diy solar

diy solar

Sol-Ark 15K All in One Inverter Released.

Victron Energy MEGA-fuse (300A/48V) https://a.co/d/5N3visE

They aren’t cheap. I think ANL fuses will work too. Don’t know if it’s absolutely necessary but I also torqued all my connections to 90 inch lbs. Needed a torque wrench

BULLTOOLS 1/4-inch Drive Click Torque Wrench Set Dual-Direction Adjustable 90-tooth Torque Wrench with Buckle (20-200in.lb / 2.26-22.6Nm) https://a.co/d/2aFVNiw

Just another $40 bucks right. Feel like I own a boat. Plus side the Federal tax credit.
 
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Victron Energy MEGA-fuse (300A/48V) https://a.co/d/5N3visE
Good suggestions. I buried two expansion runs of 10 gauge UF wire in the trench. I have 14 extra ground screws free from unirac (long story).
Next spring I need to get busy expanding with direct DC PV. I considered removing all of the expensive enphase inverters putting them on eBay and just going all DC. But I decided to stay where I'm at. I'm going to start building my 16 cell 48 volt battery today and hopefully by this time next week I'll have a DC of source that makes the solarc happy.
This install has been an adventure. Who knew I needed to relocate my main 200a panel 2 feet to the left and pull New wires from meter to basement to have an install meet code.
Hell 2 months ago I didn't even know what a power distribution block or raceway was.
?. Thanks
I feel your pain. Originally I was just going to install the Sol Ark and AC couple my old SMA GT inverter to the Sol Ark. Fast and easy. Wrong. I ended up pulling 3 sets of #8 350 feet out to the array and restringing my whole array. And yes if your installing a Sol Ark a raceway is a necessary item.
 
I feel your pain. Originally I was just going to install the Sol Ark and AC couple my old SMA GT inverter to the Sol Ark. Fast and easy. Wrong. I ended up pulling 3 sets of #8 350 feet out to the array and restringing my whole array. And yes if your installing a Sol Ark a raceway is a necessary item.
Thanks for the link.. I found an old will prowse youtube where he installed a 48V 16 cell bank, and first connection was a 150A circuit breaker. I found a Blue Sea on ebay for $34 and am hoping since I didn't go with the cheapest chinese circuit breakers available it will actually work when needed. Plan is to split the battery feeds from my 2 16cell 48V with 200A BMS to the two inputs on the Sol-ark. The maximum current per battery should then be ~140A since the max input from battery to Sol-ark is 275A. If the circuit breaker option works with just one battery attached, I will stay there, if it starts tripping, I will go down the 300A fuse path using the link shared. I searched and searched using 300A and 48V and nothing came up for me.
EDIT UPDATE:
Ok.. I the latest Will Prowse video on rookie mistakes includes an item that states pretty clearly a 48V circuit breaker is not valid for batteries that run up to 52-54V which a 16 cell Lifep04 will do. He recommends this breaker .


Since they are reusable, work for my application, and are less expensive than a class T , I bought two of them for my setup. So I will have the 15k built-in breakers for protection, a second main battery + circuit breaker , and the battery BMS, belt and suspenders approach for safety, as usual, should work fine.

And yes.. this install has been significantly more expensive than first planned. Anyone going down the Sol-ark 15Kw path should budget a minimum of $2000 in additional spend for the cut off switches, transfer switches, wiring, raceway, power distribution blocks. I hired an electrician to pull my meter and replace the home feed wires that ran through 45 feet of conduit buried in my cement garage floor to the basement. Fortunately the electrician was really really good, and inexpensive, but very very slow.
 
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Thanks for the link.. I found an old will prowse youtube where he installed a 48V 16 cell bank, and first connection was a 150A circuit breaker. I found a Blue Sea on ebay for $34 and am hoping since I didn't go with the cheapest chinese circuit breakers available it will actually work when needed. Plan is to split the battery feeds from my 2 16cell 48V with 200A BMS to the two inputs on the Sol-ark. The maximum current per battery should then be ~140A since the max input from battery to Sol-ark is 275A. If the circuit breaker option works with just one battery attached, I will stay there, if it starts tripping, I will go down the 300A fuse path using the link shared. I searched and searched using 300A and 48V and nothing came up for me.

And yes.. this install has been significantly more expensive than first planned. Anyone going down the Sol-ark 15Kw path should budget a minimum of $2000 in additional spend for the cut off switches, transfer switches, wiring, raceway, power distribution blocks. I hired an electrician to pull my meter and replace the home feed wires that ran through 45 feet of conduit buried in my cement garage floor to the basement. Fortunately the electrician was really really good, and inexpensive, but very very slow.
Yes I’m sitting at $25k for my solar redo but I ended up pulling new wire out to my array (6) #8 x 350 ft. I did as you and hired an electrician to do the big AC wire. Overall I’m very pleased with the 15k. 3 weeks in and it’s performing flawlessly. It’s a lot of money but after the 30% FTC it’s obviously better. We have a couple of new state tax incentives that will soften the blow a little more so I’m guessing I’ll be about 10k or less out of pocket.
 
I finally moved my 15k and wired it between my meter and main breaker box. Only took about 3x as long as I expected lol. Also either I'm developing tinnitus or I'm somehow hearing the 15kHz ring of the Sol-Ark in my house.
 
Try switching off all branch circuit breakers. Maybe one of the loads sings due to switching noise on the AC line.
Or it could be coming through the wall, if enclosure is vibrating.

My 3-phase pool pump on VFD was singing. I cranked switching frequency up to max (around 15 kHz) and it was quiet. Max wattage of the VFD is reduced due to more heating. I also put a "reactor" (3-coil choke) in the lines, to reduce current in the bearings.
 
Try switching off all branch circuit breakers. Maybe one of the loads sings due to switching noise on the AC line.
Or it could be coming through the wall, if enclosure is vibrating.

My 3-phase pool pump on VFD was singing. I cranked switching frequency up to max (around 15 kHz) and it was quiet. Max wattage of the VFD is reduced due to more heating. I also put a "reactor" (3-coil choke) in the lines, to reduce current in the bearings.
It is just on the other side of my bedroom wall now... I'm kinda hoping that's not it because it'll be a pain to move it to the second best location. I downloaded an app that displays the frequency spectra of your environment. It shows a big peak at 15kHz in the garage but no noticeable peak in the bedroom on the other side of the wall so maybe I'm just going crazy.
 
Maybe you can hear the electromagnetic fields I can see.

Since you do measure 15 kHz noise in the garage, is anything electrical there? Try turning off circuits individually, see which is the source.
Try shutting off SolArk, just to make sure it is what generates the signal your app picks up.

Sounds can make standing waves, so loud at some locations and little amplitude at others. Sweep the bedroom to see if it is uniformly quiet.
 
And yes if your installing a Sol Ark a raceway is a necessary item.
I think I've seen someone post a link for reasonable raceways somewhere here, anybody have a link? I believe they were 10", but folks were shimming them out 1" with success with the 15k.

Has anyone installed a SA w/o using a raceway?
 
I think I've seen someone post a link for reasonable raceways somewhere here, anybody have a link? I believe they were 10", but folks were shimming them out 1" with success with the 15k.

Has anyone installed a SA w/o using a raceway?

It looks like the one from the link I wanted to include is no longer available. It was a 10" wireway if you come across another one. I shimmed it out with a 3/4" piece of PVC but plywood should work too. The 3/4" spacer worked perfectly with the conduit knockouts on the sol-ark. I think I posted a picture earlier in this thread.
 
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I did a little more off grid testing tonight now that I have it wired so that my heat pump can be powered from the inverter. With the house load at ~2kW, it could start my heat pump. With the house load at ~5.6kW, it tried for a couple seconds and then shut off with fault F34. The heat pump is 4 tons and I measured the inrush at 117A a few days ago.
 
Now if you had AC coupled PV carrying the house load, might have started.
For A/C in the summer, a reasonable assumption. Heating in the winter not so likely.

Any way you can shed a load when the heat pump turns on?
Probably what you really want to do is shed only briefly, until the surge is over.

(but shaving that inrush is desirable regardless.)
 
I did a little more off grid testing tonight now that I have it wired so that my heat pump can be powered from the inverter. With the house load at ~2kW, it could start my heat pump. With the house load at ~5.6kW, it tried for a couple seconds and then shut off with fault F34. The heat pump is 4 tons and I measured the inrush at 117A a few days ago.
A soft starter on the heat pump would probably solve that issue.
 
Now if you had AC coupled PV carrying the house load, might have started.
For A/C in the summer, a reasonable assumption. Heating in the winter not so likely.

Any way you can shed a load when the heat pump turns on?
Probably what you really want to do is shed only briefly, until the surge is over.

(but shaving that inrush is desirable regardless.)
The only time I run off grid (besides when I'm testing) is when I'm forced to because the grid is down. I could easily manually load shed in those scenarios if needed. I'll probably install a soft start though or make due until I get a second 15k so no need to load shed.
 
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We usually think of nominal inverter specs, but derating in hot weather (and less power produced on cloudy days) could be other reasons to shed loads.

Here are the derating specs for my Sunny Island:

Continuous AC power at 77°F (25°C) Pnom 5,750 W
Continuous AC power at 104°F (40°C) Pnom 4,700 W
Continuous AC power at 122°F (50°C) Pnom 3,500 W
Continuous AC power at 140°F (60°C) Pnom 2,200 W

It has provisions for shedding power at two SoC, also "derating", apparently switches somewhere between 25 and 40 degrees, don't think it is adjustable.

For SolArk 12k and 15k I find:

Ambient Temperature (3 variable speed fans) -25 to 55C, >45C derating

So that actually doesn't start derating until Sunny Island has derated about 25%. May not affect you.

I have considerable excess inverter capacity, but small battery so managing loads is needed. Presently all manual so if I don't notice a power outage everything shuts off.
 
I have the heat pump connected to the smart load output so it'll automatically turn off if the grid goes down (unless battery is at 99+% and PV >3kW) to help prevent an overload.
 
Hello

Is anyone using the Sol-ark Remote access www site, to view the 15K inverter status, and update parameters via WWW.


I started using it but it appears to have some bugs.

Can anyone confirm that they see "lead acid" battery on the battery tab?

I cannot figure out how to change that to say Lithium Iron Phosphate.

See image below.

1667162254672.png
 
Hello

Is anyone using the Sol-ark Remote access www site, to view the 15K inverter status, and update parameters via WWW.


I started using it but it appears to have some bugs.

Can anyone confirm that they see "lead acid" battery on the battery tab?

I cannot figure out how to change that to say Lithium Iron Phosphate.

See image below.

View attachment 118466
I believe it will only say lithium ion if you have battery communication setup
 
I believe it will only say lithium ion if you have battery communication setup
Ok.. So you agree it is a bug, since historically they set it up for Lead Acid, and have now changed the default battery setup to Lifep04 (per the most recent Sol-Ark install video on youtube)... and this is just a "left over" from the history. Ok.. I can live with that.
Thanks very much for the reply. (no I don't have fancy batteries with communication set up.)
 
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