Sol-Ark 12K Grid/Off-grid

[SolarHead]

My comment was in regards to you saying that a battery is just for backup and shouldn’t be used to sell back to the grid. A battery can and in my setup is used for more than just backup. I use Cts to limit the inverter output to only what my home is using. To do so the inverter uses solar power if it’s available and battery power at the same time if solar isn’t enough to fully supply the homes loads. I use my batteries to zero my electric bill, not just for backup. The Cts enable the inverter to see how much power the home is using so it will only produce that amount. If a home rarely has power outages then the type of setup I use is more advantageous than moving most or all of the homes loads to a sub panel to be powered by the a SolArks load output.
For the SolArk to only use pv power to feed into the grid I’m sure battery discharge into the grid can be turned off so it simply stays charged for whenever you power loads offgrid. But if the grid is connected to the home then using the SolArk with Cts and using limiting to home mode is the way I would do it

This is what I am getting ready to do (same as yours it sounds). I used limited power to home mode with my Sol-Ark 12K, and I did not move a lot of my breakers to the critical loads panel. I figured if we had a really bad situation and grid was down long term (> 1 week), I would then take the time to move breakers over and rely 100% on solar, and stop using power as much as possible. But for now, I'm okay having a few lights and the well pump in the critical loads panel and then let the Sol-Ark assist as much as possible my main panel. This mode, along with having batteries pushes the power bill way way down. I have reliable grid. The batteries are really for backup if/when grid is down, and for night power since PV doesn't power at night. That zeros my power bill out (mostly, I mean, heat pump still pulls peaks from grid upon start-up).

All that said, I'm going to try net metering in the near future and I originally thought I'd have to remove my CT sensors but then found out from Sol-Ark they recommended leaving the CT sensors connected since I already had them in place. If you want to do Net Metering on the system, the CTs should be installed to be able to measure the consumption of your house, that is a cool feature that is there with no downside to have, even when NET METERING.

The only thing you have to program on the Sol-Ark is, Leave the system on Limited Power to Home and enable Solar Sell (Grid sell on the inverter). You will be producing as much as possible to power the loads, charge your batteries and sell back energy to the grid. I think its 9000 watts max to grid sell (after loads have been met so minus loads), and 3000 watts to battery. Hence the 12K model name.

 

[SolarHead]

All that said , I would say my comments only apply to the 12K, or two 12K's. If you are going to use the new Sol-Ark 15K model, I would say no critical loads panel is needed. It has 200A pass-thru so keep your main panel, connect to it, slightly different approach to a solar system design if using a 15K. But still use batteries for backup and nighttime power to help lower bill. And sell to grid if net metering is available and advantageous to do so, and given you have excess PV power of course. Just wanted to mention, the critical loads panel is probably going to be a thing of the past with new customers that start out with a Sol-Ark 15K.

 

[Cheap 4-life]

I use GTIL2s which are much cheaper. They are limiting grid tie inverters that can use batteries. I also have a cheapo 4kw offgrid inverter for the rare power outage that powers a critical loads panel for necessities

 

[Ldc_NH]

Hello, did you resolve your issue? I have the same question, where does the grid sell come from? When doing grid-tied it comes straight from solar panels right, but for this setup you now have a battery installed, so hybrid setup now....
The question is that how did Sol-Ark explain the setting for the grid sell to come from solar panels ONLY, and not from the battery cause the point of the batteries are for backup, it shouldn't be used to sell back to grid too.

I never found a solution. My goal at the time was to not feed battery power to the grid side of my house, only actual solar power. At no time do I send any power back into the grid at all. Overtime I added 2 more 48 volt battery packs for a total of 3 48 volt 280 amp hour lifepo4 batteries. With this setup I can normally run both the off grid side and the grid side of the house all night and into the next Solar production day. So at this point Solar/Batteries are running my whole house.