Sol-Ark needs a serious Change!

[ret60sp]

More tin foil needed for you. firstly microtik are owned by a Latvian company with 60% Russian ownership. That’s your first mistake as that was on your initial not to trust list but you have it as the core of your network and they use Chinese made hardware based on open router board, which isn’t open at all. Only the software is open source, the hardware is already known to have back doors in hardware. Secondly your inverter that you think is made in the good old USA isn’t, as is most of the hardware for pv Is made in China Or has Chinese DSP, processor or an arm licensed mm, I have great respect for my cousins in the USA but you seriously need to take a look closer to home sometimes. You think you have a good understanding of networking and such because you are using a certain brand “based in the us” you honesty don’t have a clue.

I know what I know and I don't know what I don't know. Feel free to enlighten me by not only informing me that I don't know what I don't know, because I already know that. I also know that Mikrotik is a Latvian company, however most consumer grade routers sold in the United States are made in China, cannot be programmed to do much of anything and have more security leaks than a coffee filter. A Mikrotik router is better than anything else I can find in the same price range, or for 5x more and so far it has done a really good job blocking incoming and outgoing traffic to nefarious players out there who like to imbed "call home to momma" situations in many of these Chinese IP cameras and gadgets we purchase over here. I do need more tin foil. I'm not afraid to admit it.

 

[ret60sp]

You will have to wait and see.

Also you keep saying MPPT capacity. You really do not understand how the Sol-Ark 12K works!
Since you love my videos and pictures, here is a video to explain it to you.

BTW - Thats my system Johnny is showing there....

 

[ret60sp]

Now you wana be tight lipped???? also please dont misquote me i said "i know you love your pictures"!
p.s i have a very limited grasp of inverters and batteries but i do know that when someone says their inverter is a 12kw inverter its expected to have 12kw of inversion capability not 9kw of inversion... but thats just the tradesman in me not thinking....enjoy your weekend and be safe!

After Johnny connected the critical loads panel, its routine for this 12k Solark to get almost 11k from the solar panels, distribute 8k to battery charging, 1.2k to the house (my normal "static" load) and sell back the rest to the grid (1.4k) . Once the batteries are charged (less than 2 hours) it reverts back to its 9k limitation on AC power. We split this load into heating water and running the rest of the house, selling back the excess to the grid. If batteries were more affordable I'd add more. Right now we have 25Kw of storage and this gets us through the night without buying much power from the grid.

It runs like this: Starting the cycle at 5am, the Ark batteries have depleted to my preferred limit (30%) - not draining them to 0% so we actually have a 30% reserve all the time, no matter what. At this point (5am) we are buying about 1000 watts from the grid and the batteries are providing the other 200 watts to run the "static" loads.

By 8am, on a clear day, we are making enough power from the panels and the inverter to run the "static" loads and the coffee maker and not need to purchase any power from the grid.

By 9am we are making enough power (4800 watts) that we can manually flip on the water pre-heater (something we are going to automate next week) and heat a 40 gallon water tank to 150 degrees F.

At 10 am we have the Solark programmed to prioritize recharging the batteries, so it stops selling any power to the grid and I have it set to apply 150 amps DC to recharging the Ark batteries from 30% to 100%. Any excess power goes to the AC inverter to power the home's "static" loads. If something large kicks on during this period the surge current comes from the grid.

By noon - 12:30pm the batteries are fully charged. If the weather sucks they might not be charged. In either case we have it programmed to prioritize recharging the batteries until 2pm, at which point it normally has completely recharged the batteries and the bulk of the excess power (7.45K) is sold to the grid.

The grid only gives us $0.04 per kilowatt, so I'm really considering storing that excess energy in a means that would serve us best. I'm all ears open for ideas!

By 4pm the sun is waning to the west and our power starts dropping back down to the point that we stop selling power to the grid and by 4:30 we are barely able to make enough power to satisfy the "static" loads in the house.

By 5pm we are on battery power and from 5pm until 5am we continue to use the stored battery power throughout the night. The grid is our backup, and in the event the grid is down we have a 20kW generator that will start if the Solark wants it to.

 

[ret60sp]

My "static" loads includes an Unraid Server, a Security server that feeds 12 HD IP based POE cameras and their respective switches and networking gear as well as managing Plex 24/7. In addition there are two refrigerators and a chest freezer, several cell phone chargers, numerous safety night pathway lights, PIR automatic light switches, landscape lighting and the occasional well pump start. The primary HVAC system is currently NOT included in the critical loads panel and we have a mini-split in the critical loads panel for emergency situations (grid down). The heavy hitters that take 50 amps or 100 amps to operate (tankless water heaters) are wired to grid only, so every time one of them cranks on it buys power from the grid. However, both of these units are fed by a water pre-heater that is connected to the solar inverter. So most of the time the tankless water heaters never switch on because they are being fed hot water that is already hot enough to satisfy their set point. All of this logic is thanks to Johnny Valentine of Gain Solar in Gainesville Georgia.

 

[Roqm]

After Johnny connected the critical loads panel, its routine for this 12k Solark to get almost 11k from the solar panels, distribute 8k to battery charging, 1.2k to the house (my normal "static" load) and sell back the rest to the grid (1.4k) . Once the batteries are charged (less than 2 hours) it reverts back to its 9k limitation on AC power. We split this load into heating water and running the rest of the house, selling back the excess to the grid. If batteries were more affordable I'd add more. Right now we have 25Kw of storage and this gets us through the night without buying much power from the grid.

It runs like this: Starting the cycle at 5am, the Ark batteries have depleted to my preferred limit (30%) - not draining them to 0% so we actually have a 30% reserve all the time, no matter what. At this point (5am) we are buying about 1000 watts from the grid and the batteries are providing the other 200 watts to run the "static" loads.

By 8am, on a clear day, we are making enough power from the panels and the inverter to run the "static" loads and the coffee maker and not need to purchase any power from the grid.

By 9am we are making enough power (4800 watts) that we can manually flip on the water pre-heater (something we are going to automate next week) and heat a 40 gallon water tank to 150 degrees F.

At 10 am we have the Solark programmed to prioritize recharging the batteries, so it stops selling any power to the grid and I have it set to apply 150 amps DC to recharging the Ark batteries from 30% to 100%. Any excess power goes to the AC inverter to power the home's "static" loads. If something large kicks on during this period the surge current comes from the grid.

By noon - 12:30pm the batteries are fully charged. If the weather sucks they might not be charged. In either case we have it programmed to prioritize recharging the batteries until 2pm, at which point it normally has completely recharged the batteries and the bulk of the excess power (7.45K) is sold to the grid.

The grid only gives us $0.04 per kilowatt, so I'm really considering storing that excess energy in a means that would serve us best. I'm all ears open for ideas!

By 4pm the sun is waning to the west and our power starts dropping back down to the point that we stop selling power to the grid and by 4:30 we are barely able to make enough power to satisfy the "static" loads in the house.

By 5pm we are on battery power and from 5pm until 5am we continue to use the stored battery power throughout the night. The grid is our backup, and in the event the grid is down we have a 20kW generator that will start if the Solark wants it to.

You have a sweet setup and a large consumption! 19kw used up in 12 hours is alot but you do have the generator...my small build wont have a generator as i want to cut the grid and i.c.e cars in the future and try to be self sustaining from sun( silly utopic fantasy)....well as much as posible....tiny home uses 25kw per day(working on lowering) and current battery build is 106kw capacity or 130,000wh, one deye 8k so far (might go another route) and a small array to mount on my roof...

 

[ret60sp]

Our daily consumption used to be 103 kW! Johnny recommended we convert to mini-split air conditioning to save power, so we invested in a mini-split. It performs well and its certainly energy efficient but it doesn't heat and cool evenly. So doing some research I discovered that York has a new HMH7 system that uses a DC inverter outdoor unit that is the same as any typical mini-split but its compatible with their ducted air handler and my existing zone controls and 18 year old programmable Aprilaire thermostats. So we modernized the primary HVAC with the York HMH7 and its been very impressive so far. We still have one bug to iron out - the fan blower stays on all the time regardless if nothing is in demand. Its been blowing continuously for 2 months now. It keeps the air and humidity balanced between floors by running all the time, but its not efficient doing this. Hopefully we'll have that solved tomorrow.

After replacing a Trane model 19i (18 SEER) with a York HMH7 (17 SEER) our power consumption dropped from 103 kW per day to about 80 (even with the blower running 24/7). You would think that a drop in SEER rating would INCREASE the power consumption but it didn't. I can speculate as to why and I'm sure some sniper in here would start taking shots at me for sure - but I believe the (SEER) rating system is derived from standards that don't account for a DC inverter not needing a large surge current to get started. Maybe an "expert" on here can weigh in and tell me why our (2/4.6) Five ton 18 SEER (19 year old) Trane 19i used to consume about 20 amps @ 240 VAC on the 4.6 ton compressor (it had two compressors in it) and the new York (5-ton) HMH7 only consumes 12.2 amps @ 240 VAC when running maxxed out with 5 zones in demand. The Trane indoor air handler used more power as well. It used 3.2 amps in high speed where the York uses 1.6 in high speed. So the new system is more energy efficient for sure!

We have a lot going on during the day, welders, blowers, pool pump, etc. The house is extremely energy efficient, made with ICF blocks and poured concrete and closed cell foam throughout, overhead as well as under the concrete slab. The air infiltration factor is 0.04 so its not leaking air. We just don't think about conserving energy, something we are starting to develop a consciousness about.

I credit the new HVAC system with saving us about $92 in electrical power each month, and with the two solar systems we now produce about 71kW per day (55kW average between good solar days and bad ones) on a good day or about $202 in power per month. Without solar power our utility bill would be north of $370/mo. With solar power its $100-$150. We have two solar inverter systems. A Solaredge 4.1kW system and the 12.8kW Solark. Combined they produce the 71kW per day (on a good day) and we need about 80. So we are still buying some power, selling back less than we use later, and the difference costs 8.3 cents a kilowatt. We buy it from them at 12.3 cents and sell it back at 4 cents. This all means we still owe the power company just over $100 each month so far, something I believe we can tweak and get below $50. It all means we need to use most of our power when the sun is shining and less of it late at night. Hard habits to break.

 

[ret60sp]

I am not going to go over the whole Sol-Ark being designed in the USA and only being manufactured in China like most other product. I spoke to my local dealer who sells and repairs Sol-Ark and the Chinese clones. He has no bone in this fight and does not care which one you buy from him. I was surprised when he told me that contrary to what I had thought, he has pulled apart all of the units and he noticed that the Sol-Ark does not even use the same circuit boards as the others. He also said it has about twice as many boards and components jammed inside the Sol-Ark versus the others. I am not going to argue about this as he said he will send me some pictures of each of the units internals when they come in for repairs. As soon as I get those I will share them on this forum.

As for the servers being in china, that would not be my first choice and I find it far from ideal. Not because I am worried about some Chinese attack but because it means Sol-Ark doe not have direct physical control over them if they go down. The idea that China would start to shutdown Inverters across the USA is ridiculous. It would mean that we where in a full state of war against them! If that time should come I will just pull out my dongle and manage my system as though it is off grid in the middle of nowhere. It's not like you need to mess around with a properly setup Sol-Ark. Mine has been up for 8 days and already I have gotten tired of monitoring it. The system just works and it works flawlessly.

The Solark app doesn't work on my De-Googled phone - which was the first give-away that something was WRONG. I noticed when I was attempting to install it that the two language options were English or Chinese. Like it or not, acknowledge it or not, we have been at war with the PLA and North Korea via cyber warfare for at least 10 years now.

 

[shavermcspud]

I know what I know and I don't know what I don't know. Feel free to enlighten me by not only informing me that I don't know what I don't know, because I already know that. I also know that Mikrotik is a Latvian company, however most consumer grade routers sold in the United States are made in China, cannot be programmed to do much of anything and have more security leaks than a coffee filter. A Mikrotik router is better than anything else I can find in the same price range, or for 5x more and so far it has done a really good job blocking incoming and outgoing traffic to nefarious players out there who like to imbed "call home to momma" situations in many of these Chinese IP cameras and gadgets we purchase over here. I do need more tin foil. I'm not afraid to admit it.

Not 100% sure what you mean there but you seem fairly I.T competent, if so roll your own router, BSD /Linux or use Zeroshell all 100% open source on a cheap micro appliance or R-pi , you can comb through the code yourself and be confident nothings calling back to the mother-ship.Appreciate you saying Microtik are the best of a bad bunch but if you honestly think it doesn't make any outside contact with its partially closed source firmware you are misguided.

 

[Roqm]

Our daily consumption used to be 103 kW! Johnny recommended we convert to mini-split air conditioning to save power, so we invested in a mini-split. It performs well and its certainly energy efficient but it doesn't heat and cool evenly. So doing some research I discovered that York has a new HMH7 system that uses a DC inverter outdoor unit that is the same as any typical mini-split but its compatible with their ducted air handler and my existing zone controls and 18 year old programmable Aprilaire thermostats. So we modernized the primary HVAC with the York HMH7 and its been very impressive so far. We still have one bug to iron out - the fan blower stays on all the time regardless if nothing is in demand. Its been blowing continuously for 2 months now. It keeps the air and humidity balanced between floors by running all the time, but its not efficient doing this. Hopefully we'll have that solved tomorrow.

After replacing a Trane model 19i (18 SEER) with a York HMH7 (17 SEER) our power consumption dropped from 103 kW per day to about 80 (even with the blower running 24/7). You would think that a drop in SEER rating would INCREASE the power consumption but it didn't. I can speculate as to why and I'm sure some sniper in here would start taking shots at me for sure - but I believe the (SEER) rating system is derived from standards that don't account for a DC inverter not needing a large surge current to get started. Maybe an "expert" on here can weigh in and tell me why our (2/4.6) Five ton 18 SEER (19 year old) Trane 19i used to consume about 20 amps @ 240 VAC on the 4.6 ton compressor (it had two compressors in it) and the new York (5-ton) HMH7 only consumes 12.2 amps @ 240 VAC when running maxxed out with 5 zones in demand. The Trane indoor air handler used more power as well. It used 3.2 amps in high speed where the York uses 1.6 in high speed. So the new system is more energy efficient for sure!

We have a lot going on during the day, welders, blowers, pool pump, etc. The house is extremely energy efficient, made with ICF blocks and poured concrete and closed cell foam throughout, overhead as well as under the concrete slab. The air infiltration factor is 0.04 so its not leaking air. We just don't think about conserving energy, something we are starting to develop a consciousness about.

I credit the new HVAC system with saving us about $92 in electrical power each month, and with the two solar systems we now produce about 71kW per day (55kW average between good solar days and bad ones) on a good day or about $202 in power per month. Without solar power our utility bill would be north of $370/mo. With solar power its $100-$150. We have two solar inverter systems. A Solaredge 4.1kW system and the 12.8kW Solark. Combined they produce the 71kW per day (on a good day) and we need about 80. So we are still buying some power, selling back less than we use later, and the difference costs 8.3 cents a kilowatt. We buy it from them at 12.3 cents and sell it back at 4 cents. This all means we still owe the power company just over $100 each month so far, something I believe we can tweak and get below $50. It all means we need to use most of our power when the sun is shining and less of it late at night. Hard habits to break.

103kw per day! Damn....i know exactly what you mean about the central air, i am going to modify my own by changing to a twin scroll compressor thats variable....when i get around to it....lol i hope to see more videos on your system stay safe!

 

[Bluedog225]

I wish I’d not found this thread. Darn It. Victron‘s going to be expensive.

 

[Hedges]

I wish I’d not found this thread. Darn It. Victron‘s going to be expensive.

In that case, do it my way: SMA Sunny Island & Sunny Boy.

That bank of four in my picture are rated for 44kW starting surge, 23kW continuous. Grid-tied they can feed about 24kW from Sunny Boy to grid, or off-grid manage 48kW of Sunny Boy. Or use three of them for 120/208Y three-phase.

At least as expensive as Victron, but fire sale prices due to one customer's bankruptcy and older models can make it more affordable.

 

[uzernaam]

You should add ferrites to each end of your cabling, place a ground rod as close to your inverter as reasonably possible and make sure you use a solid, highly conductive ground wire to bridge the distance between your inverter and ground.

People talk about using sufficient gauge wire for ground, but what is really "good enough?"

I use a 2 AWG cable for my ground, but the distance to the ground rod is 40 ft. Any other route is impossible or longer due to the layout here.

I do have the Midnight Solar MOV surge arrestors on the AC and DC sides.

Should I bother looking into ferrites?

 

[Snowynorth]

I doubt Sol-Ark can legally shutoff an inverter you paid for and own.

I'm late, but because I have 2 now, 7.6k deye inverters. I am reading all I can. After purchasing I also learned the Sol-Ark could shut them down, if they find them. I'm sure Sol-Ark doesn't have a legal foot to stand on if they shut down deye inverters, but it would be a case by case civil matter, as it would never have the high value that the high price class action lawyers would ever look at. The class action lawyers take the bulk of the money anyway. To sue them individually, you would spend more than the inverter is worth, by the time your lawyer explained their lawyers first response to you. Then the bills add up for a few years. The written and word of mouth is another story. Sol-Ark shutting down inverters would get on the pages of every solar forum around the world, on you tube, and face book etc, those as well as the consumer interactions with each other and retailers could devastate sales of an otherwise good product. I'm guessing the lawyers and other level headed people involved with Sol-Ark have discussed it.

I know very little about solar in general, and I'm wanting to learn. I do know a thing or 2 about marketing and selling stuff. I spent my adult life marketing and selling big ticket. From what I've read in general I think it would be wise for Sol-Ark to not only come out and state they would never stoop so low as to shut down an inverter that was purchased in good faith. Rather in the long run it would be financially wise to even offer some support to people with Deye. Sol-Ark made Deye a lot of money, and Deye made Sol-Ark a lot of money. The people who bought Deye had nothing to do with the rights to NA sales. They are just consumers. Sol-Ark negotiated and have their exclusive in NA for the 4 similar products, but it seems many here and elsewhere are getting a bad taste about Sol-Ark. Not for the product which I think everyone thinks is good, but rather a few things that could easily be clarified by the company. I personally do not begrudge them their price point. I just can't afford it, and felt while I could I would buy Deye, rather than something less. The other higher brands aren't cheap either and I can't afford them either, along with all of our other solar, and general building expenses.

If anyone has, or knows anyone who has had their Deye shut down by Sol-Ark. They should post it. I haven't read of any.

 

[denarius]

I also own a Solark unit which I like very much. Where I live I loose Internet access frequently and have made a custom PCB to replace the inner board of the Solark WiFi dongle.

I'm intrigued by the solution you have. As far as i know DB9 ports isn't usually used as a power source. Which DB9 pins did you get power from on the Sol-Ark and what is the voltage?

 

[rickypr]

I'm intrigued by the solution you have. As far as i know DB9 ports isn't usually used as a power source. Which DB9 pins did you get power from on the Sol-Ark and what is the voltage?

Voltage is 12v. Pin 9 is positive and 5 is ground. Pin 2 is Tx and 3 is Rx.

 

[Tamooj]

After Johnny connected the critical loads panel, its routine for this 12k Solark to get almost 11k from the solar panels, distribute 8k to battery charging, 1.2k to the house (my normal "static" load) and sell back the rest to the grid (1.4k) . Once the batteries are charged (less than 2 hours) it reverts back to its 9k limitation on AC power. We split this load into heating water and running the rest of the house, selling back the excess to the grid. If batteries were more affordable I'd add more. Right now we have 25Kw of storage and this gets us through the night without buying much power from the grid.

It runs like this: Starting the cycle at 5am, the Ark batteries have depleted to my preferred limit (30%) - not draining them to 0% so we actually have a 30% reserve all the time, no matter what. At this point (5am) we are buying about 1000 watts from the grid and the batteries are providing the other 200 watts to run the "static" loads.

By 8am, on a clear day, we are making enough power from the panels and the inverter to run the "static" loads and the coffee maker and not need to purchase any power from the grid.

By 9am we are making enough power (4800 watts) that we can manually flip on the water pre-heater (something we are going to automate next week) and heat a 40 gallon water tank to 150 degrees F.

At 10 am we have the Solark programmed to prioritize recharging the batteries, so it stops selling any power to the grid and I have it set to apply 150 amps DC to recharging the Ark batteries from 30% to 100%. Any excess power goes to the AC inverter to power the home's "static" loads. If something large kicks on during this period the surge current comes from the grid.

By noon - 12:30pm the batteries are fully charged. If the weather sucks they might not be charged. In either case we have it programmed to prioritize recharging the batteries until 2pm, at which point it normally has completely recharged the batteries and the bulk of the excess power (7.45K) is sold to the grid.

The grid only gives us $0.04 per kilowatt, so I'm really considering storing that excess energy in a means that would serve us best. I'm all ears open for ideas!

By 4pm the sun is waning to the west and our power starts dropping back down to the point that we stop selling power to the grid and by 4:30 we are barely able to make enough power to satisfy the "static" loads in the house.

By 5pm we are on battery power and from 5pm until 5am we continue to use the stored battery power throughout the night. The grid is our backup, and in the event the grid is down we have a 20kW generator that will start if the Solark wants it to.

This is pretty much our exact installation and usage pattern - this all sounds familiar. Our difference is we installed two 12k's and run them in a master/slave configuration, with half the solar running to each. In this manner I can push 18k (9kW x 2) to the grid, except we've limited it to about 12kW because our utility's transformer is kinda creaky and small. I'll probably pay them to upgrade that to a 30kva pole soon though.

 

[Danke]

Split phase which is no longer available on the Deye 8K. The Sol-Ark is EMP hardened. The cabinet is fully outdoor rated and the Sol-Ark is setup to use closed loop communication with a pretty big list of top tier battery packs like Fortress, Simpliphi, Blue Ion, Discover, Kilovault, Storz and about 5 or 6 others. Also while the Deye 8K can only provide 8K to the loads and the 12K can provide 9K the Sol-ark can also charge the batteries with a separate 3K of power while delivering the full 9K hence the 12K name.
I get a real 10 year warranty versus the 5 year warranty with Deye. I can pickup the phone and get a tech on the line within 5 minutes and get help. Good luck getting support from Deye, especially if the Inverter is in the USA.
Can a Deye be grid tied in the USA and pass inspection? I have not seen one person say they have done that. I would love to find out the truth, so if you know of a system that is documented or a video has been made about it please show me. If not it is really not a viable or Legal Grid Tie Inverter for use in the USA.

I was looking at stacking Deye 8Ks vs. buying a Sol-Ark 15K. Anyone know if Deye passes inspection And can be Grid Tied?

 

[Ampster]

Anyone know if Deye passes inspection And can be Grid Tied?

Most grid tie installations require UL listed inverters. The key word is "listed" and the requirement in California is specifically UL 1741SA to be grid tied. Your mileage may vary. You need to ask your local building department and utility. Where is this installation located?

 

[Danke]

Most grid tie installations require UL listed inverters. The key word is "listed" and the requirement in California is specifically UL 1741SA to be grid tied. Your mileage may vary. You need to ask your local building department and utility. Where is this installation located?

Minnesota.

 

[Danke]

Most grid tie installations require UL listed inverters. The key word is "listed" and the requirement in California is specifically UL 1741SA to be grid tied. Your mileage may vary. You need to ask your local building department and utility. Where is this installation located?

According to their website it is: CE,UL1741SA all options, UL1699B, CSA 22.2.

https://us-icbuim-file.oss-us-east-1.aliyuncs.com/file/ba0bb4a11134aa9a629b1ce97410fe57.pdf?Expires=1654115752&OSSAccessKeyId=LTAIxlzvmECyZvmX&Signature=ZT5lPdJuszgKNGcgb9qdaIfpoZU%3D&response-content-disposition=fileName%3DSunpal%20Energy%20Storage%20Inverter%205%200KW-8%200KW.pdf