Question about Sol-Ark 15K with 200amp pass-through -- suppose an EV charger is running when the grid goes down...

[aunsafe2015]

Say you have a Sol-Ark 15K doing 200amp pass-through from the grid to your 200amp main panel. Say you've got a battery backup system hooked up to it. And say you are charging your EV at, e.g., 7.2 kW.

Because the 15K is doing pass-through to the entire panel rather than to a critical loads panel, if the grid goes down, your batteries will automatically takeover and continue to charge your EV at 7.2 kW, correct?

I had been thinking that the Sol-Ark 15K and 200amp pass through, without the need for a critical loads subpanel, would be good. But now that I realize that a grid outage would cause my batteries to be supplying power to literally any load in my panel that happens to be running when the grid goes down (electric dryer, EV charger, etc.), I'm starting to think I might actually prefer a critical loads subpanel. I don't think my batteries would even have the power to power, for example, an EV and a dryer at the same time, but even if they had sufficient power, I don't want my EV and my dryer to immediately drain my batteries during a grid outage...

Am I thinking about this correctly, or am I missing something?

 

[Solar Guppy]

It is on the installer to provide either load shedding or use a critical loads panel if the inverters can't provide the energy the main breaker is rated for.

 

[aunsafe2015]

It is on the installer to provide either load shedding or use a critical loads panel if the inverters can't provide the energy the main breaker is rated for.

Thanks for the response. I guess some load shedding setup might work. I was mostly just seeking confirmation that if you're doing 200amp pass-through to your main panel, the default behavior of the inverter would be that batteries would take over for EVERYTHING in the main panel during a grid outage, including things that the batteries may not really be equipped to handle (such as 7.2 kW EV charging). And that to change that default behavior would complicate the otherwise simplicity of the setup.

 

[niktak11]

You can also just the smart load output for basic load shedding. I have my central heat pump connected to that so it'll turn off if the grid goes down unless the batteries are almost full and I have a lot of PV coming in.

 

[400bird]

This is why I put my EVSE in the main panel.
I never viewed it as a main, I viewed it a place to put loads I purposely wanted to drop.
If I had other heavy loads, I'd put them on the main. I may wire the oven out the main panel.

It would be simple enough to add in a small "main" panel with a few heavy loads to allow you to shed them. I thought I heard the 15k included some integrated load shedding equipment?

But, if you spend big money for the Sol-Ark 15kw inverter, you should have batteries capable of the rated discharge needed to support 15kw.

 

[Danke]

Sol-Ark is also coming out with this, not gonna be cheap though:

Sol-Ark SmartLoads 14 Smart Panel​

 

[Ampster]

Say you have a Sol-Ark 15K doing 200amp pass-through from the grid to your 200amp main panel. Say you've got a battery backup system hooked up to it. And say you are charging your EV at, e.g., 7.2 kW.
Because the 15K is doing pass-through to the entire panel rather than to a critical loads panel, if the grid goes down, your batteries will automatically takeover and continue to charge your EV at 7.2 kW, correct?

Yes, but SolArk gives you some control. You may have to use a smart switch to turn off EV charging.

I had been thinking that the Sol-Ark 15K and 200amp pass through, without the need for a critical loads subpanel, would be good. But now that I realize that a grid outage would cause my batteries to be supplying power to literally any load in my panel that happens to be running when the grid goes down (electric dryer, EV charger, etc.), I'm starting to think I might actually prefer a critical loads subpanel. I don't think my batteries would even have the power to power, for example, an EV and a dryer at the same time, but even if they had sufficient power, I don't want my EV and my dryer to immediately drain my batteries during a grid outage...

Am I thinking about this correctly, or am I missing something?

That is an option to use a critical loads pane. IF your are not using generator port as AC coupled solar, it can be configured as a programmable output running your EV charger. . Also SolArk has come out with a smart loads panel that might be more flexible than a critical loads panel. It could be the smart switch I mentioned above and it could be programmed to control load. Other choices would be to ramp down the current on your EV charging or schedule it through a smart loads center to only charge from the solar.

 

[aunsafe2015]

You can also just the smart load output for basic load shedding. I have my central heat pump connected to that so it'll turn off if the grid goes down unless the batteries are almost full and I have a lot of PV coming in.

Can you tell me more about that? Is that a setting within the Sol-Ark that allows you to do that? Or separate equipment?

 

[aunsafe2015]

[snip] You may have to use a smart switch to turn off EV charging. [snip]

Could you provide a link to the type of smart switch you are talking about? My EV charger is really the only load that I would need to shed.

 

[Ampster]

Could you provide a link to the type of smart switch you are talking about? My EV charger is really the only load that I would need to shed.

The simplest would be to program the Gen port on the SolArk as @niktak11 suggested. The SolArk smart loads center would be overkill.

 

[Think About It]

I really wish that Sol-Ark would come out with a module similar to the Generac Smart Management Module. (SMM) The SMM can be installed anywhere ahead of the appliance. It's communication is solely over the existing wiring. It detects when the generator is supplying power and sheds/un-sheds the attached load accordingly. It has a lockout setting which will prevent the attached load from being powered when the generator is running, such as electric range or EV charger.

This a much better architecture than a centralized load shed panel. The centralized panel is a wiring nightmare. The distributed method is much better. Say you want to shed an EV charger connected to your sub-panel in your garage. Sol-Ark smart load panel won't work. Also, each 240 volt load that you want to shed with the Smartloads panel is going to use up two of the 14 circuits.

I wouldn't waist the generator input for a smartloads panel output. (Especially since I have a generator connected.) I would wire all the loads that I want to shed to a sub-panel off my main load center. I would simply put a contactor between the two, and power the contactor from the grid connection ahead of the Sol-Ark. (Of course this would have to be properly fused and wired according to the NEC!)

 

[TBoone]

The simplest would be to program the Gen port on the SolArk as @niktak11 suggested. The SolArk smart loads center would be overkill.

I think this is called "peak shaving" and is designed to prevent overloading the genset.

-TB

 

[Egl_81]

I don't have an EV yet but planning to add one in the future. I thought about this exact situation because yes, if the grid goes out and your 15K is powering everything, including an EV charger, it will continue to charge the vehicle and drain your batteries.

Easy inexpensive solution... I installed a 200 amp panel between the meter and the Sol-ark's grid input to act as a "NON-critical loads panel." Then the load output from the 15K goes to my "Main" panel with all the loads in the house. When I add a EV charger, I'll put the breaker in the non-critical loads panel. That way, if the grid goes out, the Sol-ark will automatically stop exporting power out to the grid and the non-critical panel as well. EV stops charging and batteries don't get depleted quickly.

 

[Think About It]

I think this is called "peak shaving" and is designed to prevent overloading the genset.

-TB

I believe that they are removing the "Peak Shaving" setting for the generator. There is another setting that you specify how many watts your generator puts out up to 19,200. This will keep from overloading the generator.

 

[TBoone]

I don't have an EV yet but planning to add one in the future. I thought about this exact situation because yes, if the grid goes out and your 15K is powering everything, including an EV charger, it will continue to charge the vehicle and drain your batteries.

Easy inexpensive solution... I installed a 200 amp panel between the meter and the Sol-ark's grid input to act as a "NON-critical loads panel." Then the load output from the 15K goes to my "Main" panel with all the loads in the house. When I add a EV charger, I'll put the breaker in the non-critical loads panel. That way, if the grid goes out, the Sol-ark will automatically stop exporting power out to the grid and the non-critical panel as well. EV stops charging and batteries don't get depleted quickly.

Check out Smart Load in your 15K manual. Loads that are connected there are only powered when certain conditions are met. One of the conditions is sufficient solar.

-TB

 

[Think About It]

Easy inexpensive solution... I installed a 200 amp panel between the meter and the Sol-ark's grid input to act as a "NON-critical loads panel." Then the load output from the 15K goes to my "Main" panel with all the loads in the house. When I add a EV charger, I'll put the breaker in the non-critical loads panel. That way, if the grid goes out, the Sol-ark will automatically stop exporting power out to the grid and the non-critical panel as well. EV stops charging and batteries don't get depleted quickly.

That's similar to my preferred method, which is to have a separate non-critical loads panel off the inverter Load with a contactor ahead of it, coil fired off the grid. Sometimes easier to wire, same principal.

 

[TBoone]

That's similar to my preferred method, which is to have a separate non-critical loads panel off the inverter Load with a contactor ahead of it, coil fired off the grid. Sometimes easier to wire, same principal.

Could also use PLCs or stuff like this. Tha additional logic could be usefull.

-TB