DesertLuddite
New Member
I've recently had a new hybrid solar system installed at our home: 14.8kw solar (40 panels at 370w each, 4 strings of 10), Fortress Power eVault Max 18.5kwh, Sol-Ark 12K. I've finished wiring in all of the circuits I want on my critical loads panel, and everything seems to be working fine so far, but I'd also like to take advantage of the SmartLoad capability where I can use the Gen Input as a controlled AC output for "luxury loads. In this case, I'd like to wire in my hot water heater.
The Sol-Ark manual says, "Using Gen load for a water heater, we recommend that only one leg (120V) be connected to the bottom element. This significantly reduces the power consumption of the water heater while retaining core functionality (it will heat water, only slower). Gen Load is limited to 50A at 240V (Do not exceed!)"
I'm fine with configuring the Sol-Ark software to achieve this, but I'm unclear on exactly how to physically wire this solution. Do I literally just pull one of the legs from the existing water heater breaker and connect it to one of the two inputs on the Sol-Ark Gen Breaker? If so, does it matter which leg I pull and which side of the Gen breaker I connect it to? Or is it saying that I actually need to hobble the water heater itself so that it only pulling 120 instead of 240, only using the lower of the two heating elements? In which case, my wiring question on the Sol-Ark side remains.)
The Sol-Ark manual says, "Using Gen load for a water heater, we recommend that only one leg (120V) be connected to the bottom element. This significantly reduces the power consumption of the water heater while retaining core functionality (it will heat water, only slower). Gen Load is limited to 50A at 240V (Do not exceed!)"
I'm fine with configuring the Sol-Ark software to achieve this, but I'm unclear on exactly how to physically wire this solution. Do I literally just pull one of the legs from the existing water heater breaker and connect it to one of the two inputs on the Sol-Ark Gen Breaker? If so, does it matter which leg I pull and which side of the Gen breaker I connect it to? Or is it saying that I actually need to hobble the water heater itself so that it only pulling 120 instead of 240, only using the lower of the two heating elements? In which case, my wiring question on the Sol-Ark side remains.)