Would a (Sol-Ark) Smatloads 14, or a Span, or Lumin, Leviton, or Savant, or any other "smart" electrical panel help with load leveling? I mean, I know that they help prioritize all your circuits so you don't need a critical loads panel (and the Smartloads 14 has AI to "learn" how you use electricity and set priorities from that), but can any of them (especially the Smartloads 14 because it also is Sol-Ark) help with leveling between the two lines? I know Sol-Ark says that the Smartloads 14 talks to the 12K as well as the 15K, but haven't heard of anything from them about load leveling between two lines. If you swapped out the 12K for a 15K, you could keep the 11kW array coming in the DC side, and have the 5kW come in on the generator input. If you add a Smartloads 14, you could get rid of any critical loads panel you might have, and then *all* 16kW of your array could be used for *any* of the loads (well, at least for 14 circuits, but you can add extra Smartloads 14s - at ~$3100 a pop). Then you could add extra panels to either array as you see fit. Like, when you add (DC coupled 48V) batteries to your setup, you can add panels to the DC side to take advantage of the super-efficient DC-DC charging of the batteries. If your standard daytime AC consumption rises, you can add panels (with micros) to the AC side and take advantage of the extra (AC input) capacity of the generator input of the 15K, as well as any shading advantages of micros that might exist on your roof, and (solar) panel level monitoring, without having any waste (of double inversion to charge the batteries). And, if you plan on getting an EV, you might want to look at a charger that will be coming on the market soon from a company named Enteligent (
https://www.enteligent.com). Their EV charger talks to inverters (they are working with Sol-Ark, amongst others) to take DC current from the panels and send it straight to the charger without any inversion (as well as adding power from batteries and/or the grid). And they can charge faster than Level 2 chargers. I spoke with a guy named Ed Rosenberry. Nice guy. Listens to you. Didn't try to BS me. If you talk to him, tell him I directed you their way. BTW, they have DC optimizer/RSD devices (seems to be a direct competitor to Tigo) coming out within the next month as well.
Anyway, since my main panel is 1) almost 40 years old, and 2) is only 100W, I thought I really need a panel upgrade when installing this new solar setup, especially since I'll be adding an EV charger. So I thought I probably should consider some sort of smart panel to make best use of the solar (with ESS) setup. Especially if the grid goes down. Any thoughts on this (feel free to direct me to the appropriate thread if you deem this off topic)? Preferences on smart load panels?
As far as an EV goes, since this would be our first, I thought of buying a used Chevy Bolt. They seem to have pretty good range (we don't have daily commutes, but the Bolt's range (~230 miles) is generally good enough for those with commutes), and are reviewed rather well (for an entry more towards the economy end of the scale). I figure we'd ease into the EV scene with that, and then in a few years, when the charging infrastructure is more robust, and battery technology is more advanced, we'd trade it in to get a nicer, truly long range EV (so we could take long trips without range anxiety). In the mean time, our payback time for the solar/ESS setup would get even shorter because most of our driving would be via EV, which would be charged from our solar panels. But one thing to keep in mind if buying a used Bolt: it seems they had a battery recall, and GM/LG hasn't been able to produce enough batteries to support the current (pun not intended) to support the recall (something about supply chain issues due to some sort of pandemic), so make sure you know the status of the particular Bolt you're investigating: you will have limited range until the battery gets replaced under the recall. I would consider the "Mustang" Mach-E (which seems to be getting very good reviews) except for two things: 1) I hate SUVs (for a number of reasons), and 2) I own an actual Mustang. Calling that thing a "Mustang" is...just...wrong. If none of that is important to you, consider the Mach-E: it's supposed to be a pretty good value for an EV. I have no clue what the mark-up situation is.