I'm DONE with MPP Solar

[Samsonite801]

... "guardians of the Ark" mentality...

 

[cs1234]

So the 12k number really says nothing about the inverter capability.

Yeah, that is some cruddy nonsense that they should have never done. It makes them look kind of dishonest.

 

[Samsonite801]

Yeah, that is some cruddy nonsense that they should have never done. It makes them look kind of dishonest.

Yeah perhaps a bit like the Inflation Reduction Act, how it really doesn't have anything to do with reducing inflation...

 

[realpinochet]

Yeah perhaps a bit like the Inflation Reduction Act, how it really doesn't have anything to do with reducing inflation...

Oh, so you're seeing past this Marxist bullshit to? Straight up Marxist playbook..call it the opposite of what it is. We're in some deep shit unless people wake up quickly...it's almost too late. From government funding, Ukraine, UN funding etc. Money printers are about to go burrrrr again. Here's some good links tracking this crap.

Wolf Street | The stories behind business, finance, and money

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[Samsonite801]

Oh, so you're seeing past this Marxist bullshit to? Straight up Marxist playbook..call it the opposite of what it is. We're in some deep shit unless people wake up quickly...it's almost too late. From government funding, Ukraine, UN funding etc. Money printers are about to go burrrrr again. Here some good links on this crap if you like.

Wolf Street | The stories behind business, finance, and money

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Yeah (staying back to topic, was my fault hehe), I don't really care what we're in for, I'm just gonna be out here on my property trying to wire in my LV6548's soon, as 'I'm just getting started with MPP Solar' hehe.. Fun times ahead, always, I don't care what the world does, blows up or whatever, just gonna have fun learning more cool stuff in the meantime, and smile all the way (Earth is my playground for now) hehe.

Cheers bro ?

 

[realpinochet]

Yeah (staying back to topic, was my fault hehe), I don't really care what we're in for, I'm just gonna be out here on my property trying to wire in my LV6548's soon, as 'I'm just getting started with MPP Solar' hehe.. Fun times ahead, always, I don't care what the world does, blows up or whatever, just gonna have fun learning more cool stuff in the meantime, and smile all the way (Earth is my playground for now) hehe.

Cheers bro ?

I'm doing the same thing you are which is why I joined here. Currently looking for land up in Oklahoma as Texas property taxes are insane and going up due to all the border issues. What I don't get is why everybody in Oklahoma has to cut down all the trees. lol I'd like to have several acres of trees for shade, cooking and winter heat. Arkansas might be another option. Got a ham radio to tinker with..wonder how ham radios fair on solar inverters? I need to look into starlink to.

 

[chess-equality]

I now prefer multiple smaller systems than a single big one; more-so if you're putting almost everything on it.

I built mine with 4 different inverters (3 discrete, 1 portable).

And in each of my computer personal storage systems, I use a minimum of 4 SAS (15,000 RPM) hard disks in a RAID 10 configuration.

Nested RAID levels - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Samsonite801]

I'm doing the same thing you are which is why I joined here. Currently looking for land up in Oklahoma as Texas property taxes are insane and going up due to all the border issues. What I don't get is why everybody in Oklahoma has to cut down all the trees. lol I'd like to have several acres of trees for shade, cooking and winter heat. Arkansas might be another option. Got a ham radio to tinker with..wonder how ham radios fair on solar inverters? I need to look into starlink to.

I'm have very little ham radio knowledge (other than some reading), but perhaps read a bit more about ham radios running on inverter power...

ham radio running on inverter power - Google Search

Looks like a bunch of good links and videos (even some topics on the subject found here in this forum)...


BTW, trees are awesome to have, I grew up in PNW Washington State (spoiled), where my new property in Utah has NO TREES or any meaningful vegetation really (whah hehe, seeing what I can do)...

 

[realpinochet]

I now prefer multiple smaller systems than a single big one; more-so if you're putting almost everything on it.

I built mine with 4 different inverters (3 discrete, 1 portable).

And in each of my computer personal storage systems, I use a minimum of 4 SAS (15,000 RPM) hard disks in a RAID 10 configuration.

Nested RAID levels - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Raid 10 ..good choice! I used it often in the data center on databases. ZFS is also a great if you want to cut out the raid controllers and go straight HBA but does require specific ram to be effective with it's built in data corruption healing. I'm using BTRFS right now on my personal stuff due to it being less resource intensive than ZFS and not having such a ram requirement. I use proxmox as my virtualization server (love esx but $$) and it has built in backup function to backup to the underlying raid array. Since I use mostly linux and docker for everthing it fits well. They have a backup server for storing things locally or off site if you want. NFS or ISCSI are good protocols for achieving this. I'm a huge fan of open source...built a career on it. The below is free for personal use.

I can't tell you how many customers over the decades bought a server with raid and then things got corrupted and they are like ok..just use the backup. What backup? The raid backup. Ah, no..that's not how it works.

Proxmox - Powerful open-source server solutions

Proxmox develops the open-source virtualization platform Proxmox VE, the backup solution Proxmox Backup Server, and the Proxmox Mail Gateway, an open-source email security solution to protect your mail server.

www.proxmox.com

 

[realpinochet]

I'm have very little ham radio knowledge (other than some reading), but perhaps read a bit more about ham radios running on inverter power...

ham radio running on inverter power - Google Search

Looks like a bunch of good links and videos (even some topics on the subject found here in this forum)...


BTW, trees are awesome to have, I grew up in PNW Washington State (spoiled), where my new property in Utah has NO TREES or any meaningful vegetation really (whah hehe, seeing what I can do)...

You'll make it work. Utah...you're going to be kicking the solar out for sure!

 

[Samsonite801]

I now prefer multiple smaller systems than a single big one; more-so if you're putting almost everything on it.

Agree 100%, and practice this very much as well, there's no replacement for even more redundancy (and also having lots of spare part options).

I built mine with 4 different inverters (3 discrete, 1 portable).

I like having multiple options available for power, helps me to not feel powerless hehe...

And in each of my computer personal storage systems, I use a minimum of 4 SAS (15,000 RPM) hard disks in a RAID 10 configuration.

Same here, I'm downsized down to two smaller more power efficient NAS devices, both with 4-drive RAID 10 (with automated daily backups from primary (enterprise-grade SSDs) NAS, to DR (disaster recovery) (enterprise-grade HDDs) NAS...

I like the way you think. No single point of failure...

 

[robby]

Yeah I'm not speaking for or against any inverter (except that I hope my LV6548's perform as I'm hoping), but just thought I'd add this about the Solark 12k 'rating' hehe...

As I understand it, their marketing pitch on the 12k thing is not what the inverter is capable of. The inverter is supposedly a 9k inverter (at nighttime), or whatever it actually is.

In their spec sheets the 12k number is defined as follows:

"Max PV Power Delivered to Battery & AC Outputs: 12000w"

So that would be PV harvesting net power to AC outlets (assuming battery charging too?)...

So the 12k number really says nothing about the inverter capability.

 

[realpinochet]

Agree 100% and practice this very much as well, there's no replacement for even more redundancy (and lots of spare part options).




I like having multiple options available for power, helps me to not feel powerless hehe...




Same here, I'm downsized down to two smaller more power efficient NAS devices, both with RAID 10 (with automated daily backups from primary (enterprise-grade SSDs) NAS to DR (disaster recovery) (enterprise-grade HDDs) NAS...

I like the way you think. No single point of failure...

Enterprise grade opensource NAS.

TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era

TrueNAS is the World’s #1 Open Source Storage. Based on OpenZFS, it is trusted by millions and deployed worldwide.

www.truenas.com

I've been tinkering with this..it uses btrfs but is a fairly new project. People are using it for a nas on a pi.

Homepage

Or roll your own with something like Debian or freebsd!

 

[realpinochet]

I like the ground mount system they use, engineer 777 uses them. I think they are called sinclair or something. I don't want to punch holes in my roof so a ground mount like this is ideal compared to digging holes and using concrete. I need to see if one can rent something to drive the post though like they do.

 

[Samsonite801]

I like the ground mount system they use, engineer 777 uses them. I think they are called sinclair or something. I don't want to punch holes in my roof so a ground mount like this is ideal compared to digging holes and using concrete. I need to see if one can rent something to drive the post though like they do.

I don't know anything about the Sinclairs, but I bought the Power Peak GSH ground mount system, as per videos that Engineer775 had indicated was his favorite (at that time of course, who knows now if still)..

My Power Peak ground mount seems pretty robust. It is not advertised as having any kind of normally-adjustable angle (Power Peak initially engineers your ground mount for optimal average angle for your longitudinal location ), although I think the angle could possibly be adjusted by drilling some other holes for the braces if needed.

I had later seen some other brand that looked very similar to my Power Peak, which the manufacturer puts screw jacks instead of the normal brace-bar, so that you could screw them around and change the angle for seasonal adjustments.

I might just try drilling different sets of holes and have some specifc set adjustment angles dialed in for different seasons and turn mine into somewhat of an adjustable system (to see if it really matters much in real world)...

 

[robby]

The search feature took me to page six..get over yourself

Why don't you start at page one and then just move to the next page until your done. I don't even understand how the search function comes into the picture? Just read from page 1 to page 11.

.Try just answering the question next time.

NO! If you are going to bring up subjects that have already been hashed out and answered then it up to you to go through and find the answers.
That's the problem with people today. They don't want to read they want people to spoon feed them the answers! Every question you asked is answered in that thread and other threads on the forum. You went on about the 12K and why it is called a 12K. The answer for that has been on the forum for several months. I got tired of it so I spoon fed you the answer.

Noticed you didn't comment on how the solark, on paper, almost surges twice it's output for 10s and over twice it's output for 16ms.

If you spent the time to look at the specifications you would see the surge is rated L-L not L-N. That is something POZ did not even realize until he did his apology video later on. I have run my Inverter up to around 9500W continuous without an issue. That's plenty of power for me. If i needed more I would just swap out for a 15K.

Comparing it to the manual for the xw it appears the solark is supposed to have a much higher continues output and higher surge rate. So..page 1 post 19? It's like I stated above...so what... vendors test other vendors products all the time. You didn't like the way he tested it / compared it...ok fair. But you're tying to attach malicious intent which is nothing more than your opinion and a stretch.

Vendors do not test other vendors products "all the time". It's very rare that a company will pull out a competitors product and make claims that contradict the other companies specifications. Typically they just use some Brand B versus their product BS.
It's not done because it's a law firms dream come true if you happen to be wrong and in this case he was wrong and could have been sued.

"David was trying to do what his channel does best: let normal people know what to expect upfront if they bought either option: the $2200 growatt + transformer stack or the $6500-7000 non-emp Solark.

No he was not trying to let people know what to expect, he was simply trying to make Sol-Ark look bad for his sponsor.
He was advised in the first video in the comments section that if he created a certain imbalance level the Inverter would trip. In his second video he did not even attempt a review! He just went straight into making the Inverter trip with the number he had been given. The interesting question is who gave him those numbers and why did he not contact Sol-Ark.
Secondly he already had an Autotransformer right on the panel box that he could have switched on and fixed poor Ms. Poz problems with her whole kitchen tripping out 3 times a day but he "supposedly never thought about it until the apology video.

It appears to us that he just tried his house on one option and then the other and had an opinion, that should be expected.
His video was an out-of-the box application review, not a complete review of the whole Solark product."

It was supposed to be a Sol-Ark review according to his first video but in the end it was just a hit job video as he did not even know how to go into the Menu's and set the battery bank current. He had no intention of doing anything other than creating a imbalance and tripping the Inverter.

Anyway this is all in the other thread so read it and find out the answers.

 

[realpinochet]

I don't know anything about the Sinclairs, but I bought the Power Peak GSH ground mount system, as per videos that Engineer775 had indicated was his favorite (at that time of course, who knows now if still)..

My Power Peak ground mount seems pretty robust. It is not advertised as having any kind of normally-adjustable angle (Power Peak initially engineers your ground mount for optimal average angle for your longitudinal location ), although I think the angle could possibly be adjusted by drilling some other holes for the braces if needed.

I had later seen some other brand that looked very similar to my Power Peak, which the manufacturer puts screw jacks instead of the normal brace-bar, so that you could screw them around and change the angle for seasonal adjustments.

I might just try drilling different sets of holes and have some specifc set adjustment angles dialed in for different seasons and turn mine into somewhat of an adjustable system (to see if it really matters much in real world)...

How much did that set you back; did you install it yourself? I was wanting a system that allowed adjustments in the summer vs winter. I wonder how much of a big deal that is..some people swear by it? I think I've seen what you're talking about..it almost looks like the kind of jack they use on rv/s and trailers to raise and lower the tongue. That would probably work, just weld one one somehow. I've heard you should use sonotubes for installing like this as opposed to just putting the metal post in the ground and filling up with concrete. Something about over time the expansion and contraction cracks the concrete...don't know the validity of this. Thanks for sharing your mounting system.

 

[Samsonite801]

How much did that set you back; did you install it yourself? I was wanting a system that allowed adjustments in the summer vs winter. I wonder how much of a big deal that is..some people swear by it? I think I've seen what you're talking about..it almost looks like the kind of jack they use on rv/s and trailers to raise and lower the tongue. That would probably work, just weld one one somehow. I've heard you should use sonotubes for installing like this as opposed to just putting the metal post in the ground and filling up with concrete. Something about over time the expansion and contraction cracks the concrete...don't know the validity of this. Thanks for sharing your mounting system.

Sure no prob at all, thanks...

Mine (for the 24 full-size panel PP ground mount) was around $2800 with freight (I think $2300 w/o freight), back in March 2021, not sure how inflation/supply chain issues will affect today's prices, can always get a quote from them.

The only thing I'm not sure about (relating to converting it from fixed angle to adjustable angle) is how the pivot would work (without any modification). Presumably the factory-made adjustable angle mounts would have a pivot bearing or something to that effect. Here with my PP GSH mount I'm seeing what look like 2 slotted bolt holes on the pivot (to allow for fine tuning), where you may lock them down and not allow further pivot ability.

For me so far, I'm almost seeing more significance in having 2 separate arrays at 2 different average latitudinal angles (especially closer to Summer solstice), to be more important, than having a single angle plane with only vertical adjustment capability.

I am going to have these Power Peak 24 panels sitting at more a SE angle, and then mounting another 24 panels as eve cover (roof shade over windows) on the the wing of the shop, facing at SW angle, and fix the vertical angle in the middle between extreme Solstice angles, and start out there, will decide later if vertical angle is much needed and worth the trouble to try and achieve.

I have not installed the ground mount yet, as the projected plans have been stunted a bit, based on unexpected factors hehe (guess why), but we'll get there when we get there. Building of shop and solar system may start by November possibly, monolithic foundation/patio should be getting poured-in next week if all goes well.


Wow, dirty now:

 

[realpinochet]

Why don't you start at page one and then just move to the next page until your done. I don't even understand how the search function comes into the picture? Just read from page 1 to page 11.

NO! If you are going to bring up subjects that have already been hashed out and answered then it up to you to go through and find the answers.
That's the problem with people today. They don't want to read they want people to spoon feed them the answers! Every question you asked is answered in that thread and other threads on the forum. You went on about the 12K and why it is called a 12K. The answer for that has been on the forum for several months. I got tired of it so I spoon fed you the answer.

If you spent the time to look at the specifications you would see the surge is rated L-L not L-N. That is something POZ did not even realize until he did his apology video later on. I have run my Inverter up to around 9500W continuous without an issue. That's plenty of power for me. If i needed more I would just swap out for a 15K.

Vendors do not test other vendors products "all the time". It's very rare that a company will pull out a competitors product and make claims that contradict the other companies specifications. Typically they just use some Brand B versus their product BS.
It's not done because it's a law firms dream come true if you happen to be wrong and in this case he was wrong and could have been sued.

No he was not trying to let people know what to expect, he was simply trying to make Sol-Ark look bad for his sponsor.
He was advised in the first video in the comments section that if he created a certain imbalance level the Inverter would trip. In his second video he did not even attempt a review! He just went straight into making the Inverter trip with the number he had been given. The interesting question is who gave him those numbers and why did he not contact Sol-Ark.
Secondly he already had an Autotransformer right on the panel box that he could have switched on and fixed poor Ms. Poz problems with her whole kitchen tripping out 3 times a day but he "supposedly never thought about it until the apology video.

It was supposed to be a Sol-Ark review according to his first video but in the end it was just a hit job video as he did not even know how to go into the Menu's and set the current battery pack current. He had no intention of doing anything other than creating a imbalance and tripping the Inverter.

Anyway this is all in the other thread so read it and find out the answers.

The search feature was relevant because I used it to ..well search. I think it was "solark shutting down" or something like that and it took me to page six of that thread where you were front and center doing the same thing there. I went two pages back and two pages forward, for generalization, and it was the same talking points. I don't have time to read 11 pages of diatribe looking for innate wisdom why somebodies right and others are wrong all the time. It's not spoon feeding somebody to make a specific citation / reference point to help solidify a point for somebody new to the argument. Again, get over yourself! Yes, companies compare competitors products all the time, no they don't blatantly lie about the other vendors products because that is a law suite if it's proven it was "Intentional". I've worked in labs doing this very testing on several occasions for IT hardware and software. You basically just regurgitated what I said on this topic. I stand by I don't believe David or SS was trying to intentionally be deceptive. You're finding malice because your triggered and looking for it. People make unintentional mistakes, I believe this to be the case and both parties updated with relevant information after the fact that seems to state this is in fact true. I'll have to believe them because there's nothing that I personally saw that persuades a different outcome for me. You feel different, so be it. The fact you have to criticize his wife shows just how triggered you got, it's funny and sad at the same time. Try coming down from that righteous perch and see others viewpoints.

I'll admit I missed the (L-L) surge requirements.. so for that I'll have to apologize and concede to you. You were correct, I was incorrect! Based on what you're saying and according to the manual the inverter can only handle surges for 240V loads; if this fact is true that's a bad design for the NA market. This inverter seems to be primarily engineered for the EU style market and retrofitted for the NA market. This inverter is sold as a grid tie inverter in the NA market; most of us have all electric houses and only having surge capabilities on 240V only circuits is less than desirable. I can balance the loads in the panel but can't control when the AC/oven/stove/dryer is on at any one point, as there's multiple people in this house, and then somebody needs to use a 120V heavy load like a simple blow dryer etc. This explains why the autotransformer worked since it helped balance the loads ..including surge loads across the two legs. And, no you shouldn't have to drop another $8k for a pair to make up for a bad design.

 

[realpinochet]

Sure no prob at all, thanks...

Mine (for the 24 full-size panel PP ground mount) was around $2800 with freight (I think $2300 w/o freight), back in March 2021, not sure how inflation/supply chain issues will affect today's prices, can always get a quote from them.

The only thing I'm not sure about (relating to converting it from fixed angle to adjustable angle) is how the pivot would work (without any modification). Presumably the factory-made adjustable angle mounts would have a pivot bearing or something to that effect. Here with my PP GSH mount I'm seeing what look like 2 slotted bolt holes on the pivot (to allow for fine tuning), where you may lock them down and not allow further pivot ability.

For me so far, I'm almost seeing more significance in having 2 separate arrays at 2 different average latitudinal angles (especially closer to Summer solstice), to be more important, than having a single angle plane with only vertical adjustment capability.

I am going to have these Power Peak 24 panels sitting at more a SE angle, and then mounting another 24 panels as eve cover (roof shade over windows) on the the wing of the shop, facing at SW angle, and fix the vertical angle in the middle between extreme Solstice angles, and start out there, will decide later if vertical angle is much needed and worth the trouble to try and achieve.

I have not installed the ground mount yet, as the projected plans have been stunted a bit, based on unexpected factors hehe (guess why), but we'll get there when we get there. Building of shop and solar system may start by November possibly, monolithic foundation/patio should be getting poured-in next week if all goes well.


Wow, dirty now:
View attachment 113055

I'm planning on having the large array due south and then right next to it a smaller array to catch the last four or so hours due west. I'd prefer to have a adjustable mount. This is the ones I was talking about, I think engineer 775 uses these. There's no concrete involved as they are forced into the ground with a press or whatever you call that device he uses. Unless I can rent one for a reasonable price it's more feasible old school hole and concrete with have to suffice. I'll probably use those concrete tube forms. I'll have to check the price of iron pipe ..cause it might be cheaper to just get some pipe and rails and break out the welder.

https://www.sinclair-designs.com/Sky-Rack-2.0-Ground-Solar-Mount?quantity=1&custcol_gen_tilt=1