Sol-ark 15K monitoring question

[Mercracing]

I just had a system installed with a Sol-ark 15k. The installer wasn't able to finish the "commissioning" and monitoring setup with Sol-ark due to my crummy rural internet going down for the day. At this point I'm just grateful the system is operating finally. My question is on the monitoring displayed on the inverter screen. When the solar is active the graph shows when power is coming from the grid to cover household demands. As soon as the sun is down the inverter screen says off and zero power usage is registered from the grid.













Thanks for any advice

 

[mgdean]

I take it you do not have batteries installed.

 

[Mercracing]

I take it you do not have batteries installed.

Correct. Batteries and a generator are the next phase.

 

[mgdean]

This is normal. That's one of the things I did not like, the system is allowing passthrough energy at night, but goes offline so you cannot track your grid usage. Most likely to save on energy usage. Once you get Power View up and running your charts should look like the top one. I'm running limited to home mode so only producing what I was using at the time. The bottom was after batteries and Smart load programed. Hope this helps.

 

[Mercracing]

This is normal. That's one of the things I did not like, the system is allowing passthrough energy at night, but goes offline so you cannot track your grid usage. Most likely to save on energy usage. Once you get Power View up and running your charts should look like the top one. I'm running limited to home mode so only producing what I was using at the time. The bottom was after batteries and Smart load programed. Hope this helps.

Thank you for replying. Just to make sure I am understanding things correctly. As configured without batteries there is no way to see the houses composite usage versus generation for the full day. If batteries are added the system will remain active 24 hours a day and log the information for all systems? I also have an unrelated question. Do you know if the inverter will allow the grid to pass through to the house if it has an error or stops operating due to a failure?

 

[mgdean]

Unless there is a new update and you will soon find out Sol-Ark does not tell you what there new firmware updates fixed. But I am unaware of a setting on the unit that will keep in from going offline when the sunsets. You might send an email to the help department at Sol-Ark to see if they have added this feature with the latest firmware . As far as AC pass through if the invertor faults/fails. Yes I had this question. A tech told me the unit has a way to pass AC power from the grid to your load panel if the invertor gets really messed up. It has not happened to me, but again reach out to Sol-Ark and they can explain it to you. Because the manual leaves a lot to the imagination.

 

[629658]

If the inverter malfunctions you will loose power to the house. We believe it’s a safety factor. You will need to install a bypass so you can power your house from grid in case of a catastrophic inverter failure

 

[Ampster]

If the inverter malfunctions you will loose power to the house. We believe it’s a safety factor. You will need to install a bypass so you can power your house from grid in case of a catastrophic inverter failure

I agree. The inverter can pass through but that is only when it is functioning normally. If anyone needs to do a reboot or any form of maintenance that may involve taking it offline they may want to have a simple way to bypass the the inverter. Years ago I purchased a Midnite Solar bypass switch and after taking half a day to wire it and spending another $50 on parts, I realized that a simple $50 interlock kit and an extra circuit breaker could do the same thing in a lot less space. It all depends on what you are comfortable with. I am a tinkerer and find I use my bypass several times a month.

 

[Mercracing]

Guys, thank you for the responses. Not the answers I was hoping for, but oh well. The frustrating part is the company that installed the system didn't answer any of these questions when I originally asked them and (at least on the grid connection after failure) Sol-ark (not the solar engineering guys) said the inverter would default to the grid. I guess I will need to figure out how to get it bypassed (I tend to be unlucky, so I may need it).

 

[Ampster]

The frustrating part is the company that installed the system didn't answer any of these questions when I originally asked them and (at least on the grid connection after failure) Sol-ark (not the solar engineering guys) said the inverter would default to the grid. I guess I will need to figure out how to get it bypassed (I tend to be unlucky, so I may need it).

Bypass is an ambiguous term so that is why you may have gotten the answer that you did. Also "default to the grid" does not have a clear meaning unless it is clearly defined as to what "failure" one is referring to, grid failure or inverter failure?

I also consider myself to be unlucky so I have developed a risk management strategy to cover the downsides in life. Risk management is not complex. Recognizing that Murphy's Law is everywhere is really all it is about.

 

[Mercracing]

Bypass is an ambiguous term so that is why you may have gotten the answer that you did. Also "default to the grid" does not have a clear meaning unless it is clearly defined as to what "failure" one is referring to, grid failure or inverter failure?







I also consider myself to be unlucky so I have developed a risk management strategy to cover the downsides in life. Risk management is not complex. Recognizing that Murphy's Law is everywhere is really all it is abou

Bypass is an ambiguous term so that is why you may have gotten the answer that you did. Also "default to the grid" does not have a clear meaning unless it is clearly defined as to what "failure" one is referring to, grid failure or inverter failure?



I also consider myself to be unlucky so I have developed a risk management strategy to cover the downsides in life. Risk management is not complex. Recognizing that Murphy's Law is everywhere is really all it is about.


To clarify I had asked specifically if in the event of an inverter malfunction would it default to the grid (if the grid was up).

 

[Ampster]

I was not implying that you asked the question in the wrong way. Some words have different meanings to different people depending on where they are standing at the time that they hear the word. The person answering your question may have made an assumption that was incorrect.

For example, what does "default to the grid" mean when an inverter is not functioning? To me it does not mean that the grid will flow through my hybrid inverter to my critical load sub panel. I only learned that lesson three years ago when my Outback Skybox bricked during a firmware update and the grid was functioning but it was not getting to my critical load panel That person responding may have assumed something that was incorrect when they answered the question as they did.