Reverse of critical loads panel

[ruralsolar]

I'm looking at moving forward with a sol-ark 15k setup (batteries to be done "later") and of course one advantage is the full 200amp passthrough, no need for a critical loads sub panel. The thought process that's on my mind though, when I do get batteries, what's the best way to load shed high amperage circuits? I'm thinking of something that's a reverse of the critical loads panel (or non-critical load panel). The idea for me with the batteries is in the event of a grid down situation. The high amperage loads I have right now are a hottub, clothes dryer, hot water tank, heat pump with 3kw backup heater (this one might end up "split" where the backup heater is on non-critical but the heat pump itself is on backup power), I was going to say well pump but that's not really that large of a load for us.

To complicate things slightly, our meter is built into an outdoor panel with some breaker spaces at one corner of the house (1 single 20amp in use), with the "main" house panel at the opposite corner (bad planning). I was going to put the sol-ark in between those, so the outside panel breaker spaces would not be on any backup, but with the thought of another panel to break out the high amperage loads, do I daisy chain in another panel before the sol-ark? What options are available to ensure high draw loads are not pulling battery when it comes to that time?

 

[Bkord]

A relay would work. Or breakers before solark like you said. Can you use the gen port, or are you using it for something else?

 

[Ampster]

what's the best way to load shed high amperage circuits? I'm thinking of something that's a reverse of the critical loads panel (or non-critical load panel).

I think the generator port on the SolArk can be configured for load shedding.. That assumes you do not need it for generator input or AC coupled solar input?

 

[ruralsolar]

I guess I missed that part of the sol-ark, the generator port can be used to receive power from a generator or be used to power a sub panel? That would be a workable solution, I really am trying to avoid using any generator, although the contingency of being able to might be nice in the long run...past 18 months we've had 2 instances of 3-5 days of no power....so option 1 is use the generator port for a non-critical loads panel, option 2, another panel before the sol-ark...option 3? Just seems silly to have yet another 200amp capable panel to hold the non-critical loads plus pass power to the sol-ark. How much of a difference does it make knowing that I'll also be exporting as well, or kind of a moot point there.

 

[BentleyJ]

What options are available to ensure high draw loads are not pulling battery when it comes to that time?

As BKord mentioned relays or definite purpose contactors could be used for load control but most are [NO] type meaning they have to be energized to close so they become a source of parasitic load 100% of the time the grid up.
You may be able to replace the breakers in the existing panel with Remote Trip breakers that would shut off when the grid goes down. The advantage is not having to install another panel. The disadvantage is that most RT breakers are one way only meaning you have to be there to manually turn them back on.
The above is also dependent on the options available for the Sol-Ark Aux relay configuration such that it could be used to trigger the RT breakers as needed.

 

[ruralsolar]

As BKord mentioned relays or definite purpose contactors could be used for load control but most are [NO] type meaning they have to be energized to close so they become a source of parasitic load 100% of the time the grid up.
You may be able to replace the breakers in the existing panel with Remote Trip breakers that would shut off when the grid goes down. The advantage is not having to install another panel. The disadvantage is that most RT breakers are one way only meaning you have to be there to manually turn them back on.
The above is also dependent on the options available for the Sol-Ark Aux relay configuration such that it could be used to trigger the RT breakers as needed.

Yeah not sure how I feel about relays. Interesting about RT Breakers but I agree the manual turn on is annoying...maybe I'm best installing as expected and wait for sol-arks critical loads panel to come out, reads like it'll have some kind of load shedding capability.

 

[Ampster]

so option 1 is use the generator port for a non-critical loads panel, option 2, another panel before the sol-ark...option 3?

The first two are the viable ones. Option 3 could be a hybrid of both, where you have some loads that you might want to use when the grid goes down but want to be able to shed them. Those you would put on the generator port and non essential loads you would put on before the SolArk which would never be used when the grid is down. Power management is becoming a new trend and the load shedding might be useful when you have cloudy days and you only want to use certain loads to preserve battery capacity, or even as a TOU variation where you could limit those loads when Time of Use rates are lower.