My next inverter! (Sol-Ark)

[jasonhc73]

Ummmm, the question is, what else could you possibly need?

Check out everything it can do.

https://www.renvu.com/Solar/Sol-Ark-12K-120-240-208V-48V-Hybrid-All-in-One-Inverter

Sol-Ark 12K/8K Solar Panel Sizing Tool

Click to View The Panel Sizing Tool Solar Panel Sizing Tool

www.sol-ark.com

What else do you think it needs?

• Time of use shifting
• Zero Grid give-back (Solar Stingy!)
• Net-Metering (All the UL and NEC certifications)
  • 16. Grid Setup
    a. Grid Sell: maximum watts sold to grid
    b. Limited To Home: Limits power produced by the system to match the demand of the home
    c. Limited To Load: Limits power produced by the system to match the demand of connected loads
    d. Time of Use: Use battery power to support the programmed mode at selectable times/watts/DoD
• 8ms switch over to the battery bank (48V).
  • Batt Empty V: (Recommendations: 47V for AGMs, 50.2V for Lithium Iron Phosphate)
• 120/240/208 3 phase, whatever you want.
• High voltage MPPT's, so no dicking around with the "sweet spot" and worrying about amps.
• A/C IN (Generator)
• A/C Out (Critical loads)
• A/C IN/OUT (Net-Meter)
• Parallelable
• No Battery installation!

 

[kernel]

My 50W of constant standby power draw! Just kidding.

 

[Ampster]

Ummmm, the question is, what else could you possibly need?

Check out everything it can do.
..............................

For starters it needs batteries or you have just purchased an expensive GT inverter. It has all the features of an Outback Skybox at twice the price. (Outback recently lowered the price of the Skybox and dealers are listing them at about $3,500)

 

[Ampster]

Here is a product comparison. It definitely has a lot of pluses. The prices are not current.

 

[solardad]

@jasonhc73 I own the 12k and I love it. In short everything they state about it is true and has exceeded my expectations so far, 2 weeks since I installed it. I went from a couple grid tie in inverters and a lv5048 for back up and the sol-ark blows them out of the water with efficiency and flexibility. It will make you rethink your whole system, I went from from almost pulling the trigger on addition panels and batteries to now just batteries, the built in mppt controllers are squeezing every drop of sunshine and I need more capacity!

Check out alte online store, every 2-3 months they have a 5-7% sale, that is when I snagged mine.

 

[Ampster]

@jasonhc73 I own the 12k and I love it. In short everything they state about it is true and has exceeded my expectations so far, 2 weeks since I installed it. I went from a couple grid tie in inverters and a lv5048 for back up and the sol-ark blows them out of the water with efficiency and flexibility. It will make you rethink your whole system, I went from from almost pulling the trigger on addition panels and batteries to now just batteries, the built in mppt controllers are squeezing every drop of sunshine and I need more capacity!

Check out alte online store, every 2-3 months they have a 5-7% sale, that is when I snagged mine.

Every time I hear one of these stories I regret buying my Skybox. Maybe that is why Outback lowered the price because Sol Ark was eating their lunch. The overhead on the Skybox is 300 Watts an hour which adds up to almost 5Whrs a day.
Are you using the Time of Use functions?

 

[jasonhc73]

@jasonhc73 I own the 12k and I love it. In short everything they state about it is true and has exceeded my expectations so far, 2 weeks since I installed it. I went from a couple grid tie in inverters and a lv5048 for back up and the sol-ark blows them out of the water with efficiency and flexibility. It will make you rethink your whole system, I went from from almost pulling the trigger on addition panels and batteries to now just batteries, the built in mppt controllers are squeezing every drop of sunshine and I need more capacity!

Check out alte online store, every 2-3 months they have a 5-7% sale, that is when I snagged mine.

Please post some pictures!

I think this Sol-Ark is about as close to a Tesla Gateway as you can get.

Except you get to use any battery you want!
I guess the real only limitation is that you cannot really use individual optimizers like on a Solar Edge setup. However, if you don't have shadow problems, I still don't see the point of individual optimizers on every panel.

I think you might even be able to sneak an Enphase string into the AC IN/OUT connection. That would be freaking AWESOME!

 

[jasonhc73]

Every time I hear one of these stories I regret buying my Skybox. Maybe that is why Outback lowered the price because Sol Ark was eating their lunch. The overhead on the Skybox is 300 Watts an hour which adds up to almost 5Whrs a day.
Are you using the Time of Use functions?

300 w is insane!

I thought my MPP-Solar inverters were energy hogs at 76W!

 

[solardad]

@jasonhc73 Yes. You are correct, AC coupling is a big feature of the inverter.
Here are some before and after photos, I am still in the install process and given the 'all-in-one' nature of the Sol-Ark there are a number of extra devices that I am in the process of selling, ex. Victron MPPT controllers.

My main use case is selling back to the house. I do not sell back to the utility, poor rates and here they add a monthly "net metering convenience fee" for selling back, crappy deal. The other scenarios are backup due to power outage and smart load support. I am really only using a portion of the overall functionality that is available. I had looked at Outback, Victron, MPP/Voltronic and Schneider but none of them offered at the time the ease and functionality related to selling back to house (located in the US) and had a UL rating.

@Ampster no not really, I don't have a need at this time but the Time of Use is very easy to setup and can be controlled at the day, time and battery status level.

So far for me there are a few notable items with the Sol-Ark.

1 - Reporting. Today the report features through the phone app or the website is average. The details are there but they are delayed by 5 mins.. Way too infrequent for my level of interest in how my system is performing. The status view on the inverter itself is realtime but I don't want to be hanging out in my basement ;-)

2 - Customer support. My technical knowledge is enough to get me in trouble if you know what I mean. Given that the inverter was a breeze to setup solo and the questions that I did have were answered in a timely manner, usually same day. I have reached out via email and through the telephone and each time the info made sense and was actionable.

3. Product longevity. Not sure how other manufactures are with regard to their products but Sol-Ark is always researching and releasing firmware updates to enhance their devices. Case in point the reporting item above is supposed to be addressed in a few months.

Here are some images of the before and after.

1 - Detail view of current production and demand. (Battery temp. sensor is not installed, reason it is -20)
2 - Overview screen of the main supply and demand items (I run a 44.4v nominal battery bank which is not an issue with the 12k even though they say the DC battery voltage range stops at 43v I can program it down to 40v. This is temporary until I receive my new LifePO4 bank).
3 - Sol-Ark 12k - install in progress.
4 -Sol-Ark firmware version
5 - Part of the old system, multiple grid tie inverters that worked well for their cost, roughly $350 a piece when including supporting hardware, but were inefficient and could not keep up with my household demand, not UL listed and sounded like small aircraft taking off every time there was some sort of load.

 

[jasonhc73]

I think I have a serious problem.
You remember when you were 13 and had a crush?

That's how I am now about this SolarArk 12k.???

 

[solardad]

@jasonhc73 Lol. Yes it can sometimes it feels like a crush. Ironically you linked to a resource that I have watched a number of his videos. I think he does a far representation of the product given his exposure to other manufactures. Anyone interested in the product line should definitely review his channel along with Sol-Ark's channel (they have a number of webinars of the product).

 

[z80]

I use the SMA Sunny Island 8.0h with normal SMA grid tie inverters.

Everything connects at 240v except the 48v lithium or LA battery bank.

It does all this and has been around for years (is the industry benchmark)

Looking at this unit it looks not quite as elegant or simple to install.

But I am on 230V and you guys re on 110v?

 

[Ampster]

The SolArk is a great product that AC couples to GT inverters very well. I like my Outback Skybox but if you need the larger capacity of the SolArk the it is better. My Skybox is limited to 5kW although I will soon have 28kWh of batteries connected. No limit there.

 

[solardad]

I use the SMA Sunny Island 8.0h with normal SMA grid tie inverters.

Everything connects at 240v except the 48v lithium or LA battery bank.

It does all this and has been around for years (is the industry benchmark)

Looking at this unit it looks not quite as elegant or simple to install.

But I am on 230V and you guys re on 110v?

@z80 I am split phase 240v (two 120v legs). The Sol-Ark can also handle out of the box single phase, 230v or 3 phase also (with an additional unit in place). I am not a seasoned installer just a DIYer and I believe the opposite is true - the install for the Sol-Ark was frankly quite "easy". The hardest part for me was prepping the the wall that the unit was installed on, it weighs just over 70 lbs.. The biggest knock and one that I had with it when reviewing the different options, is the initial sticker price but that was before I really took into account the list of features it provides and the true all in one nature of the product. In addition the overall performance of the MPPT controller and inverter blew my previous system out of the water - it really forced me to reconsider my expansion plans given the 'new' generation capabilities of the unit (I purchased the 12k).

 

[mrdavvv]

For starters it needs batteries or you have just purchased an expensive GT inverter. It has all the features of an Outback Skybox at twice the price. (Outback recently lowered the price of the Skybox and dealers are listing them at about $3,500)

Are you sure Ampster, somewhere i read about working as string mode (Without batteries)

 

[Ampster]

Are you sure Ampster, somewhere i read about working as string mode (Without batteries)

Yes, I am sure that running an Outback Skybox without batteries is only using it as if it were a GT inverter. By its nature it is an inverter whose panels are wired in strings. I do not know any other configuration for wiring solar panels to the Skybox. What exactly do you mean by "string mode"?

 

[mrdavvv]

Sorry didnt explain myself well.

I was talking about the Sol-Ark, i think it can run both as GT inverter (We called them string inverters around here), or an offgrid inverter, with batteries.

I need to double check the manuals, but remember reading about the batteries being optional.

 

[Samsonite801]

I think I have a serious problem.
You remember when you were 13 and had a crush?

That's how I am now about this SolarArk 12k.???

Yeah, the Sol-Ark 12k is hands down my favorite pick too. All our shareholders at our ag coop are buying these on group buy direct from Sol-Ark, and I already got some hands-on playing with one of them on a temp power solution we set up at our community center, but unfortunately it just wasn't in my budget right now to go this route, so I purchased an LV6548 pair to get me by for a couple years so I can start getting my structures up on my lot, then later I will definitely be going with this solution...

I haven't really found any gripes about them for this class of inverters, and now the latest version they're offering is outdoor certified even...

 

[Ampster]

@mrdavvv
We call a lot of different inverters String Inverters around here. That term probably applies to a lot of inverter types versus Micro inverters. Within that term there are GT inverters, Hybrid inverters and Off Grid inverters. The Sol Ark and Skybox are both Hybrid Inverters and have very similar functionality with or without batteries. They can run in grid tie mode or off grid mode. The bottom line is if you are never going to use batteries on either one of those the most cost effective purchase would be a GT inverter.

 

[mrdavvv]

@mrdavvv
We call a lot of different inverters String Inverters around here. That term probably applies to a lot of inverter types versus Micro inverters. Within that term there are GT inverters, Hybrid inverters and Off Grid inverters. The Sol Ark and Skybox are both Hybrid Inverters and have very similar functionality with or without batteries. The bottom line is if you are never going to use batteries on either one of those the most cost effective purchase would be a GT inverter.

Got it, thanks for the clarification, and sure doesnt have sense to purchase this as a GT inverter, but its ideal if you dont have your batteries at the moment and cant wait to connect your system