My current system: Sol-ark 15K with 17.56kW DC PV and 600Ah battery bank grid-tied. It works flawlessly.
I had a few extra modules laying around with Enphase micro-inverters attached. I got bored and decided to AC couple them to the Sol-ark as an experiment. The new array is only rated at 1.36kW, so - inconsequential.
I've never played with micro-inverters, so it has been an interesting learning experience. I read everything I could find, and watched the Sol-ark training video. I then decided to add the AC-coupled array to the load side of the Sol-ark (main panel)....NOT the generator input. This means the Sol-ark won't track the production/consumption, but that's okay. I enabled "AC coupled, Load side" on the Sol-ark. Yes, it is an option.
Now my musings: I immediately changed the grid profile in the Enphase inverters to OFF-GRID, 60FW, NO EXPORT. The micro-inverters worked perfectly. They provided power to the house loads and battery - rapidly ramping up/down with the load demand. It was very impressive. BUT, any production excess was lost, as it was not being sold back to the grid. In retrospect, not a big deal.
Following the success, I changed the grid profile to OFF-GRID, 60FW. This enables sell-back. In a grid-down situation - Sol-ark should cut off the Enphase inverters with a high battery SOC using frequency shifting (I didn't test) but is reportedly buggy.
Now, my thoughts. In the first situation with NO EXPORT, the Enphase controls the ramping based on load demand. It powers battery and loads. If there are no loads and the battery is full, Enphase produces no power. In the second situation, Sol-ark controls the ramping based on battery SOC regardless of load.
Wouldn't it be better to keep the profile to NO EXPORT and DISABLE AC-coupling setting on the Sol-ark? I lose a bit of production if load is less than production, but not a big deal.
I had a few extra modules laying around with Enphase micro-inverters attached. I got bored and decided to AC couple them to the Sol-ark as an experiment. The new array is only rated at 1.36kW, so - inconsequential.
I've never played with micro-inverters, so it has been an interesting learning experience. I read everything I could find, and watched the Sol-ark training video. I then decided to add the AC-coupled array to the load side of the Sol-ark (main panel)....NOT the generator input. This means the Sol-ark won't track the production/consumption, but that's okay. I enabled "AC coupled, Load side" on the Sol-ark. Yes, it is an option.
Now my musings: I immediately changed the grid profile in the Enphase inverters to OFF-GRID, 60FW, NO EXPORT. The micro-inverters worked perfectly. They provided power to the house loads and battery - rapidly ramping up/down with the load demand. It was very impressive. BUT, any production excess was lost, as it was not being sold back to the grid. In retrospect, not a big deal.
Following the success, I changed the grid profile to OFF-GRID, 60FW. This enables sell-back. In a grid-down situation - Sol-ark should cut off the Enphase inverters with a high battery SOC using frequency shifting (I didn't test) but is reportedly buggy.
Now, my thoughts. In the first situation with NO EXPORT, the Enphase controls the ramping based on load demand. It powers battery and loads. If there are no loads and the battery is full, Enphase produces no power. In the second situation, Sol-ark controls the ramping based on battery SOC regardless of load.
Wouldn't it be better to keep the profile to NO EXPORT and DISABLE AC-coupling setting on the Sol-ark? I lose a bit of production if load is less than production, but not a big deal.
