Sol-Ark 15K All in One Inverter Released.

[12kw_2021]

I have some more questions for other 15K users.. hope this is the correct forum, if not, please let me know.
1.0 How do you adjust the Battery SOC on the Sol-Ark. Currently it is saying 80%, but the JK BMS is saying 70%. (48v 16cell 280ah home built battery)
1.1 Update.. the Battery BMS is now saying 100%, and that agrees with the Sol-ark. So it appears to be in synch, not an issue.
2.0 I am not seeing any PV power numbers on the main screen for my AC coupled solar power, I do see the home load, and the battery usage, and it appears that the AC coupled Solar power is just being added to the home load. So I see 4000W going into the load, and 500W coming from the grid, I can do the math and discover that the AC coupled array is delivering 3500W (Zero from battery).. but the little Solar Icon is not showing the AC coupled to grid pin Solar power as a stand alone live feed. Is that a set up problem or is the Solar Icon on the main display only used for DC PV input?
Update: The little cool Icon with the arrows doesn't appear to work for AC coupled PV input, however in small letters at the very top of the main screen it does report "solar KWH generated today" and that number agrees with the Enphase app number so I can live with that. I just have to do some math to understand real time results and subtract the grid input from the Load, and the difference is the AC coupled PV.

3.0 The "more" option buried on the WWW interface under the inverter has a nice graph that shows all the different power flows, so I can see battery SOC, Grid and loads all on one line graph, but again, the AC coupled solar PV is not shown as a stand alone item there.
4.0 Does anyone have a setup that ensures zero power sent from the AC coupled solar to the grid? Yesterday I pulled the main disconnect as my setup was sending power to the grid, and since I am not yet approved, I don't want to do that. I guess I can just turn off the main cut off switch each morning and operate off grid, but it would be nice if the Sol-ark could control that for me.
5.0 When I ran yesterday completely off grid all of my home equipment operated including my 3.5 ton heat pump. I see recommendations for install of a "soft start" but if the Sol-ark can handle the locked rotor starting load, why do I need that extra expense?
6.0 Talking to an HVAC expert he explained that only when you try to start , then restart immediately the heat pump compressor is the inrush current highest. If you wait 5 minutes or so between HVAC starts the high and low side pressures slowly equalize and the inrush current required to start the compressor is much lower. He also said most home thermostats have a delay built in for that purpose. So that is another reason why I am not sure I need to worry about a $350 AC soft start setup/expense.
7.0 Yesterday I modified the AC coupled setup to turn off the array when battery hits 90%, then turn it back on when it hits 77%. The shutdown worked, but when it restarted many of the Enphase micro inverters had "errors" and the restart was not clean. I sent an email to Sol-ark about that issue, and opened a trouble ticket with Enphase as well. Overnight Enphase updated firmware on my inverters and my combiner box, and said it appeared to be operating normally. Problem is the enphase array app showed green and normal, and until I drilled down to the "details" option and showed status of each inverter, I did not see the errors. And of course there was no error code indicating what the error was, just the word error. The gen pins on the Sol-ark did have 250V so that should have told the enphase grid was up, and you should operate.
7.1 Today I am "on grid" and the battery is now fully charged to 100% , but the Sol-ark is not turning off the AC coupled array, so I guess my understanding of the On/Off feature based on battery level is for "off grid operation only?" Assume that is the case, please correct me if I got that wrong.. assume if on grid, the Sol-ark will just let the PV run to support loads, and backfill with the grid which is what it is doing now.
7.2 Confirmed from Manual, and my operation, the AC coupled PV off/on feature only works when "off grid" Today I was out in the AM, and when I came home battery was 100%, and 8KW of PV from the AC coupled PV was going to the grid. No other settings appear to matter, so I had to pull my main disconnect to stop sending power to grid.
8.0 When operating entire home "off grid" yesterday several of my LED lamps were "Flickering" one large one in the basement closet where the Sol-ark is installed was annoying. Any suggestions on what causes that, and any corrective actions I can take?
9.0 Yesterday in my off grid test, the inverter reported "offline" several times, can anyone explain why it would go "offline" meaning I cannot access it from the WWW link.

Sorry for so many questions, and thanks to all who share here, I really like the forum and the suggestions others made (IE how to set up the AC coupled on and off vs battery level explanation was very helpful. As I learn things about how it operates I will update these questions so the results and questions will all be in one place for others.

 

[Ampster]

How do you adjust the Battery SOC on the Sol-Ark. Currently it is saying 80%, but the JK BMS is saying 70%.

I do not know much about the SolArk but I do know the easiest way to get the SOC on any inverter and a BMS is to reset them both to 100%. That is often don by charging until the settings are reached. This may involve some tweaking of the settings on the BMS or the Inerter to get them to decrease at the same rate.

 

[niktak11]

That's one of my only complaints of the 15k. The SoC algorithm is not very good.

 

[robby]

That's one of my only complaints of the 15k. The SoC algorithm is not very good.

Yep and it's the same on the 12K! I would say +/-10% SOC accuracy if you do not get a full charge during the day. With a Full charge it is within about 2-5%

I just abandoned it and started to use Battery Voltage mode.
They really made this inverter for Closed Loop operation and in that mode it works perfectly.
I am really getting tempted to ditch Solar Assistant and used closed loop mode again. I think I am just going to wait on the new software from Sol-Ark that is rumored to have 30 second updates.

 

[niktak11]

Yep and it's the same on the 12K! I would say +/-10% SOC accuracy if you do not get a full charge during the day. With a Full charge it is within about 2-5%

I just abandoned it and started to use Battery Voltage mode.
They really made this inverter for Closed Loop operation and in that mode it works perfectly.
I am really getting tempted to ditch Solar Assistant and used closed loop mode again. I think I am just going to wait on the new software from Sol-Ark that is rumored to have 30 second updates.

Mine seems to drift by about 5% per day. So if I go 4 days without hitting 100% then it's off by about 20%. Once I get more of the seplos mason packs I'll try hooking up communications to see if the seplos algo is any better. Right now I only have 1 though so I think it would try to limit my charge and discharge to 200A in the sol-ark settings.

 

[Hedges]

5% (of the pack) per day seems excessive.
If you had just 100 Ah, this would be 0.2A offset. More if your pack is larger.
Is there a procedure to zero it?

A shunt isn't going to have an offset, but the amplifier sensing it could. Hall effect has an offset.
An external shunt can easily be set to zero output for calibration by putting both sense wires on the same screw, but current sensor inside an inverter would have current during any procedure.

 

[robby]

Mine seems to drift by about 5% per day. So if I go 4 days without hitting 100% then it's off by about 20%. Once I get more of the seplos mason packs I'll try hooking up communications to see if the seplos algo is any better. Right now I only have 1 though so I think it would try to limit my charge and discharge to 200A in the sol-ark settings.

I suspect that the more KWh of batteries you have and the less the packs get charged is something that throws the SOC off even more.
It takes a full charge to re-calibrate it and I agree that consecutive low PV days just makes the readings worst. With Batt-V the SOC is not perfect but it will reliably shutdown power draw on your batteries before they get to low.
It’s reliable in many ways but just not as easy to work with as percentages.

 

[robby]

BTW I got the new PowerView update today and they seemed to have broken something in the Battery Settings section.
I highly suggest that you do not use the battery settings menu until they release an update that fixes it.

 

[12kw_2021]

Hello

Can anyone tell me what MI stands for in this power view.
Sol-ark is still investigating why with Grid Sell off it still decides to send power to grid.

Since my local supplier is still making me dance to we need more corrected paperwork just one more time please, as 8-10 work days elapse between each email submission. LOL.. well hopefully my latest submission will make them happy. I sure hope so.

If anyone has suggestions on how to 100% ensure no power sent to grid, I would be very happy to hear suggestions.
As of now the Grid Sell check box is missing, and off. As of now once the battery gets to 100%, I just go out and flip the main power cut off switch next to the meter , to avoid problems with my local electric company, crude, but is works.

Here is image of a sunny morning here, with AC coupled solar running fine Note that Sol-ark also doesn't display the PV power perfectly yet, they are also working on that issue.

What does MI stand for

 

[Supervstech]

Micro inverter

 

[12kw_2021]

Micro inverter

Lol. Of course I feel pretty stupid now.

I guess if I install some DC only panels it will be nice to understand which array is doing what.

Thanks.

 

[Hedges]

Sol-ark is still investigating why with Grid Sell off it still decides to send power to grid.

If anyone has suggestions on how to 100% ensure no power sent to grid, I would be very happy to hear suggestions.
As of now the Grid Sell check box is missing, and off. As of now once the battery gets to 100%, I just go out and flip the main power cut off switch next to the meter , to avoid problems with my local electric company, crude, but is works.

As shown, the only way power can reach anything other than the battery is by flowing through wires toward house and grid.
Inverter has no way to know whether some of the power reaches grid.

Two ways to accomplish that:

1) Current Transformers around wires after house, before grid. Inverter monitors that, reduces output to stop export.

2) Load on some output terminals of inverter, grid on grid terminals. Inverter monitors internal current transformers, ensures no power flows out grid terminals.

If you have microinverters or other independent grid-tie inverters, SolArk inverter might open "Generator" relay to disconnect them so they can't backfeed to grid.

 

[12kw_2021]

As shown, the only way power can reach anything other than the battery is by flowing through wires toward house and grid.
Inverter has no way to know whether some of the power reaches grid.

Two ways to accomplish that:

1) Current Transformers around wires after house, before grid. Inverter monitors that, reduces output to stop export.

2) Load on some output terminals of inverter, grid on grid terminals. Inverter monitors internal current transformers, ensures no power flows out grid terminals.

If you have microinverters or other independent grid-tie inverters, SolArk inverter might open "Generator" relay to disconnect them so they can't backfeed to grid.

Hedges

You know way more about this stuff than I do... but my current setup is Grid Input to Grid Pins on Solark. Load to main home breaker from Solark. AC Coupled Input to Gen Pins... and 1 16cell 48V battery connected .

I have the Current Transformers installed to monitor the flow to and from the Grid and they are working as expected and designed.
My meter also has a small blinking arrow that points one way for power into home, and the other way for power exiting home.

I don't understand your statement 2 above Sorry...

Your last statement is correct, if/when the Sol-ark sees too much PV power from the AC coupled array , it will remove the 250V from the PV input Gen pins, and the Enphase inverters will turn off. It also has a method that looks at the battery % charge level that I can program, and when the batteries reach 100% charge, and the PV input is > the Load it turns off the AC coupled inverter, and starts using the battery for Load. Once the batteries get to a second programmed lower level the Solark senses this lower level, and re-enables the AC coupled Gen pins with 250V and the Enphase inverters turn back on to charge the battery back up, and support loads.

All this I have verified.. only remaining issue is even when it has batteries that need charge, and loads that need support it will begin sending power back to the grid.. and this is (I believe) a bug that Sol-ark is investigaing. I will share what I learn on that.

Thanks for the reply...

Per tech support at Sol-ark they indicate that if the Grid Sell option is unchecked that should prevent selling excess power not used to charge batteries or to support load to the grid. There is also a Grid Sell amount box that can be adjusted to increase or decrease the amount of power sent to the grid.... So they do monitor the AC coupled PV input and can turn it on and off as needed.

As of now since I don't want trouble with my local electric supplier I am just running the Kitchen oven when the PV produced is greater that the home Load, or battery charge need , and that prevents power from going back to grid. After my battery is back to 100%, I will just flip the main cut off switch on the side of the house.

All of this will become "uneeded" when my local electric supplier approves my PV interconnect agreement, so perhaps I just need to be patient and use the silly tricks to shed load, or disconnect from Grid as I am doing.

 

[Hedges]

And I don't know sol-ark, except from reading.

With diagram as shown (Grid and House but no CT on one branch), SolArk couldn't know about export.

Since you say grid is on grid terminals and house is on output terminals of Sol Ark, that is what I meant by (2)

Maybe it is a bug.

You have CT, grid on grid terminals, and loads on SolArk? That would be an additional terminal for loads (house) not shown in drawing.
Do you have any loads between Sol Ark and grid you want to supply from Sok Ark? (could skip that until connection agreement received.)
I would have expected SolArk to support zero export from its grid terminals without any external CT. You could try configuring that. User installed CT provide opportunities to connect incorrectly, so try only feeding loads downstream not upstream of SolArk.

 

[12kw_2021]

And I don't know sol-ark, except from reading.

With diagram as shown (Grid and House but no CT on one branch), SolArk couldn't know about export.

Since you say grid is on grid terminals and house is on output terminals of Sol Ark, that is what I meant by (2)

Maybe it is a bug.

You have CT, grid on grid terminals, and loads on SolArk? That would be an additional terminal for loads (house) not shown in drawing.
Do you have any loads between Sol Ark and grid you want to supply from Sok Ark? (could skip that until connection agreement received.)
I would have expected SolArk to support zero export from its grid terminals without any external CT. You could try configuring that. User installed CT provide opportunities to connect incorrectly, so try only feeding loads downstream not upstream of SolArk.

Hello I'm not sure what drawing you're referring to but yes everything for the main panel in my house is connected to the solark 200 amp grid in 200 amp load out to main panel battery and AC coupled PV input on gen terminals. You are correct that they say they support zero export from the gen terminals it just appears that it's not working perfectly in my case some aspects of it work fine enabling and disabling the AC coupled solar based on battery level does indeed work . And you're right there may be a setup parameter somewhere that I'm missing hopefully the technical folks at solark can educate me since I'm new to this.

Thanks again for the reply

 

[robby]

What kind of power levels is it sending back to the Grid.
Mine sends back 20W which is what I set.

 

[Hedges]

Hello I'm not sure what drawing you're referring to

This drawing:

Sol-Ark 15K All in One Inverter Released.

I have some more questions for other 15K users.. hope this is the correct forum, if not, please let me know. 1.0 How do you adjust the Battery SOC on the Sol-Ark. Currently it is saying 80%, but the JK BMS is saying 70%. (48v 16cell 280ah home built battery) 1.1 Update.. the Battery BMS is now...

diysolarforum.com

but yes everything for the main panel in my house is connected to the solark 200 amp grid in 200 amp load out to main panel ...

I don't follow if house main panel (with house loads) is connected to SolArk 200 amp grid in (and the grid), or if all loads are connected to SolArk load out.
If the former, external CT would be required.

battery and AC coupled PV input on gen terminals. You are correct that they say they support zero export from the gen terminals it just appears that it's not working perfectly in my case some aspects of it work fine enabling and disabling the AC coupled solar based on battery level does indeed work . And you're right there may be a setup parameter somewhere that I'm missing hopefully the technical folks at solark can educate me since I'm new to this.

Thanks again for the reply

Start by disconnecting all AC coupled PV. (Do you have DC coupled PV, so system still generates power from the sun?) See how that works.

What kind of power levels is it sending back to the Grid.
Mine sends back 20W which is what I set.

So for 12kw_2021, could set for 200W import (further from zero).
People have reported small difference between settings and what utility meter shows.

 

[12kw_2021]

What kind of power levels is it sending back to the Grid.
Mine sends back 20W which is what I set.

The amount sent back varies what appears to happen is when the PV array is running at a low level and then a cloud disappears and it jumps up to a high level it'll send one or two kilowatts back to the grid. I definitely recall some message that someone posted that if you set the grid cell amount to zero that doesn't work and I had it set at 20 watts as well and that did appear to be working for a while but then the PV array would turn on and off and it would start sending significantly more making me nervous.

Is there a reason you selected 20 watts instead of 0 or some lower number

 

[robby]

I think 20 Watts was what they recommended as the lowest value to block any AC consumption.
Given the small inaccuracies of the CT's they need that.

You have AC coupling and I have no experience with that and the Sol-Ark.

 

[12kw_2021]

This drawing:

Sol-Ark 15K All in One Inverter Released.

I have some more questions for other 15K users.. hope this is the correct forum, if not, please let me know. 1.0 How do you adjust the Battery SOC on the Sol-Ark. Currently it is saying 80%, but the JK BMS is saying 70%. (48v 16cell 280ah home built battery) 1.1 Update.. the Battery BMS is now...

diysolarforum.com

I don't follow if house main panel (with house loads) is connected to SolArk 200 amp grid in (and the grid), or if all loads are connected to SolArk load out.
If the former, external CT would be required.




Start by disconnecting all AC coupled PV. (Do you have DC coupled PV, so system still generates power from the sun?) See how that works.




So for 12kw_2021, could set for 200W import (further from zero).
People have reported small difference between settings and what utility meter shows.

The grid 200a main power from meter is connected to grid input on solark.
The main home panel with all loads is connected to the load output on the solark.
I don't have any DC PV At this time.
The Solark CTS are monitoring the 200A feed from meter to Solark and Agree with my meter for current incoming or exiting my home.
Sorry for any confusion.
I am adjusting the grid sell amount to see if that helps. Set at 20w appeared to work for periods of time from the logs I have.