Mystery used Sol-Ark 12K Full Failure (Fixed itself)

[AleksK]

I haven't sold it but I got the outdoor 12k for $2k plus a whole bunch of driving, granted it's missing a battery terminal bolt, the wiring plastic shield, and main mounting bracket as well as all the smaller stuff like included cat6 cables, manual, temp probes and CTs, lastly they drilled a giant hole where the battery cables come in for some reason, though it did have the wifi module fortunately.

I'm still so confused why they drilled the hole or why they ended up not finishing the install and why sell it to me on the cheap no idea...

 

[AleksK]

Please edit the title on this thread to reflect what really was going on...

I updated to reflect that it's fixed.

 

[AleksK]

Update the firmware now that it is online.

I haven't tried connecting to wifi but I imagine that will work fine now too, will likely upgrade when it's ready to be installed so it matches any potential units in parallel.

 

[AleksK]

Please edit the title on this thread to reflect what really was going on...

I honestly don't know what was really going on, nothing I changed should of really fixed it, but maybe I don't understand the grid selling setting properly or something.

 

[AleksK]

Based on the alarm history the unit is 1 year old or so and looks like was untouched for a year, I wonder if it just was in some deep sleep mode or some glitch from being off too long...

 

[LydMekk]

Turn the "Activate battery" off - only for badly defective batteries.

 

[AleksK]

Turn the "Activate battery" off - only for badly defective batteries.

Can you explain what that does exactly? After getting it to work I boxed it up for now as I was testing in place of another in use solark

 

[houseofancients]

Can you explain what that does exactly? After getting it to work I boxed it up for now as I was testing in place of another in use solark

It is meant to bring batteries back slowly after the BMS has shutdown charge/discharge due to low voltage, and should only be turned on for that reason as it limits the charging amps

 

[AleksK]

It is meant to bring batteries back slowly after the BMS has shutdown charge/discharge due to low voltage, and should only be turned on for that reason as it limits the charging amps

Great thanks for educating me! I'll need to make sure I didn't enable it on any of my other setups.

 

[houseofancients]

.

 

[SunDave]

It is meant to bring batteries back slowly after the BMS has shutdown charge/discharge due to low voltage, and should only be turned on for that reason as it limits the charging amps

Hi House and Lyd,

The 15k manual says differently. Thoughts?
"Activate Battery: This option MUST be selected if the system has batteries, especially with Lithium batteries."

https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/15K-2P_Manual.pdf

Turn the "Activate battery" off - only for badly defective batteries.

 

[Lt.Dan]

I have "Activate Battery" on my SolArk 15k as well. I'm fairly certain it means different things between SolArk, and Sunsynk/Deye

 

[houseofancients]

Hi House and Lyd,

The 15k manual says differently. Thoughts?
"Activate Battery: This option MUST be selected if the system has batteries, especially with Lithium batteries."

https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/15K-2P_Manual.pdf

Understanding the Battery Settings

Below will explain how each setting will change and impact the system Batt Type - this is where the type of battery is selected all sunsynk batteries are lithium, if you are unsure speak to your installer Batt Capacity - this value will r...

sunsynk.freshdesk.com

Activate - This feature will help recover a battery that is over discharged by slowly charging from the solar array or grid."

And this is the same for all other deye based inverters and software.
So either there is an error in the sol-ark manual, or sol-ark opted for their users to always have it enabled, maybe because compatibility with certain approved batteries, accepting others may have to suffers slow charging at lower battery voltages..
Again just an educated guess from my side and by no means an end all statement

 

[Lt.Dan]

I have always had "Activate Battery" on, since the day of installation. I have never had lower charging/discharging current?

I just went out and unchecked it on my machine. I guess I'll find out what happens ?‍

I know if the "BMS Lithium Batt" option is unchecked, it will ignore the battery entirely and only send PV to Load or send it back to the Grid.

 

[AleksK]

I have always had "Activate Battery" on, since the day of installation. I have never had lower charging/discharging current?

I just went out and unchecked it on my machine. I guess I'll find out what happens ?‍

I know if the "BMS Lithium Batt" option is unchecked, it will ignore the battery entirely and only send PV to Load or send it back to the Grid.

Hmm... that last part, I wonder if that was part of what caused some of my issues with that unit.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Hmm... that last part, I wonder if that was part of what caused some of my issues with that unit.

I should have added, "if the BMS Lithium Batt option is unchecked, and the Activate Battery is unchecked..."

 

[houseofancients]

I should have added, "if the BMS Lithium Batt option is unchecked, and the Activate Battery is unchecked..."

If you unselect lithium, it shuts down the rs485 and canbus communication , so that makes sense..

 

[AleksK]

If you unselect lithium, it shuts down the rs485 and canbus communication , so that makes sense..

Not really related to yalls conversation but for the record I was not in communication mode for any of the testing