Sol-Ark 15K All in One Inverter Released.

[RayofSunshine]

In my use case there is a remote shop that already has grid tied solar, and a whole house generator in the shop connected through a breaker in the same service panel as the existing solar. The remote shop electrical line runs from the main breaker panel in the main house. I specifically asked about tying that line from the shop in to the solark in the house via the gen input. I was told it would work to input power from the ac coupled existing solar or the backup generator if it was running. The gen input on the solark would NOT provide power to the shop.

Just to be clear, did the Sol-Ark rep tell you that the 15K would somehow make its own determination to NOT provide power to the shop based on some sort of electrical sensing of your configuration, or did they tell you that you should not configure the gen input as a smart load output because it would create a hazardous condition (like maybe if the whole house generator in the shop kicks on, and some time later the 15K in your house decides to send some load out the gen input which will be fed back into the whole house generator)?

 

[Canxane]

Just to be clear, did the Sol-Ark rep tell you that the 15K would somehow make its own determination to NOT provide power to the shop based on some sort of electrical sensing of your configuration, or did they tell you that you should not configure the gen input as a smart load output because it would create a hazardous condition (like maybe if the whole house generator in the shop kicks on, and some time later the 15K in your house decides to send some load out the gen input which will be fed back into the whole house generator)?

Ray, they told me exactly what I have posted each and every time. I have tried to share information as accurately as possible. I have spoken with and exchanged emails with a few solark reps over the course of this thread. They are all friendly and helpful.

Let me be clear. Why don't you call solark and ask your explicitly worded questions yourself? Then get back to us with your carefully curated information.

Good luck everyone!

 

[RayofSunshine]

Ray, they told me exactly what I have posted each and every time. I have tried to share information as accurately as possible. I have spoken with and exchanged emails with a few solark reps over the course of this thread. They are all friendly and helpful.

Let me be clear. Why don't you call solark and ask your explicitly worded questions yourself? Then get back to us with your carefully curated information.

Good luck everyone!

Dude, I'm just trying to get clarification, because the words - as posted - could be interpreted in different ways. It would be ludicrous to expect that I could call Sol-Ark and ask questions about your unique setup. And might I remind you that - back in post #233 - I responded to your post and volunteered information that was germane to the issue that you raised, just in case it could be useful in your search for information. I'm sorry that you could not see your way to returning the favor by the use of a few polite words, and that my search for knowledge has inconvenienced you in any way.

Best of luck to you, too.

 

[niktak11]

Just received my 15k. I'll try to get it running after work tonight.

 

[niktak11]

Took 2-3 hours to replace my LVX6048 with a 15k. The first thing I noticed is how much quieter the 15k is.

 

[niktak11]

My 4/0 lugs seem like they are too wide for narrow battery terminal areas. Using 2/0 for now.

 

[robby]

My 4/0 lugs seem like they are too wide for narrow battery terminal areas. Using 2/0 for now.

If it's just a tiny bit wider a dremel can grind off a bit of the sides of the lugs.

 

[Balthazar-B]

Took 2-3 hours to replace my LVX6048 with a 15k. The first thing I noticed is how much quieter the 15k is.

@niktak11, is your 15K mounted inside or outside? If inside (or outside in a moderate temperature) does the fan run continuously? Does it ever come on, or only when the inverter is running near capacity? Thanks!

 

[niktak11]

@niktak11, is your 15K mounted inside or outside? If inside (or outside in a moderate temperature) does the fan run continuously? Does it ever come on, or only when the inverter is running near capacity? Thanks!

It's installed in my garage currently (around 70F for the last few days). I haven't pushed it hard yet but the fan will kick on for a couple minutes every once in awhile at 40-50% load.

 

[niktak11]

Is the SoC inaccurate for anyone else? Even after a full charge to discharge the SoC % is creeping up much faster than it should based on the battery capacity I set.

 

[Balthazar-B]

Is the SoC inaccurate for anyone else? Even after a full charge to discharge the SoC % is creeping up much faster than it should based on the battery capacity I set.

What does Sol-Ark support say about this? Are you connecting to a closed-loop storage BMS? If you google a bit, you'll find SoC oddness to be not uncommon at all with many makes and models of hybrid inverters, with a variety of root causes and remediations.

 

[robby]

Is the SoC inaccurate for anyone else? Even after a full charge to discharge the SoC % is creeping up much faster than it should based on the battery capacity I set.

SOC is very accurate with the Sol-Ark.

If your not using closed loop and are using %-Batt then this problem is normal. The Sol-Ark will take 3 days before it is calibrated to the battery SOC and it must get a full charge and a pretty good discharge at least one or two times during this period.

If you change any of the settings under this menu it will restart the calibration process again.
I spent almost a week going crazy trying to figure out why it was not reading correctly before I found out about the three day calibration cycle.

 

[niktak11]

If your not using closed loop and are using %-Batt then this is normal. The Sol-Ark will take 3 days before it is calibrated to the battery SOC and it must get a full charge at least one or two times during that period.

If you change any of the settings under this menu it will restart the calibration process again.
I spent almost a week going crazy trying to figure out why it was not reading correctly before I found out about the three day calibration cycle.

Ah that's probably it. I've messed with the battery settings a couple times already.

 

[rhino]

Is there no "search mode" or equivalent to use less power if nothing is on?

I got a response back from their support. There is no search or sleep mode. The system is always on using 90W or completely off.

 

[tadula]

Does anyone know if you can install a generator direct to the 15k AND have AC coupled PV on the load side at the same time? I recall that the Outback has a generator 'assist' feature and it seems like the 15k would allow for the same thing. It would be nice to be able to recharge batteries as needed during consecutive cloudy days in a grid down situation.

I have an existing grid tied Enphase setup with 18.5kw of panels, so the 15k looks to be a perfect fit for a backup solution.

 

[Lt.Dan]

I'm not quite sure if this still applies, but will you still need to derate a main breaker if you exceed the 200a? I'm curious if the Sol Ark 15k is different because it doesn't just supplement the main panel, but rather it powers the entire panel.

I have a 200a service at my home, which perfectly matches the 15k, but is main breaker derating necessary?

 

[Danke]

I'm not quite sure if this still applies, but will you still need to derate a main breaker if you exceed the 200a? I'm curious if the Sol Ark 15k is different because it doesn't just supplement the main panel, but rather it powers the entire panel.

I have a 200a service at my home, which perfectly matches the 15k, but is main breaker derating necessary?

Not sure why you would need to change anything. The grid is connected to the 15k, then to your panel, through the main breaker.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Not sure why you would need to change anything. The grid is connected to the 15k, then to your panel, through the main breaker.

Thats what I thought, there should be no need for derating the main breaker, but im just a little guy just trying to figure this out!

 

[Danke]

Thats what I thought, there should be no need for derating the main breaker, but im just a little guy just trying to figure this out!

If the Sol-Ark fails, the grid is passed through to main panel, so I guess that would be back to original setup without the inverter.

Here is the wiring diagram/manual: https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/15KOD-Manual-4-22-2022.pdf

 

[robby]

SOC is very accurate with the Sol-Ark.

If your not using closed loop and are using %-Batt then this problem is normal. The Sol-Ark will take 3 days before it is calibrated to the battery SOC and it must get a full charge and a pretty good discharge at least one or two times during this period.

If you change any of the settings under this menu it will restart the calibration process again.
I spent almost a week going crazy trying to figure out why it was not reading correctly before I found out about the three day calibration cycle.

For the first time since I set up my system I have had three straight days of heavy clouds and rain. The batteries barely reached 70% charge at the end of every day.

What I learned is that after 3 days of not seeing a 100% SOC the %-Batt goes completely out of calibration on the third day! I checked it the two previous days and it was fine. It's like the software analysis repeats every 72 Hour period and uses the highest number gathered after 72 hours as 100% SOC. I kind of see this as a bug as they should have a manual reset toggle to set when it should calculate SOC and not do it automatically.

Late last night my SOC was showing 25% and within seconds dropped to 0%. I checked the Voltage and it was at 49.2V which is near to 10% SOC. It should have stopped pulling power 20%. Today it's cloudy and rainy again and the battery is showing 35% SOC at 2:35PM EST. The voltage is at 53.3V which is closer to 80% SOC. I suspect that at some point soon the SOC will just jump to 100%. If it does not I am going to Grid charge it until it does.

I miss having closed loop with batteries, but I really do not know if I could go back to not having the realtime data I get with Solar-Assistant. I just wish it did not use the same RS485 port.
I am not removing my Dongle to use the RS232 Port. The Sol-Ark Data is the only reliable long term data I have.