 has stopped charging / discharging. Since they don't have any spares any more, they're telling me...

An update that I should have posted on this thread long ago: Problem solved. It was all due to the current transformers being improperly installed. Once they were put in the correct place and wrapped around the correct conductors, everything started making a lot more sense. The system then...

Hello, all ... I'm looking to expand my 6kw PV / battery system (consisting of 10 Hyundai HiS-M300Ti and 11 SolarWorld 275m panels). To make it really easy on the installer and be assured that they'll work with both the panels I have and my inverter, (Sol-Ark 8k) I'd like to get panels either...

Yes, I managed to install the CTs correctly - with _great_ help from people on this forum - when the 5k was installed and everything made a lot more sense - plus, TOU suddenly started working as it was intended. The issue basically was that I didn't have the CTs around the correct wires for my...

The sticker was still visible on my main panel (Challenger SMB12), and it indicated 125 amps max.