I had a Sol-Ark 15k installed a few months ago strictly for battery backup. Set it up with Limited Power to Load. I just had solar panels installed/connected, but I don't have a net metering agreement yet. I would like to set the energy priority to be 1. Solar PV, 2. Batteries, 3. Grid Power, 4. Generator with no export. I thought setting it to Limit Power to Home would do that, but it looked like it was exporting power to the grid. Please let me know if you need any additional info about what settings I have on other screens.
Sol-Ark 15k energy priority settings
- Thread starter grhopper
- Start date
BMEP
New Member
I have a pair of 15k inverters in parallel + 10kW battery that were operational for 2 months before I had permission to operate (so waiting for "go live" from the utility on the net metering agreement). I wanted to do the same thing - why not use the PV (and even batteries) but with no export?
No go. My config was very straightforward - no grid peak shaving, Grid Sell unchecked, Limited Power to Load checked (100% of my load is on the load terminals), Time Of Use unchecked.
With just the grid, inverters and battery, everything was fine - it would never export. However, if I connected the PV array, it would occasionally export a small amount. The most common time this happened was when there was a sizable load (electric clothes dryer, for example) that was running, then stopped. Right after the large load went away, the inverter could export some then ramp down PV usage.. just not quickly enough to prevent some export. I wondered if this was just incorrect/inaccurate monitoring in the Sol-Ark software - not the case. I have a smart meter and have Emporia View Utility connected so I can see real-time data for what the meter is doing and it was indeed running "backwards", proving that from the grid's point of view, export was happening.
I spent some time searching the web and found lots of comments that it's impossible to have zero export when using PV. Not sure that's 100% true, but it sure seemed to be true in my case.
HTH
No go. My config was very straightforward - no grid peak shaving, Grid Sell unchecked, Limited Power to Load checked (100% of my load is on the load terminals), Time Of Use unchecked.
With just the grid, inverters and battery, everything was fine - it would never export. However, if I connected the PV array, it would occasionally export a small amount. The most common time this happened was when there was a sizable load (electric clothes dryer, for example) that was running, then stopped. Right after the large load went away, the inverter could export some then ramp down PV usage.. just not quickly enough to prevent some export. I wondered if this was just incorrect/inaccurate monitoring in the Sol-Ark software - not the case. I have a smart meter and have Emporia View Utility connected so I can see real-time data for what the meter is doing and it was indeed running "backwards", proving that from the grid's point of view, export was happening.
I spent some time searching the web and found lots of comments that it's impossible to have zero export when using PV. Not sure that's 100% true, but it sure seemed to be true in my case.
HTH
BMEP
New Member
For what it's worth, with "Grid Sell" unchecked on my inverters, it was still exporting small amounts as I described above
dreancestere
New Member
Regarding energy priority, it defaults to:
1. Solar PV Power | 2. Grid Power | 3. Batteries | 4. Generator
unless you turn on Time of Use. With TOU on, that priority changes to the priority you want:
1. Solar PV Power | 2. Batteries (down to programmed discharge V or %) | 3. Grid Power | 4. Generator
Regarding energy still heading out to the grid without Grid Sell (or the Sell box in TOU) being checked, as @BMEP mentioned, the inverter doesn't react fast enough to stop that. Supposedly, you can help stop it with the Zero Export Power setting on the Limiter > Other tab:
But, I've seen posts saying exporting still happening. You could give it a try and see.
1. Solar PV Power | 2. Grid Power | 3. Batteries | 4. Generator
unless you turn on Time of Use. With TOU on, that priority changes to the priority you want:
1. Solar PV Power | 2. Batteries (down to programmed discharge V or %) | 3. Grid Power | 4. Generator
Regarding energy still heading out to the grid without Grid Sell (or the Sell box in TOU) being checked, as @BMEP mentioned, the inverter doesn't react fast enough to stop that. Supposedly, you can help stop it with the Zero Export Power setting on the Limiter > Other tab:
But, I've seen posts saying exporting still happening. You could give it a try and see.
dreancestere
New Member
Very odd. Your battery is basically full (and above the floor specified in your TOU settings). So, it should be discharging to power the load your PV can't handle. But, it's not and the grid is picking up the slack. Is everything that gets power connected to the Load terminal in the Sol-Ark (IOW is the power grid connected directly to the Grid terminal and all loads are connected to the Load terminal?)? Or, is the power grid still connected to the main electrical panel and all of that is connected to the Grid terminal, while only a critical loads panel is connected to the Load terminal? This might be silly, but when you turned on TOU, did you hit the OK button to actually submit that change?
Could you post a photo of your Limiter > Other tab and your Battery > Discharge tab?
Could you post a photo of your Limiter > Other tab and your Battery > Discharge tab?
Last edited:
Residential neighborhood house. Meter to fused disconnect to grid input. Two 16kw batteries to battery input, 50A inlet box to Gen input and load out to a single house breaker box. I shut the fused disconnect off to force the batteries to be used.
dreancestere
New Member
I'm at a loss. Your Battery > Discharge "Low Batt" and Restart settings are not an issue. I'd recommend changing the Zero-export value to 20w from 0, but that's just to help prevent selling to grid. Nothing to do with your batteries not powering the load not being handled by your PV. How much PV can your system generate? Is that 1.44kW a reasonable number for the level of sun at that time?
The Zero-Export value was set to 20w originally, I just lowered it to zero to see if that did anything. I'll change it back. I have 34 500w panels with Tigo optimizers, so max of 17kw, but today was the first day they were turned on and it was very overcast. The max I saw today was about 4500w. I think a lot of the day was limited by my actual usage since there was no where to send any extra.
dreancestere
New Member
The only other thing I can think of to check is the Setup button next to the TOU checkbox. Make sure all the days of the week are checked in there.
EDIT: No, wait. On your TOU settings, you've got the Battery set to 100% between 1 and 5 pm. That means it won't let the battery discharge below 100% in that time frame. Was is between 1 and 5 pm when you took that photo?
EDIT: No, wait. On your TOU settings, you've got the Battery set to 100% between 1 and 5 pm. That means it won't let the battery discharge below 100% in that time frame. Was is between 1 and 5 pm when you took that photo?
dreancestere
New Member
I'll violate protocol and make consecutive posts instead of editing my above post again. Unless you have some big differences in how much electricity costs at various times of the day, or you have a reason to prefer going into the night with a battery as full as possible, I'd make all the TOU Batt levels the same. Since your Battery > Discharge > Restart level is set to 40%, I'd just make all the TOU Batt settings be that same 40% (I'm assuming your batteries are LiFePO4 (totaling 32kWh?)). And, I'd also suggest setting the Power values for all the time slots to the same number that's the maximum of what your batteries and wiring can handle.
Yes, the picture was taken at 3:28, so that explains it. I originally left the default settings when I turned TOU on. I later increased the power from the default of 2000. What does the power and Bat settings represent? I noticed bat can't go below 30%. Is there a reason to set it at 30% if my minimum on the discharge is 20%?
As far as I know, there's no difference in rates where I live.
Batteries are 2 Ruixu Lithi2-16 Lifepo4 total 32kWh.
Changed the battery % to 30 and flipped the grid breaker back on.
As far as I know, there's no difference in rates where I live.
Batteries are 2 Ruixu Lithi2-16 Lifepo4 total 32kWh.
Changed the battery % to 30 and flipped the grid breaker back on.
dreancestere
New Member
From the manual:
Let me stick in a reference to a long, convoluted post I made about letting my battery discharge to lower levels:
and the bit about Grid-tied systems not letting TOU Batt settings below the "Low Batt" setting is why you're limited to 30% on the TOU tab.
Let me stick in a reference to a long, convoluted post I made about letting my battery discharge to lower levels:
I watched Will's recent 0-100% LiFePO4 battery videos and thought I'd set that up (I've got no issue with the 100% advice (I'm already doing that) -- I've got some misgivings about not keeping any spare capacity in my HomeGrid Stack'd 19.2 kWh (4 module) battery, but that's a different issue). I need help in figuring out where to make changes to implement that 0% level on my Sol-Ark 15k inverter.
There are 3 places in the settings where I think I'd have to change things to go with that 0-100% battery range. The first is the Batt Setup > Discharge tab:
There are 3 places in the settings where I think I'd have to change things to go with that 0-100% battery range. The first is the Batt Setup > Discharge tab:
Thanks for you help. I've changed my battery discharge settings to 10/15/20 and lowered the TOU bat % to the corresponding 15%.
Now I just need to hope that I didn't screw up my Tigo optimizer setup when trying to correct the the layout settings that my installer set up. I have 5 strings, one has 6 panels and the rest have 7. He put the wrong one as 6, and when I tried to correct which string has 6, one of the panels dropped off the layout page. When trying to figure out how to add it back I completely wiped out the layout page. I put in a ticket to Tigo, but I assume it's something the homeowner can't do, only installers.
Now I just need to hope that I didn't screw up my Tigo optimizer setup when trying to correct the the layout settings that my installer set up. I have 5 strings, one has 6 panels and the rest have 7. He put the wrong one as 6, and when I tried to correct which string has 6, one of the panels dropped off the layout page. When trying to figure out how to add it back I completely wiped out the layout page. I put in a ticket to Tigo, but I assume it's something the homeowner can't do, only installers.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
You got you battery set to 100% on the 1:00 time slot.
It will never use the battery then.
Set them all to 10-20% and you shouldn’t pull from the grid anymore.
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