Sol-Ark/China

[Brucey]

Here is about what the American made award was for. Even our own government was duped........

This in conjunction with "American made" award makes me think the solarks are being built in the USA. Absolutely misleading imo.

 

[Brucey]

Some “feat”
They propose utility companies being able to pull from residential battery banks. Even more reason for me to continue to not do business with them

https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Solarprizepressrelease-final.pdf

I think there's a utility in Vermont that provides power walls or equivalents for a very subsidized price on the condition it can buy back a portion of that battery power during high demand events. I don't see an issue if it's a voluntary/subsidized thing. We aren't talking about a random diy installed guy suddenly finding his battery discharging to grid without his ok.

 

[G00SE]

I think there's a utility in Vermont that provides power walls or equivalents for a very subsidized price on the condition it can buy back a portion of that battery power during high demand events. I don't see an issue if it's a voluntary/subsidized thing. We aren't talking about a random diy installed guy suddenly finding his battery discharging to grid without his ok.

I have zero services connected to any public utility. I have zero interest in government agencies putting their hands in my cookie jar

 

[robby]

This I did not know? I assumed they were American Veterans?

The owners of the Company are United States Veterans.

 

[Brucey]

I have zero services connected to any public utility. I have zero interest in government agencies putting their hands in my cookie jar

Well they can't take your power if they don't have a grid connection to you

 

[slik056]

Been off grid for 13 years, got into a position where we needed to swap out a Magnum 4448PAE quickly, and with light research and looking for an inverter MADE IN THE USA...Sol-Ark pops right up. Everything pointed to an American made product...designed, engineered and manufactured in Plano Texas. Servers in the USA for cloud/data...

WAHOO!! What more could I ask for!!!

The inverter shows up and...MADE IN frigg'n CHINA! WTF!!

Digging deeper (after purchase of course) and joining this forum...yep...it's got fried rice and egg fu-young all over it.

I'm EXTREMELY happy with my 8k Sol-Ark. it works amazing and is light years better than the old skool Magnum.

But Dammit, if it's made in China, say it's made in China. Don't give us some song and dance and wave the American flag when it comes from overseas.
I would have even paid MORE for the unit IF it had actually come from Plano Texas. It's deception at the least and could be considered an outright lie otherwise.

No matter how I try, I cannot purchase American...and America first is my choice...at any cost.

From what I've read, Sol-Ark Inverters are made by Deye (Chinese company). I have installed probably 20-30 of them over the last 2-3 years. Only 1 had a problem, it was on a 15K and I was able to open it up and find the issue (fan cables are hung loose/not tied up in the back and got caught in the fan blades). Beyond that the quality has been pretty good so far. I do have concerns on the 15K though - I tore one down and found it has a TON of fans inside all over the place (you have to remove the inverter from the wall, open the rear case to get to the few that are on the back) and then there are large internal fans blowing on the PCB's with no good access to replace them, so you have to tear down half the inverter to get to them. I hope the fans are rated for a 20+ year life!

 

[Nobodybusiness]

I hope the fans are rated for a 20+ year life!

At least 10. That’s the warranty.?

 

[prometheanfire]

Plenty of servers I've managed at that age or greater (10 years). I wouldn't trust it outside though.

 

[Zybane]

Here is what I replied with on the MidNite forum....

You are correct in that everything except those couple of DIY units are all made in Arlington, WA USA

However, parts come from all over. Raw PCBs come from China or Taiwan. Aluminum castings come from China and Thailand.

FETs come from anywhere but not China. Electrolytics come from China and the best capacitor manufacturer in the world.

Resistors and small caps ? Not sure where but a lot I am sure come from China.

Connectors... Not sure but the Classic terminal block is made here in Arlington from plastic made in China and square terminals from I don't know where.

That's the short story. But we actually build things here as well as population of the PCBs and testing etc.

There was a video I made about 8 years ago of our production facility which was in another building at the time.

BTW, Schneider and OutBack are built in India.

boB

EDiT: SHeet metal and copper bus bars are all done locally. Custom plastic comes from China mainly.

Domestic custom parts are very expensive but that's how we roll at the moment. Same with screws nuts and bolts and solder and all that.

I like your transparency, and my Trace/Xantrex Inverter and Outback MPPT has been going strong for almost 20 years now. I was considering getting a Sol-Ark 15K (but don't need grid tie as I'm off-grid), but am leaning towards your new Midnight Solar Rosie inverter and Barcelona charge controller.

 

[G00SE]

I like your transparency, and my Trace/Xantrex Inverter and Outback MPPT has been going strong for almost 20 years now. I was considering getting a Sol-Ark 15K (but don't need grid tie as I'm off-grid), but am leaning towards your new Midnight Solar Rosie inverter and Barcelona charge controller.

They also have a new all in one set to be released hopefully soonish

 

[littleharbor2]

They also have a new all in one set to be released hopefully soonish

It looks really nice. Great specs. And, of course, priceless Midnite Solar customer service.