Sol-Ark not a good company to deal with 12k

[QuadRAGIN]

Could be they are copying Sol-Ark

 

[audreez]

Could be they are coping Sol-Ark

Yeah... Nope! new acc must be a sol-ark troll

 

[Honuz]

This statement is false. “ Sol-Ark currently sells three models of inverter, with names that correspond to the number of kilowatts (kW) of continuous power output. They are called the 5K, 8K, and 12K lines. Sol-Ark plans to begin selling a 15 kW inverter (called the “15K” of course) later in 2022.”

I have two 12k EMP sol-ark inverters and after all the money i spent on these pos i come to find out they can only deliver 9kw ea NOT 12kw that everyone believes! I installed a 25kw array and the only way to get it to put out the max of the array is to drain my battery down, then it will produce 23 to 24kw while it is charging the batteries however as soon as the batteries are charged it drops the system back to 18 to 19kw. I have contacted Sol-Ark and these people will not even respond. I sent a certified letter to CEO, no response. I joined linkedin and message him, no response. I wrote a review on google reviews and someone who claims to be owner will look into it and get back to me in a few days, guess what , no further contact from them. That was over 2 weeks ago. I emailed them , no response. This is not a reputable or legitimate company. They claim customer’s are important to them however their actions say that that is false. Ignoring me or any customer is not good practice. I asked them to swap out these falsely advertised inverters for 2 15k inverters. Is this how good, responsible companies act?

https://www.sol-ark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SA-12K-P-Spec-Sheet-8-5-22.pdf

Spec sheet say :

 

[houseofancients]

My guess is that in about 5 years, we'll start to see these Sol-Arks failing.. and once the warranty claims become too burdensome, the company will go out of business.

I'm curious, does anyone here own a high frequency battery inverter that has been used for more then 5 or 7 years and is still working? I'm not talking about a grid tied unit, I'm wondering about the off-grid battery inverters.

had mpp solar MPI 10k's running for 5 years in my old house , which i sold 3 years ago..
talked to the new owner last week, still running flawless

granted , they are hybrids, but they use the grid only for backup

 

[robby]

I've seen more issues with LF inverters. That might be because the HF AIOs haven't been out for as long though.

Same here, I have seen several Low Frequency Inverters inside my dealers warehouse that are toast. Including Magnums which from everything I have heard are pretty robust. You won't know until the time has passed and HF AIO have been on the market for at least 12 years. I suspect that they will operate just fine. I have seen this doom and gloom philosophy emerge every time an older technology is replaced by something newer.

The latest one debunked was SSD drives. Back around 2012 people swore that they would all fail and everyone would lose their data. Well I have been using them on server running systems since about 2014 and I think most of those systems are still running. I cannot say the same for PC's with platter drives.

 

[B-ManFX4]

Seems as if someone should have read the spec sheet.

When I first got into solar / off-grid I was doing a LOT of research. One of the things I found is that people don't read spec sheets and then fault the manufacturer for what they "thought" was true. Victron gets a lot of abuse in this regard because the average American is an idiot. I read countless posts complaining that "I ordered a XXX unit and it is for 230 VAC and it only has 2,400 watts. Victron is using false marketing."

They placed their order because they looked at the photo of the unit online and thought the 12 | 3000 | 120 meant 12 VDC, 3000 Watts, 120 VAC. See below:



If you read the spec sheet you will see that the 12 VDC unit is rated for 3,000 VA and 120 amps of battery charging capacity, yet those idiots blamed Victron for false advertising. You can look at the front of the unit and see "Inverter 230 V" plain as day. If they had a brain they would realize that the countries where Victron is made are all 230 VAC and rating inverters in VA is the norm there.

A good friend of mine was a very early adopter of the 8 KW Sol-Ark unit. It sat in his garage for over two years before we finally installed his solar array and batteries. There was an issue with the unit backing off output power when solar input was at its highest level. He worked with Sol-Ark via the phone and email for several days until they determined the issue and sent him new firmware and a simple wiring modification to correct it. (The wiring mod is already incorporated in the newer units.) His experience with their tech support has been excellent and the unit has performed flawlessly since.

I imagine the tone of communication with tech support when having an issue will help determine how well your experience turns out, since we are dealing with humans and not robots.

 

[mvonw]

Two well-reasoned, balanced posts in a row. Things are looking up!

 

[robby]

Seems as if someone should have read the spec sheet.

When I first got into solar / off-grid I was doing a LOT of research. One of the things I found is that people don't read spec sheets and then fault the manufacturer for what they "thought" was true. Victron gets a lot of abuse in this regard because the average American is an idiot. I read countless posts complaining that "I ordered a XXX unit and it is for 230VAC and it only has 2,400 watts. Victron is using false marketing."

They placed their order because they looked at the photo of the unit online and thought the 12|3000|120 meant 12VDC, 3000 Watts, 120VAC. See below:

View attachment 108818

If you read the spec sheet you will see that the 12VDC unit is rated for 3,000VA and 120 amps of battery charging capacity, yet those idiots blamed Victron for false advertising. You can look at the front of the unit and see "Inverter 230 V" plain as day. If they had a brain they would realize that the countries where Victron is made are all 230VAC and rating inverters in VA is the norm there.

A good friend of mine was a very early adopter of the 8KW Sol-Ark unit. It sat in his garage for over two years before we finally installed his solar array and batteries. There was an issue with the unit backing off output power when solar input was at its highest level. He worked with Sol-Ark via the phone and email for several days until they determined the issue and sent him new firmware and a simple wiring modification to correct it. (The wiring mod is already incorporated in the newer units.) His experience with their tech support has been excellent and the unit has performed flawlessly since.

I imagine the tone of communication with tech support when having an issue will help determine how well your experience turns out, since we are dealing with humans and not robots.

I would imagine that any though Victron had of getting more involved in the USA market must be on hold now.
I Just heard the news of the whopping 80% price hike in power coming to UK home owners this year.
I also see them pushing Solar as a way to save yourself from the bill. I would imagine Victron must be gearing up for an ungodly amount of sales in the UK in the coming months. They make great equipment so I am sure they are going to do really well. I wish them well and look forward to all the new tech they will devope with this windfall of cash.

 

[Balthazar-B]

I would imagine that any though Victron had of getting more involved in the USA market must be on hold now.
I Just heard the news of the whopping 80% price hike in power coming to UK home owners this year.
I also see them pushing Solar as a way to save yourself from the bill. I would imagine Victron must be gearing up for an ungodly amount of sales in the UK in the coming months. They make great equipment so I am sure they are going to do really well. I wish them well and look forward to all the new tech they will devope with this windfall of cash.

Not just in the UK. Pretty much anywhere in Europe that solar is feasible.

The heat pump manufacturing/distribution channel is also likely to do quite well.

 

[rflournoy]

This statement is false. “ Sol-Ark currently sells three models of inverter, with names that correspond to the number of kilowatts (kW) of continuous power output. They are called the 5K, 8K, and 12K lines. Sol-Ark plans to begin selling a 15 kW inverter (called the “15K” of course) later in 2022.”

I have two 12k EMP sol-ark inverters and after all the money i spent on these pos i come to find out they can only deliver 9kw ea NOT 12kw that everyone believes! I installed a 25kw array and the only way to get it to put out the max of the array is to drain my battery down, then it will produce 23 to 24kw while it is charging the batteries however as soon as the batteries are charged it drops the system back to 18 to 19kw. I have contacted Sol-Ark and these people will not even respond. I sent a certified letter to CEO, no response. I joined linkedin and message him, no response. I wrote a review on google reviews and someone who claims to be owner will look into it and get back to me in a few days, guess what , no further contact from them. That was over 2 weeks ago. I emailed them , no response. This is not a reputable or legitimate company. They claim customer’s are important to them however their actions say that that is false. Ignoring me or any customer is not good practice. I asked them to swap out these falsely advertised inverters for 2 15k inverters. Is this how good, responsible companies act?

David, I had a problem with my 12k inverter, called and left a message. In less than 2 hrs I had a call back and the tech logged into my inverter and fixed the issue I was having. I've been very happy with my Sol-Ark. (No, I'm not working for them!) The number I called is 972-575-8875.

 

[nc73]

You coulda bought 5 or more chinese inverters with that money. 4 or more as backup too.

 

[niktak11]

You coulda bought 5 or more chinese inverters with that money. 4 or more as backup too.

Sounds like 5 or more times as many problems

 

[nc73]

Sounds like 5 or more times as many problems

not if you don't unbox the 4 or 5 backup ones ?

 

[robby]

not if you don't unbox the 4 or 5 backup ones ?

By time 10 years has passed there might not be any backups left.

 

[Alkaline]

It is marketing and I agree it is deceptive. If you dive into the details, my understanding is if you AC couple a 12k SolArk you can get a total of 12kW from a combination of the AC coupled pass through and the native 9kW from the internal inverter. I have a 5kW Outback Skybox and I can AC couple 7.5kW of solar but Outback did not call it a 12.5k.
The SolArk is actually a rebadged Deye inverter which is made in China, but they lead you to believe it was made by Veterans. My Skybox did cost a lot less than the SolArk. I guess marketing costs more.

Holly crap, I thought they made their own!

 

[audreez]

yea their latest upcoming 5k1p model is not even trying to look different than deye anymore, just spray-paint and stickers

 

[DavtheRav]

I'm not defending SolArk or their customer service (no personal experience with them), but I always read the specification of the products before I spent my money. Shame on SolArk for not advertising accurately, and shame on you for not doing your homework. We call that paying your tuition. Maybe purchase a couple micro inverters and ac couple a few of the panels?? best of luck

 

[dobsonimages]

It's based on the max continuous solar power I believe

One needs to read the specs and call Sol Ark to get info from tech support with the 12k solar I have the option to install two rows of nine 450 watt panels, I could max it out at two rows of 10 but Sol Ark advises against it as at time the panels may produce more than 450 watts each which may be a bit to much for the 12k .

 

[mvonw]

One needs to read the specs and call Sol Ark to get info from tech support with the 12k solar I have the option to install two rows of nine 450 watt panels, I could max it out at two rows of 10 but Sol Ark advises against it as at time the panels may produce more than 450 watts each which may be a bit to much for the 12k .

I think you mean 450 volts, not watts? The 12K has a 500volt limit per mppt. They have a great calculator on their site to help you figure out how many panels and what wire gauge to use for what length run.

 

[onokai]

I am near the max with my sol -ark 12k . I have two strings each are 12 400 watt panels -total is 9600 output for the total of 24 panels
call them to see what they say. I have had nothing but good experiences with them. Even when My invertewr took a dump and needed to go in for repair