DIY Sol - Ark 15K system. Any feedback?

[TexasAmerica777]

Hello, This is my first post and the forum. Been reading a lot of threads for awhile. I am gathering information on a DIY grid tie system. I live in rural Johnson County Texas and already confirmed there are no permits, just need my co-op to sign off on the plans. Details on my system (thus far) is below please let me know your thoughts or any recommendations.

Inverter - Sol Ark -15K
Panels - 36x Aptos 550W bifacial panels. 2 strings per MPPT (6 panels wired in series, then those 2 sets of 6 panels wired in parrel)
Racking - Iron Ridge roof mount, XR-10 rails with flash foot 2. I do have some panels that will go on a metal roof with PBR panel and will use S5 brackets
Battery - Discover Helios 16KWH

I will be installing a 200 amp fusible disconnect right after the meter, into a J box where I will do a line side tap with Polaris multi tap connectors. One line goes into grid connections on inverter and the other line will go into a 200 amp bypass switch which will then feed my houses panel. I am planning on following the Bypass diagram in Sol Ark's manual. I believe it is diagram 7. My goal is to mount and hook up all the solar panels, run the PV wire through conduit down through my attic to inverter and mount the disconnect, bypass and J box with 2.5" conduit connecting it all. I have already lined up an electrician (Energize with Sunrise based in Burleson, TX) to do the final hookup.

I also have a call later today with Chris from Practical Preppers (Engineer 775) to talk through some details and questions I have regarding over paneling.

 

[TexasAmerica777]

Anyone have any thoughts on the Pegasus skip rail to save on roof penetrations and rails needed?

 

[Plaiii]

Sounds similar to my system except for roof mounts. I went with ground mounts for ease of access and maintenance but if you don’t have the space you do what you have to. Practical Preppers is who I consulted with and bought the inverter, batteries, mounts and some PV panels from. Also two mini-splits, one of which cools the “power plant room”. If you want to see it I made a video:

 

[TexasAmerica777]

I will take a look at your video. Thanks for sharing!

 

[_Andy_]

Panels - 36x Aptos 550W bifacial panels.

Brand new here too so could be very wrong but from what I was understanding the bi-facial panels don’t add a benefit if roof mounted because you’re not really getting any light behind them. Maybe see a savings if you go mono?

 

[rhino]

Plus you can get mono-facial panels with a lot thicker glass then bifacial panels. All bifacial I've seen are 2mm, whereas you can fairly easily get 3.2mm mono-facial and if you really need it can find 4mm, especially if you are in area that experiences significant hail.

 

[TexasAmerica777]

Brand new here too so could be very wrong but from what I was understanding the bi-facial panels don’t add a benefit if roof mounted because you’re not really getting any light behind them. Maybe see a savings if you go mono?

Price was the same. But I will probably go that route for Monofacial.

 

[TexasAmerica777]

Plus you can get mono-facial panels with a lot thicker glass then bifacial panels. All bifacial I've seen are 2mm, whereas you can fairly easily get 3.2mm mono-facial and if you really need it can find 4mm, especially if you are in area that experiences significant hail.

I wasn't aware of this. I am most likely going Mono now. The price was the same for both.

 

[TexasAmerica777]

I keep reading about bypass switches, trying to figure out exactly what I need. Are double throw safety switches the same as a bypass switch? Needing one to fill the bypass switch in the attached diagram.

 

[Plaiii]

From what I understand transfer switches are service entrance rated for the purpose of allowing a load to have access to two sources. A DT safety switch is more for switching a single source between two loads. Technically the DT would work but from a safety/legal standpoint it would have to carry a service entrance use rating as well. The two you see in my video are Midwest Electric brand. Purchased locally for about $800 each. A week after commissioning my system I discovered 30Kwh of battery was a little shy and on several occasions had to switch back to grid for a few hours. I had no issues with the switch operation so I'm satisfied with them. I should add that the switches I used are three phase, 600 volt. I did that to have more room in the cabinet for the wiring as well as switching the neutral along with the two "hot" legs.

 

[k490]

I keep reading about bypass switches, trying to figure out exactly what I need. Are double throw safety switches the same as a bypass switch? Needing one to fill the bypass switch in the attached diagram.

Doesn't the Sol-Ark have a 200 amp bypass built in. You only need a disconnect I suppose transfer switch is nice if the inverter goes out like this other thread. He was able to manually bypass his inverter waiting to get it replaced.

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/s...l-ark-their-response-was-underwhelming.99765/

 

[TexasAmerica777]

Doesn't the Sol-Ark have a 200 amp bypass built in. You only need a disconnect I suppose transfer switch is nice if the inverter goes out like this other thread. He was able to manually bypass his inverter waiting to get it replaced.

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/s...l-ark-their-response-was-underwhelming.99765/

It does. But if it fails my house has no power. A transfer switch would allow me to switch back to grid to service the unit.

 

[TexasAmerica777]

From what I understand transfer switches are service entrance rated for the purpose of allowing a load to have access to two sources. A DT safety switch is more for switching a single source between two loads. Technically the DT would work but from a safety/legal standpoint it would have to carry a service entrance use rating as well. The two you see in my video are Midwest Electric brand. Purchased locally for about $800 each. A week after commissioning my system I discovered 30Kwh of battery was a little shy and on several occasions had to switch back to grid for a few hours. I had no issues with the switch operation so I'm satisfied with them. I should add that the switches I used are three phase, 600 volt. I did that to have more room in the cabinet for the wiring as well as switching the neutral along with the two "hot" legs.

This makes perfect sense now. Thank you for explaining it. I will bite the bullet and get the transfer switch!

 

[1201]

Don't waste your money on a solark 15k. Get two growatt sph 10k for $4700. More power, more PV , less cost

 

[k490]

It does. But if it fails my house has no power. A transfer switch would allow me to switch back to grid to service the unit.

I probably would buy a transfer switch also easy enough to take some wire run it from the disconnect to the panel if have to remove the inverter, but if I wasn't around inverter had problems my wife can flip the transfer switch. I would go with the gridboss and flexboss 21 has that transfer switch built in with those smart ports. I don't know why Sol-Ark hasn't come out with a microgrid interconnection device like the gridboss they are losing business because of that.

I'm only in favor of gridboss for grid connected pure off-grid no added value two EG4-12k offgrid inverters would be better.

 

[Plaiii]

I probably would buy a transfer switch also easy enough to take some wire run it from the disconnect to the panel if have to remove the inverter, but if I wasn't around inverter had problems my wife can flip the transfer switch. I would go with the gridboss and flexboss 21 has that transfer switch built in with those smart ports. I don't know why Sol-Ark hasn't come out with a microgrid interconnection device like the gridboss they are losing business because of that.

I'm only in favor of gridboss for grid connected pure off-grid no added value two EG4-12k offgrid inverters would be better.

I thought I read somewhere on this forum that the Gridboss only full integrates with other EG4 products. If true you would be locked in to one vendor regardless of what advances may appear down the road with other manufacturers. I’m not knocking the product, I just prefer as little proprietary gear as possible with as much locally obtainable generic interconnection devices as possible.

 

[k490]

I thought I read somewhere on this forum that the Gridboss only full integrates with other EG4 products. If true you would be locked in to one vendor regardless of what advances may appear down the road with other manufacturers. I’m not knocking the product, I just prefer as little proprietary gear as possible with as much locally obtainable generic interconnection devices as possible.

Would be interesting if someone could get a Gridboss and Sol-Ark to work together. I don't think Sol-Ark will work with a EG4 power pro battery maybe there is a way configuring the EG4 battery as a Pytes. I'm surprised Sol-Ark hasn't released their own probably working on it. I'm not stuck on any brand EG4 has the lowest prices for the most features at the moment for DIYers. The other UL approved brands are only available to installers. I have heard there are ways to DIY a Tesla power wall but I don't think it's well supported. The road block with UL9540a ESS requirement has forced DIyers to choose between 2 manufactures for the most part.

 

[TexasAmerica777]

Slight change of plans. My wife didn't like the location of the Sol Ark/battery. So now I am looking into mounting on an external wall 15 feet away. Because of this wiring costs and conduit goes up a bit. Anyone have an experience using 2" FMC conduit in an attic? Will need to runs of about 25' to carrying wire, three 4/0 wires (2 hot and 1 neutral) and one 1/0 wire (ground) from the meter to the sol ark and then back to panel which is next to meter.

 

[Plaiii]

I don’t suppose you could go underground with pvc since everything is going to be on an outside wall? I presume the 15K will be sitting atop the Helios as in 775’s video?

 

[TexasAmerica777]

Yes, it will be sitting on top. I could, but I have 12 feet of concrete patio to get through. lol.

 

[SplitUniverse]

Any bends in that conduit will make you curse the moment you had the idea of running those cables through a 2in conduit, although it's up to fill requirements.

 

[NC_hydro]

Having installed a sol-ark 15k system for friends I would stay away from Sol-ark. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy overpriced. Not impressed with what you get for the money. A pair of 10k SRNE ASP’s would get you 8kw more output at night on batteries for around $2,400 vs what $7k for the sol-ark? A dual Quattro 8KW build would probably be similar priced as the sol-ark and give you 16kW output vs the 12kW if the sol-ark (14kW’ish during good solar output)

 

[k490]

Does SNRE have UL 9540A with a battery they want to permit and interconnect.

 

[Tulex]

Having installed my own 15K, I would do the same again. It just works. The inverter is the heart of the system, spread over the life of the inverter, the price wasn't a deal breaker for me.

 

[Plaiii]

Any bends in that conduit will make you curse the moment you had the idea of running those cables through a 2in conduit, although it's up to fill requirements.

If it remains outside the residence he could pull Sweetbriar (4/0, 4/0, 2/0 AL) and add a #6 copper for ground. I did that through about 80 feet of 2” with a 90 on each end and a 180 deg, 10’ radius sweep. Used one 32 oz bottle of Ideal clear glide lube. Triple 4 and a 2 would of course be more difficult.