Sol ark runs generator too long?

[Ai4px]

I have a friend with a sol-ark and 10kwh of batteries. He's not making it thru the night and the solark starts his generator just as it should. But what it does is charge his batteries nearly 100% before killing the generator. This mean the batteries are full when the sun comes up which is NOT what he wants. Seems there is no way to set the top limit of the generator run time....

So we came up with this solution. When in offgrid with solark, the generator is connected to the grid input and the generator input becomes a "smart load" switched input. You can turn the smart load on and off at preset SoC. So our idea is to connect a very small STDP 240v relay to the "smart load/gen" input and use the contacts on the relay to inhibit the genny from starting. Wire the gen start signal thru the normally closed contacts on the relay. When SoC is below xx% (ie 50%) the relay drops, the contacts close and the genstart signal can reach the genny. When the SoC gets to >YY%, the solark will still be commanding the generator to run, but the "smart load" relay will pull in, open the contacts and cause the gen run signal to be lost.

How's that? Or solark could add a menu item to shut the generator off at a given SoC. I guess until that day, you gotta run what you brung.

 

[dweick]

Can't you just turn off Gen Charge? Is there some reason you want to charge the battery from the generator at all?

 

[Ai4px]

Yes, the batteries are at 30%.

 

[dweick]

Yes, the batteries are at 30%.

Not sure if that was a reply to me, just asking why you want the generator to charge the batteries at all. Seems you just want to run the batteries down to some level then fire up the generator and have the Sol-Ark run off the generator until sufficient sun to run the house and then shut the generator off.

 

[Ai4px]

Not sure if that was a reply to me, just asking why you want the generator to charge the batteries at all. Seems you just want to run the batteries down to some level then fire up the generator and have the Sol-Ark run off the generator until sufficient sun to run the house and then shut the generator off.

Sorry my posts aren't coming out right.... . My friend is using his solark to run some ceramic heaters in his nearby RV. at 3am his choice is... 1)allow the battery to continue to drain and shut off a 3:15am, or 2) allow the solark to start the generator. Coffee is so much better when you don't have to go outside to crank up the gnerator at 7am. lol. He just doesn't want ot excessively charge because once the sun is up, the energy is free.

 

[dweick]

Sorry my posts aren't coming out right.... . My friend is using his solark to run some ceramic heaters in his nearby RV. at 3am his choice is... 1)allow the battery to continue to drain and shut off a 3:15am, or 2) allow the solark to start the generator. Coffee is so much better when you don't have to go outside to crank up the gnerator at 7am. lol. He just doesn't want ot excessively charge because once the sun is up, the energy is free.

Got it, so it appears there is no reason he should want the generator to charge the batteries at all, ever. So disable the Sol-Ark from generator charging and when the batteries drop to 10% (or whatever level he chooses) the generator will kick on but NOT charge the batteries and when the sun comes out and starts generating enough power the generator will shut off and the batteries will start charging.

 

[Ai4px]

Got it, so it appears there is no reason he should want the generator to charge the batteries at all, ever. So disable the Sol-Ark from generator charging and when the batteries drop to 10% (or whatever level he chooses) the generator will kick on but NOT charge the batteries and when the sun comes out and starts generating enough power the generator will shut off and the batteries will start charging.

I suppose you could run the generator until the sun started charging... that's an interesting idea! He wants to just "guestimate" adding an extra 20% to the SoC and hope thats enough to get him thru til morning.

 

[dweick]

I suppose you could run the generator until the sun started charging... that's an interesting idea! He wants to just "guestimate" adding an extra 20% to the SoC and hope thats enough to get him thru til morning.

I think he is overthinking it with a scheme and hardware to turn the generator off after charging the battery up a bit then running off the battery then the generator turning back on ...

Inefficient and more costly then just running off the generator, less energy out of the generator, less wear on the battery.

There is a setting in the Sol-Ark that says don't charge from the generator, flip that bit and it will work exactly like he wants it to work. The generator will run the minimum amount needed and the battery won't be any more full than it needs to be before solar kicks in.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

I have a friend with a sol-ark and 10kwh of batteries. He's not making it thru the night and the solark starts his generator just as it should. But what it does is charge his batteries nearly 100% before killing the generator. This mean the batteries are full when the sun comes up which is NOT what he wants. Seems there is no way to set the top limit of the generator run time....

So we came up with this solution. When in offgrid with solark, the generator is connected to the grid input and the generator input becomes a "smart load" switched input. You can turn the smart load on and off at preset SoC. So our idea is to connect a very small STDP 240v relay to the "smart load/gen" input and use the contacts on the relay to inhibit the genny from starting. Wire the gen start signal thru the normally closed contacts on the relay. When SoC is below xx% (ie 50%) the relay drops, the contacts close and the genstart signal can reach the genny. When the SoC gets to >YY%, the solark will still be commanding the generator to run, but the "smart load" relay will pull in, open the contacts and cause the gen run signal to be lost.

How's that? Or solark could add a menu item to shut the generator off at a given SoC. I guess until that day, you gotta run what you brung.

You can tell the Sol-Ark to only charge the batteries to a certain Voltage or SOC.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Sorry my posts aren't coming out right.... . My friend is using his solark to run some ceramic heaters in his nearby RV. at 3am his choice is... 1)allow the battery to continue to drain and shut off a 3:15am, or 2) allow the solark to start the generator. Coffee is so much better when you don't have to go outside to crank up the gnerator at 7am. lol. He just doesn't want ot excessively charge because once the sun is up, the energy is free.

How about 3) not choose to run ceramic heaters - a losing prospect on 10kWh battery.

If he's trying to keep bodies warm, electric blankets under comforters (to keep the blanket warm) can keep bodies warm down to crazy chilly temps. It's why my wife tolerates cold nights. On even the lowest setting, we're toasty when the air in the RV is ~45°F (we would still be comfortable lower, but I need to run the propane furnace to keep the belly pipes from freezing).

If he's in freezing conditions, ceramic heaters won't keep his pipes/tanks from freezing.

Solar may be free, but it's not abundant in the morning. It can take a few hours to run up to peak harvest.

 

[Ai4px]

You can tell the Sol-Ark to only charge the batteries to a certain Voltage or SOC.

Can we tell the solark to only charge to a certain level on gen/grid and a different level on solar power?

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Can we tell the solark to only charge to a certain level on gen/grid and a different level on solar power?

You can set you start and stop voltages for Grid/Gen.
If you don’t know how call solark and they will gladly walk you through it.

 

[SolCal]

Ai4px, did you figure out how to turn off the generator after certain time of a % of battery charged. I am having the same issue. The Solark doesn't send the signal to stop the gen even after the sun was out.

 

[Ai4px]

Ai4px, did you figure out how to turn off the generator after certain time of a % of battery charged. I am having the same issue. The Solark doesn't send the signal to stop the gen even after the sun was out.

My friend has never implemented this work Around. We were going to use the smart load output to run a relay and that relay would interrupt the gen start signal.

I can’t believe SolArk hasn’t fixed this in software.

 

[robby]

My friend has never implemented this work Around. We were going to use the smart load output to run a relay and that relay would interrupt the gen start signal.

I can’t believe SolArk hasn’t fixed this in software.

Are you sure about that? I know that the firmware release they did about 6 weeks ago was primarily designed to fix generator problems.

 

[SolCal]

I talked with Sol-Ark CS and was able to configured the auto gen stop depending on hour and % of battery charged. The logic is a little weird for me but this is how you can set it up.
Go to System Work Mode and enable Time Of Use. The time is Chronological. Lets say that from 2 to 3 in the morning you want to charge your batteries from the Gen until they reach 60%. All you have to do is:
Time1: 2:00
Power1: 2000 (I believe this doesn't apply for my purpose)
Battery SOC1: 60
Time2: 3
Power2: 2000
Battery: 45
... You get the idea

So in the example above at 2 in the morning if the batteries are below 60% it will start the generator and charge the batteries until they reach 60% or the time is 03:00. At 03:00 it will only start the generator if the batteries are below 45%. etc

Just ensure that the times follow a chronological order from 00:00 to 23:59 for example. I recomend to calculate how long it takes for your gen to charge the batteries 10% that way you can adjust the time accordingly.

Hope this helps. It took me a while to got it right so if you have issues with the gen no stopping at a particular time/% let me know.

 

[Ampster]

I spent money on batteries so I don't have to worry about generator timing but glad there is a solution.

 

[Ai4px]

I talked with Sol-Ark CS and was able to configured the auto gen stop depending on hour and % of battery charged. The logic is a little weird for me but this is how you can set it up.
Go to System Work Mode and enable Time Of Use. The time is Chronological. Lets say that from 2 to 3 in the morning you want to charge your batteries from the Gen until they reach 60%. All you have to do is:
Time1: 2:00
Power1: 2000 (I believe this doesn't apply for my purpose)
Battery SOC1: 60
Time2: 3
Power2: 2000
Battery: 45
... You get the idea

So in the example above at 2 in the morning if the batteries are below 60% it will start the generator and charge the batteries until they reach 60% or the time is 03:00. At 03:00 it will only start the generator if the batteries are below 45%. etc

Just ensure that the times follow a chronological order from 00:00 to 23:59 for example. I recomend to calculate how long it takes for your gen to charge the batteries 10% that way you can adjust the time accordingly.

Hope this helps. It took me a while to got it right so if you have issues with the gen no stopping at a particular time/% let me know.

Excellent idea adjusting the time permitted to run. But it was solved by a firmware update which uses SoC for on/off.

 

[BKlafehn]

Excellent idea adjusting the time permitted to run. But it was solved by a firmware update which uses SoC for on/off.

New install here. Could you explain how to use SoC to turn the generator off before reaching full charge? This week, the generator continued running with low levels of output for hours even after the sun was shining brightly, until the batteries reached 95% charged. I'd love to let the generator charge the batteries, say to 50%, and let the sun do the work from there, instead of using more propane. Thanks!

 

[Ai4px]

New install here. Could you explain how to use SoC to turn the generator off before reaching full charge? This week, the generator continued running with low levels of output for hours even after the sun was shining brightly, until the batteries reached 95% charged. I'd love to let the generator charge the batteries, say to 50%, and let the sun do the work from there, instead of using more propane. Thanks!

My buddy has the solark so I can’t check this. Do you have latest firmware??