Sol-Ark 12K + Enphase IQ8 microinverters

[sgturner]

Guess I gotta call/email Sol-Ark. Why don't they have their own dedicated forum, anyway?

 

[timselectric]

Maybe they don't want a bunch of people getting together, and discussing their products. lol

 

[Ellis Redding]

It's been a while since I read the manual. I do remember that it is suggested that you connect the Micro's to the critical loads panel. And then to the Sol-Ark. But, I think that this is just for maximum efficiency.

I would think that any way that you can supply the AC Coupled power directly to the loads before the SolArk sees it the better. The less power the Sol Ark has to manage, the better.

 

[fafrd]

So, I still don't feel like I have gotten my question answered - can you connect a panel+IQ8 directly to the Sol-Ark 12K "gen input" and have it work. Has anyone actually done this?.

Why would you want to connect to the generator input rather than to critical loads panel?

The Solark almost certainly frequency-shifts the 60Hz PSW AC output on Critical Loads Output to curtail Microinverter output.

Unless the manual explicitly states that the hybrid also somehow applies frequency shift to the generator AC input, I would be very cautious about connecting your Microinverters there…

 

[timselectric]

Why would you want to connect to the generator input rather than to critical loads panel?

The Solark almost certainly frequency-shifts the 60Hz PSW AC output on Critical Loads Output to curtail Microinverter output.

Unless the manual explicitly states that the hybrid also somehow applies frequency shift to the generator AC input, I would be very cautious about connecting your Microinverters there…

The critical loads output and the generator input, are one and the same. It's just a matter of configuring that breaker for either input or output.

 

[sgturner]

Unfortunately, the Sol-Ark manual is so poorly written, its difficult to tell how you can/should connect microinverters. Sol-Ark needs to invest some $$$ in that area. They also need a dedicated forum hosted on their own website, or at least have technical people monitor this forum.

 

[timselectric]

There are several webinairs on YouTube.
This is where I got most of my questions answered.

 

[timselectric]

Unfortunately, the whole military background smoke and mirrors bs story. Really turned me off to Sol-ark.
They are no different from any other company, jacking the price up for profit. All the while, just selling another Chinese inverter.

 

[Ellis Redding]

Unfortunately, the whole military background smoke and mirrors bs story. Really turned me off to Sol-ark.
They are no different from any other company, jacking the price up for profit. All the while, just selling another Chinese inverter.

It's a chinese inverter? WTF! LGB!

 

[timselectric]

It's a chinese inverter? WTF! LGB!

It's a Deye inverter, with a new paint job.

 

[sgturner]

It gets worse. The Sol-Ark "cloud" server is in China. That really needs to be fixed......

 

[timselectric]

It gets worse. The Sol-Ark "cloud" server is in China. That really needs to be fixed......

I'm sure that it's probably a Deye cloud server.

 

[sgturner]

I wonder if the 15K is a redesign or an adaptation of the 12K/Deye design. It seems like they have enough traction that they should be able to start designing their hardware and writing their software in the US

 

[timselectric]

It's a paint job on the new Deye 16k.

 

[sgturner]

crap.....

 

[sgturner]

But it kind of explains why their manuals are so bad

 

[sgturner]

I was comparing the Sol-Ark manual to the Deye hybrid 8K manual. They are definitely the same beast!. One interesting thing is that the Deye seems to have a similar but different UI on the OLED display. I think I actually like this better. Sure would be interesting to understand how the IP sharing between the two companies works

 

[timselectric]

I was comparing the Sol-Ark manual to the Deye hybrid 8K manual. They are definitely the same beast!. One interesting thing is that the Deye seems to have a similar but different UI on the OLED display. I think I actually like this better. Sure would be interesting to understand how the IP sharing between the two companies works

View attachment 87907View attachment 87908

Yes, Sol-ark doesn't deny it. They just don't advertise it. They have even gone as far as forcing Deye to stop allowing any other distributors to sell the split-phase version in the United States. Deye agreed to it, because Sol-ark is a big customer. Not an issue for me. As I prefer to create my own split-phase, after the inverter. It's the best way to get full available power. When using a high frequency inverter.

 

[Johndo]

This implies that when you have power exceeding the loads on the critical loads panel that power will flow into the Sol-Ark. this must mean the load out connection also allows power in. This implies it will flow back into the main service panel and off into the grid. OR it is used to charge the battery. What happens when The solArk is set to not export power and the battery is full. In this case the frequency gets shifted to turn down/off the microinverters. Is there a table to correlate frequency shift to %power generation on the microinverters or is this just an on/off situation?

 

[Johndo]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if it would be possible to supplement a PV DC system connected to a Sol-Ark 12K with a few more panels with Enphase IQ8 microinverters connected to the Sol-Ark's generator inputs?. What do the IQ8s need for them to turn on?. How do you turn them off for RSD requirements?.

thanks, Steve

I don’t think anything here utilizes the special functionality of IQ8s. It sure looks to me this will work just fine with IQ7’s. Phase shifting is utilized today with IQ7 from Tesla walls. This is pretty tried and true tech.