Pros/Cons to 2-Sol-Ark 8K's vs. 1-Sol-Ark 15K

[Quattrohead]

Correct.

 

[GregTR]

I'm looking at the Sol-Ark 12K instead of EG4-6500's, and saw a note on the spec sheet:

*IMPORTANT NOTE: SOL-ARK 12K is a combined output - (split between DC Battery and AC Loads/Grid). The max power to the grid or AC loads is 9kW - in conjunction with simultaneously charging the batteries. So for example - if 9kW is going to the grid, an additional 3kW of power can be used to charge the batteries.

If I'm reading it correctly, the 12K can supply 9 kW to AC loads; so it's 12kW of power in, from solar panels (or wherever), and output is split between AC loads and battery charging. Is that correct?

Correct.

Unless you need redundancy and resiliency of two units and you're planning on getting two 12Ks, I don't see why anyone would buy a single 12K instead of a 15K today. The price difference is marginal and the 200A auto grid transfer of the 15K is worth it just by itself.

 

[donb108]

Right, the 15K isn't much more. I assumed the 12K and 15K were functionally similar, just sized differently; I'll have to do a better comparison on the specs. I haven't quite figured out what the transfer switch does, so wasn't paying much attention to it.

 

[robby]

Correct.

Unless you need redundancy and resiliency of two units and you're planning on getting two 12Ks, I don't see why anyone would buy a single 12K instead of a 15K today. The price difference is marginal and the 200A auto grid transfer of the 15K is worth it just by itself.

The main reason to buy a 12K is if you really do not have the Loads that require a 15K.
My house seldom goes past 7KW of usage and so a 15K offers me no real advantage. I use about 1400KWh per month and I was surprised that in a reason study they said the Average American home uses Aprox 900KWh per month so I would imagine the Sol-Ark 12K is better suited for about half the population. The other half need the 15K so Sol-Ark was pretty smart in making a bigger model.

 

[Quattrohead]

Interesting, my previous home seems to have been very average with 579kwh use in January and 1350kwh used in July.
The big issue in an all electric house is when "her indoors" decides to cook dinner, do laundry and gets hot doing it LOL
Then you can easily overload a single or dual inverters.
However when the home is just idling along, more than one is like having 2 cars in the drive way.

kWh	Cost
11327	$1,346	Total YR
944	$112	Month ave
31	$3.68	Daily ave
45		Peak day

55% 730 kWh/m HVAC	Average use over a year
12% 150 kWh/m Hot water
5% 75 kWh/m Dryer
3% 35 kWh/m Stove
25% 320 kWh/m outlets/lamps/small appliances etc

 

[GregTR]

The main reason to buy a 12K is if you really do not have the Loads that require a 15K.
My house seldom goes past 7KW of usage and so a 15K offers me no real advantage. I use about 1400KWh per month and I was surprised that in a reason study they said the Average American home uses Aprox 900KWh per month so I would imagine the Sol-Ark 12K is better suited for about half the population. The other half need the 15K so Sol-Ark was pretty smart in making a bigger model.

That's fair. If I didn't have A/C and EV needs I would not push past the 9kW DC/PV limit or the 15kW grid tie limit of the 12K myself either. With my setup there are definitely times where the 200A transfer comes in handy, my 15 minute peak demand this month was 27 kW on the grid side and 13 kW on the load side.

 

[mvonw]

If the 15K had been shipping when I installed my 12K I would have gotten it only for the extra PV (1 more mppt controller) for future expansion. I'm 100% off grid and the 12K was so easy to install/setup, even a newb like me could do it. Now I'm planning to fill the entire 5 acre area I logged and stumped with solar panels, because... why not???

 

[robby]

That's fair. If I didn't have A/C and EV needs I would not push past the 9kW DC/PV limit or the 15kW grid tie limit of the 12K myself either. With my setup there are definitely times where the 200A transfer comes in handy, my 15 minute peak demand this month was 27 kW on the grid side and 13 kW on the load side.

If you have the loads like Big AC's and EV charging that require a lot of juice most of the time then it's best to have the 15K
If you only have occasional heavy loads then the 12K Grid Tied will deliver 15KW without a problem for those short periods.
I keep going back and forth in my mind as to which one I would get if I was redoing my system. The 15K seems like the winner just based on having extra headroom but the Truth is I don't have the space for the PV that would be needed and I never planned my electrical room with more than 35KWh of batteries in mind. To make it worthwhile I would need a lot more PV and more batteries.

 

[robby]

Interesting, my previous home seems to have been very average with 579kwh use in January and 1350kwh used in July.
The big issue in an all electric house is when "her indoors" decides to cook dinner, do laundry and gets hot doing it LOL
Then you can easily overload a single or dual inverters.
However when the home is just idling along, more than one is like having 2 cars in the drive way.

kWh	Cost
11327	$1,346	Total YR
944	$112	Month ave
31	$3.68	Daily ave
45		Peak day

55% 730 kWh/m HVAC	Average use over a year
12% 150 kWh/m Hot water
5% 75 kWh/m Dryer
3% 35 kWh/m Stove
25% 320 kWh/m outlets/lamps/small appliances etc

If your Grid Tied then that sudden need for extra power is not really a problem, but for maximum savings on Grid energy I find that Solar Assistant on a wall mounted Tablet is a great way for the Myself and the Wife to know when is a good time to turn on the Dryer or Hot Water Heater.

 

[Quattrohead]

Robby I am in the process of taking this house off grid 100%.
I am using the pair of SP6548 for the HVAC and HWT and the Sol-Ark 12k for everything else.
I am making a load shedding device from a pair of SSR and some simple load monitoring of the stove so that the dryer cannot turn on if the stove is using above a certain current. There will be a 5 minuite time delay to make sure the cooking has been finished.

 

[robby]

Robby I am in the process of taking this house off grid 100%.
I am using the pair of SP6548 for the HVAC and HWT and the Sol-Ark 12k for everything else.
I am making a load shedding device from a pair of SSR and some simple load monitoring of the stove so that the dryer cannot turn on if the stove is using above a certain current. There will be a 5 minuite time delay to make sure the cooking has been finished.

Quattro Is there a reason why you want to go completely off Grid?
Seems to me like getting rid of a perfectly good power backup system is a waste.

 

[Quattrohead]

Because I can and want to


Actually it is experimenting for the house we are going to build next year, our final destination.
It will be 100% off grid with all the energy saving features like ICF walls, foam insulation, hybrid water heater, DC pumps etc.

 

[houseofancients]

The Sol-Ark 15K is made in china by manufacturer Deye. I see posts that Deye will not sell to USA, because of a some deal with Deye. However, USA is not the only country that is 120/240 split phase. For instance Panama, Belize, and others

Have anyone seen the Deye version of the Sol-Ark-12K or another clone with a 200A bypass? I have not been able to find the correct model number or supplier. Please share, if you know.

all split phase deye and subbrands are done by sol-ark

 

[robby]

Because I can and want to


Actually it is experimenting for the house we are going to build next year, our final destination.
It will be 100% off grid with all the energy saving features like ICF walls, foam insulation, hybrid water heater, DC pumps etc.

I hear you

I think your better of keeping them as a backup. I don't know what their minimum fee is but I think mine is about $20 a month.
For that price I will always keep it, but if they raise it by too much then I will be looking to get more batteries and ditch them.

 

[Spunky]

I hear you

I think your better of keeping them as a backup. I don't know what their minimum fee is but I think mine is about $20 a month.
For that price I will always keep it, but if they raise it by too much then I will be looking to get more batteries and ditch them.

Resale value of your home may be effected by reconnection and inspection fees. My minimum bill is $8.90 / month, I have a disconnect switch next to my meter.

 

[Quattrohead]

I am not reselling the final home, but I am making sure the electrical system will be 100% able to be quickly and easily connected to grid and all my shit removed when necessary.
It all has to be code compliant for permitting.

Yes it is not much to have an account on standby but that is going to increase every year and if they add charges to "support" the grid for future solar load I will not be a part of that.
I am backing myself to make a system that is 100% effective with full WAF.

 

[Not Aerosmith]

For me, the better choice would be Sol-Ark 15K, because it has a 200 amp bypass for on grid, which is most of the time. The 8 K has a 63 amp bypass for on grid and (2) in parallel is 126 amp.

The Sol-Ark 15K has wiring schematic and is listed by the manufacturer as whole house backup. The Sol-Ark 8K only have wiring schematics for a critical load panel, so you have the additional expense in adding and wiring a new critical load panel.

My understanding is that the Sol-Ark 8K is not listed by the manufacturer for parallel installation. The manual that I saw didn't have wiring schematics for parallel installation and wasn't an option in the data sheet. It was my understanding the Sol-Ark 12K can be parallel but not the Sol-Ark 8K. If there is a Sol-Ark 8K model that can be parallel, then be very careful that you order the right one.

I hope this helps.

Based on the original choices, I still think the Sol-Ark 15K is the better choice.

However, I needed to make a similar decision this week and I chose a third option. I decided not to buy the Sol-Ark 15K, but instead I bought (2) GSL-H-12K-US. This third option also provides a 200A bypass and is also shown as a whole house backup system. SA-15K provides 15KW power vs (2) GSL-12K at 24KW power. Off grid each GSL-12K can provide 50A or 100A total 240V 24000 KW, depending on your solar panels capacity and batteries. (2) GSL-12K provides me with some redundancy and was less expensive than the one SA-15K. If I ever wanted to add another inverter or needed to replace an inverter, the current cost is about $3100 for the GSL-12K vs. $8100 for the SA-15K. I hope this was the right decision for me.

 

[Not Aerosmith]

Newly installed 15k. 2 weeks in use and I’m more than impressed. Large home 4400 sq ft with a pool. Everything has worked flawlessly. I installed a bypass so if the Sol Ark crapped out we could go on grid temporarily. We have 13.2 kW solar, 460 Ah storage, 18kW standby generator. Running Solar Assistant and Trophy Batteries. Using Victron Lynx Power In x2 as my buss bar and a smart shunt too. Able to be off grid 22 hrs a day another 460 Ah batteries on the way. I have nothing bad to say about this inverter. It does everything well. If I had to find something to complain about Sol Ark Power View software is junk but they say they are changing it. I bought Solar Assistant and I’m very happy with it. Have our batteries and the Sol Ark communicating with SA it’s a great solution for the minor shortcomings of the Sol Ark. It replaces a 8 yo SMA grid tied inverter. I did 80% of this project myself. Neat clean and all in one.

Excellent, it looks great. Very impressed that you DIY most of the work.

 

[GregTR]

That GSL-12K for $3100 shipped is definitely a good buy! It appears to be a very competent inverter, it's the same as the LuxpowerTek.

I have Sol-Ark 15K with Homegrid batteries, but if one wanted to save money and go DIY you could get Lifepower rack and the GSL-12K for much less and achieve the same or close to same result.

 

[Not Aerosmith]

That GSL-12K for $3100 shipped is definitely a good buy! It appears to be a very competent inverter, it's the same as the LuxpowerTek.

I have Sol-Ark 15K with Homegrid batteries, but if one wanted to save money and go DIY you could get Lifepower rack and the GSL-12K for much less and achieve the same or close to same result.

The GSL-12K for $3100 didn't include the cost for shipping. I don't have room for in-rack batteries, so I intend to simply install (4) 10KW 200AH power wall batteries. I bought the two GSL-H-12KLV-US for the 100A 240V 24,000 off-grid capacity and for redundancy and the 200A bypass for whole house backup. If I had bought only one GSL-12K with 50A off grid capacity I would have too many nuisance tripping.

WOW, your system is definitely the Cadillac of systems.