Sol-Ark 15k - Surge Amps

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

This is hopefully a quick easy question.

I’m reading the manual for the 15 Sol-Ark trying to make sure the AC units I wanna use will not trip the inverter.

https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/15K-2P_SpecSheet.pdf

So if I’m reading this right, the Sol-Ark 15 can surge it’s output to 24,000VA at 240V, essentially 100 amps for 10 seconds.

So if I had an AC unit turn on that used 80 at startup, then idled down to say 40 amps, on battery and or Solar, the Sol-Ark should have enough surge output to startup the AC load without tripping?

Is that correct?

 

[Vigo]

According to the numbers, yes. But does 24000va really equate to 100amps during a large motor start? VA as a measurement i think only exists because of power factor. So does the power factor of a motor during startup surge drop below .8 (is that how this works?) when its turning out of phase at a low rpm? Because if you only have 20% headroom assuming 1.0 power factor, my weak understanding of PF makes me think you could momentarily blow past that with a large motor start because a regular ac induction motor that is not up to speed i would think inherently has a poor PF.

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

The AC units I’m planning to use call for a max amp breaker of 40amps.

https://www.ecomfort.com/manuals/c5db0ea8f26f0475d94661c28ff92830.pdf

Page 13. I’m thinking they obviously don’t exceed 40 A otherwise they would trip the breaker but I’m gonna have two of them so I would need to make sure they don’t ever start at the same time most likely.

 

[Vigo]

Well calling for a 40a breaker probably actually means it is MUCH less when running. I was starting to wonder just how big of a unit you were trying to run off an inverter because 40a continuous is massive.

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

Yeah the running part wasn’t my concern, running it’s around 20 I believe. It’s just the startup that I’d both ran at the same time could stretch the Sol-Arks surge limit.

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

Thanks for your help so far @Vigo

 

[Clifton]

I can't sepak on the Sol-Ark but the EG6500's are HF too. If I went a little over max watt on an a/c start, it would shut it all down. Nothing else could be running. This cut my startup to 1/3 or less. 3.5 ton a/c starts no problem no matter what I have running.

The EasyStart 368 Home Soft Starter For Commerical or Residential By Micro-Air, LLC

www.micro-air.com

 

[timselectric]

Simple solution is to add a soft start to the AC unit.
My startup went from 65a to 12a.

 

[GregTR]

My Sol-Ark 15K will start a 4ton A/C from batteries but I do have some dimming of the lights. I'm adding a soft start to both my A/C units so I don't have dimming.

 

[629658]

I run a 4 ton geothermal with zero issues with my 15K. And a pool pump and a well pump and a dryer

 

[Delphinus]

You don't need to worry about surge, I have a Deye 5K and 2 Dakin units that have 32A fuses each and they work fine they only used 16A each during the tests with 7 internal units running at full.

What could happen is this, I use Shelly Pro 4PM to measure the consumption and when I used the correct 30mA RCD it fired every time so I had to change it for an 300mA RCD, tomorrow I will receive RC / Snubber filters that should allow me to use the 30mA.

Probably the problem is in the relays of the Shelly because I'm sure the AC has a good filter.

 

[automatikdonn]

I used a soft start for my 3 ton and it worked fine with my GW5KES.

 

[Llaves]

My Sol-Ark 12K won't start my 1.5HP jointer, let alone the 3HP bandsaw and table saw. Blows it right off line. Power factor on induction motors is something like .2, so you could have some real issues.

 

[MaikaiLifeDIY]

Curious what

My Sol-Ark 12K won't start my 1.5HP jointer, let alone the 3HP bandsaw and table saw. Blows it right off line. Power factor on induction motors is something like .2, so you could have some real iss

Curious what codes do you get and is the shutdown due to overdraw on the batteries tripping the input power or output draw tripping the load feeds?

 

[niktak11]

It will start my 4 ton heat pump with a 112A startup surge as long as I don't have too many other loads already running

 

[Llaves]

Curious what


Curious what codes do you get and is the shutdown due to overdraw on the batteries tripping the input power or output draw tripping the load feeds?

It's an F18- HW AC Over-current fault.
The peak current on the 3HP motors is 48A.
This is an off-grid setup, but the same fault occurs even if my generator is running. The generator is large enough (15kW before 7500' altitude derate) to run the tools if I isolate them from the inverter in by-pass mode.

 

[robby]

Inductive loads are brutal on High Frequency Inverters. Use a soft start system when in doubt.

 

[Hedges]

My Sol-Ark 12K won't start my 1.5HP jointer, let alone the 3HP bandsaw and table saw. Blows it right off line. Power factor on induction motors is something like .2, so you could have some real issues.

120V, or 240V?

Inductive loads are brutal on High Frequency Inverters. Use a soft start system when in doubt.

Inductive load? That's not an induction motor. Brush type, should be much easier to start. If the inverter doesn't give up, the motor will start.

Similar comment on Midnight Rosie starting 4x DeWalt compressors at once. Brush type. Also reported it could start 1x well pump (induction.)

 

[Supervstech]

Exactly... most joiners and such can be wired to operate atv240V and REALLY suck when operating on 120V.
AND most split phase inverters REALLY suck at starting large motors on 120V...
So if you have tools that CAN be configured for 240V... do it.

 

[timselectric]

Yup
120v is the issue.
Large 120v loads are the only thing that the Sol-Ark units have trouble with. Because they don't use the full output capacity. Due to the two inverters in one case design. 120v loads can only access half of the rated output. The solution is to add a 240/120 isolation transformer to the output of the Sol-Ark. This allows you to use full rated capacity for 240v and 120v loads.