Sol-Ark 12K TOU?

[mgreg1313]

Hello, I've had my system since January and am 99% happy with it but this is driving me nuts. It feels like there should be a way to do this but I can't get it. Has anyone figured this out?

I have 12KW of LG Bi Facial panels on a white roof and it is producing way more than expected. It;s cool, clear and they are new panels so maybe none of this matters in time but I am running up against the 9K limit of the Sol-Ark by 10:30 AM or so. If I could NOT charge the batteries until later in the day, I could utilize more of the 12K but I am stumped as to how to make that happen. In the 1st picture, I have circled what I am talking about. As soon as the batteries are full, it drops down to below 9K 6+ hours. Currently using Limit to Home and Solar Sell but I feel like I tried all of the other combinations. In the 2nd picture, as a proof of concept, I sold power before got to 9K so I had somewhere to go with the extra and you can see that it works, but then I produced less while I was selling so that didn't help any. I've done this before on a clear day and have seen over 11K. Tell me I am silly for worrying about his clipping and I'll "try" and forget about this

I have plenty of batteries and extremely low usage so I am not real concerned with the state of charge so I have a lot to play with. On a typical night I am only down to 65% when I start producing again in the morning. I hope this makes some kind of sense, it does in my head.

Open to any ideas and thanks! (note that I removed some of the overnight data from the pictures just to make them clearer)

 

[Ampster]

Tell me I am silly for worrying about his clipping and I'll "try" and forget about this

Clipping is a distraction. You are selling excess to grid.

 

[mgreg1313]

Clipping is a distraction. You are selling excess to grid.

How can I sell, more that I can invert? Serious question. What am I missing? (admitted newbie)

 

[Ampster]

How can I sell, more that I can invert? Serious question. What am I missing? (admitted newbie)

You are limited by inverter capacity of 9 kW to sell to grid. 12 kW of panels rarely put out 12kW anyway.
If you are looking for more efficiency, find out when inverter reaches 9kW and start charging then. That may vary by season and by day, but it will center around solar noon. I don't know a way to automate that on the SolArk. I am still new to the SolArk, but not new to solar and inverters.

 

[mgreg1313]

You are limited by inverter capacity of 9 kW to sell to grid. 12 kW of panels rarely put out 12kW anyway.
If you are looking for more efficiency, find out when inverter reaches 9kW and start charging then. That may vary by season and by day, but it will center around solar noon. I don't know a way to automate that on the SolArk. I am still new to the SolArk, but not new to solar and inverters.

That is exactly what I am trying to do and can't figure out how to. It sounds simple in theory but can't get the settings right.

 

[EHay]

I have struggled with the same issue. I get a little above 9kw on a full sun day not matter what the settings are. The only time I achieve more is when it's partly cloudy and get the halo effect/refraction from the clouds. About 11.2kw is the maximum I have ever gotten. Which is good considering the calculated rated wattage from the panels is 11.37kw.
ATM my settings are :
- limited to home
- solar sell
- Max charge current to 37.5 amp. (about 2kw).
This makes it take most of a full sun day to charge batteries. So they are usually charging all day and can take advantage of power spikes when they come.
Being in Pennsylvania I assume you see as much sun as I do (Ohio), many times they do not charge full. Which to me is fine. Grid is quite stable and reliable, as long as grid is present batteries are set to 50% minimum. Plenty of power to run critical loads through the night if it goes down.
The only control you have over battery charging is the amount of current. I have 25kwh of batteries so the current is set to charge from 50% to 100% by about 4pm. I have also wished for control of charge times, but none that I have found.

 

[DIYrich]

If you "limit to home", it will limit production to what you can consume and charge batteries. Of you have net metering, you may want to let it export to grid the excess.

With TOU, you can setup times to charge from grid.

With 25kWh of batteries, you may be able to charge at 100 amps.

 

[EHay]

- limited to home
- solar sell
- load first
Solar goes to load first, battery, then grid.
All excess power goes to grid.

I do use TOU with 50% State of charge and Charge from grid turned on.
It does'nt charge batteries from grid just maintains a minimum level, except last night with the sever storms that went through, I grid charged them to 100% just in case.
Have 5 EG4 batteries, 1C = 30 amp. I can do 150 but that will put me back to the OPs original issue.
The 37 amp max charge is set on purpose to allow the the Sol-ark to use all incoming solar power and not be limited by the 9kw max to load/grid. Otherwise the batteries would be charged before power would even reach 9kw in the peak sun hours.

 

[DougfromdaUP]

Wouldn’t 1C for five paralleled 100AH batteries be 500 amps?

 

[DIYrich]

- limited to home
- solar sell
- load first
Solar goes to load first, battery, then grid.
All excess power goes to grid.

I do use TOU with 50% State of charge and Charge from grid turned on.
It does'nt charge batteries from grid just maintains a minimum level, except last night with the sever storms that went through, I grid charged them to 100% just in case.
Have 5 EG4 batteries, 1C = 30 amp. I can do 150 but that will put me back to the OPs original issue.
The 37 amp max charge is set on purpose to allow the the Sol-ark to use all incoming solar power and not be limited by the 9kw max to load/grid. Otherwise the batteries would be charged before power would even reach 9kw in the peak sun hours.

On the Batt, batt tab, the charge rate should be the max 120 or so. On the charge tab is where you limit the grid charge rate to 37 amp.

 

[EHay]

@DougfromdaUP :
You right about the 1C, had to go back and look at Spec sheet.
It says 100 amp constant charge, but 30 amp recommended. That is what I went by.

@DIYrich :
I set Max A charge to 37 amp to limit solar charge. Grid charge is set, but the way it's setup it does not charge batteries. That is unless there is a power outage and drain batteries below 50%. It would then charge when grid is back up, but only to 50%. Solar only from 50% to 100%.

 

[DIYrich]

Why do you want to limit solar charging?

 

[EHay]

Looking at the OP his batteries are fully charged before the solar input is 9k. Since the inverter can only send 9k to the grid, if you have 12k of panels that extra 3k is totally unusable at that point. The inverter has no place to put it. By slowing down the charge the batteries are still charging and can make use of that 3k.