Was Sol-Ark 12K originally branded/sold as a 9K or changed before being sold as a 12K unit?

[Shawn Hayes]

I have dual Sol-Ark 12K’s in parallel. I bought two of the early models ( 2019-2020) BOTH labeled 12K. Ex. See photo of the Sol-Ark sticker on one of my units, note is says Model No. 12K-P. Serial number marked out.



So, seeing the label on one of my units above, please look at the next photo below this paragraph. I was going through some old paperwork today and ran across a piece of paper in my original Sol-Ark literature that I’d never seen before. It was left inside a manila envelope that apparently I missed when I purchased these two units. I pulled out the two pieces of paperwork in this manila envelope. One piece was a label for a Sol-Ark unit. It did not have a serial number on it but interestingly enough in the model number line, it’s says Sol-Ark 9K 48-ST?
(Highlighted blue)



This is not a fake or forgery, this is the real deal. There are threads on this forum that state Sol-Ark has questionable marketing with the 12 K units. They only do 9K off grid but 12K with grid tied AC pass-through.
I also read a thread here where someone asked how much a used 9K Sol-Ark was worth?
It seemed a few folks question the thread and perhaps the interested buyer was uninformed? Perhaps not? Perhaps there were a few units sold as 9K’s before they were rebadged as 12K’s??
Share your thoughts? Perhaps I’m unaware if Sol-Arks were sold as 9K’s originally?

Used sol ark 9k value?

So I went on a job today to help a local guy install 2- Outback Radian Gs8048A inverters. After we finished up and commissioned the system , I noticed a sol ark 9k 240vac inverter on the wall , nothing attached, not in use. It's too small, so they went with the 2 new 8k units. Local guy thinks...

diysolarforum.com

 

[Nobodybusiness]

I have dual Sol-Ark 12K’s in parallel. I bought two of the early models ( 2019-2020) BOTH labeled 12K. Ex. See photo of the Sol-Ark sticker on one of my units, note is says Model No. 12K-P. Serial number marked out.

View attachment 114862

So, seeing the label on one of my units above, please look at the next photo below this paragraph. I was going through some old paperwork today and ran across a piece of paper in my original Sol-Ark literature that I’d never seen before. It was left inside a manila envelope that apparently I missed when I purchased these two units. I pulled out the two pieces of paperwork in this manila envelope. One piece was a label for a Sol-Ark unit. It did not have a serial number on it but interestingly enough in the model number line, it’s says Sol-Ark 9K 48-ST?
(Highlighted blue)

View attachment 114863

This is not a fake or forgery, this is the real deal. There are threads on this forum that state Sol-Ark has questionable marketing with the 12 K units. They only do 9K off grid but 12K with grid tied AC pass-through.
I also read a thread here where someone asked how much a used 9K Sol-Ark was worth?
It seemed a few folks question the thread and perhaps the interested buyer was uninformed? Perhaps not? Perhaps there were a few units sold as 9K’s before they were rebadged as 12K’s??
Share your thoughts? Perhaps I’m unaware if Sol-Arks were sold as 9K’s originally?

Used sol ark 9k value?

So I went on a job today to help a local guy install 2- Outback Radian Gs8048A inverters. After we finished up and commissioned the system , I noticed a sol ark 9k 240vac inverter on the wall , nothing attached, not in use. It's too small, so they went with the 2 new 8k units. Local guy thinks...

diysolarforum.com

Looks like they originally marketed them based upon the battery inverter capacity then went to the total solar/ battery capacity throughput.

 

[Clint-L]

I have a brand new 15k, and despite what the specs say, it will only invert 13,200 watts of PV. They’ve been saying they are investigating my issue for two weeks now. They have updated software and performed a full reset.

 

[FightThePower]

I have a brand new 15k, and despite what the specs say, it will only invert 13,200 watts of PV. They’ve been saying they are investigating my issue for two weeks now. They have updated software and performed a full reset.

Is that charging a battery and backfeeding the grid?

 

[robby]

I have a brand new 15k, and despite what the specs say, it will only invert 13,200 watts of PV. They’ve been saying they are investigating my issue for two weeks now. They have updated software and performed a full reset.

I meant to ask you, have you ever looked at the PV Input Graphs to see what is happening. I know you have measured it with a meter but the Graph will give you a better idea of the Voltage and Current throughout the day on each MPPT.
I Have the 12K and here is what a typical day will look like in terms of current for each of the two arrays.

 

[Clint-L]

I meant to ask you, have you ever looked at the PV Input Graphs to see what is happening. I know you have measured it with a meter but the Graph will give you a better idea of the Voltage and Current throughout the day on each MPPT.
I Have the 12K and here is what a typical day will look like in terms of current for each of the two arrays.

View attachment 117768

Yes. I see it cut in and out. Since the latest software it has gotten better, but every few days it seems to bug out. The PV hits just over 13k and it immediately drops to 0 and start going back up. At the same time, my voltage spikes. I do believe some spiking is normal, but before they installed the last update, I was getting a few spikes in the 550v and 600v range. Each of my arrays have a max rated VoC of like 380v. So I knew it wasn't right. I believe it was reading it incorrectly. With a meeter with the arrays disconnected, I could never see such a high voltage. I have concerns that the software version before what I am on now with the 15k was completely reading incorrectly. Also, when these spikes would happen, the inverter would click and disconnect from the grid.

I'll try and post some of my graphs as soon as I get a chance. Will be interesting to compare this.

 

[robby]

Yes. I see it cut in and out. Since the latest software it has gotten better, but every few days it seems to bug out. The PV hits just over 13k and it immediately drops to 0 and start going back up. At the same time, my voltage spikes. I do believe some spiking is normal, but before they installed the last update, I was getting a few spikes in the 550v and 600v range. Each of my arrays have a max rated VoC of like 380v. So I knew it wasn't right. I believe it was reading it incorrectly. With a meeter with the arrays disconnected, I could never see such a high voltage. I have concerns that the software version before what I am on now with the 15k was completely reading incorrectly. Also, when these spikes would happen, the inverter would click and disconnect from the grid.

I'll try and post some of my graphs as soon as I get a chance. Will be interesting to compare this.

Please post the Graphs I would love to see them. Maybe we can spot whats going on.

 

[bixelps]

Yes. I see it cut in and out. Since the latest software it has gotten better, but every few days it seems to bug out. The PV hits just over 13k and it immediately drops to 0 and start going back up. At the same time, my voltage spikes. I do believe some spiking is normal, but before they installed the last update, I was getting a few spikes in the 550v and 600v range. Each of my arrays have a max rated VoC of like 380v. So I knew it wasn't right. I believe it was reading it incorrectly. With a meeter with the arrays disconnected, I could never see such a high voltage. I have concerns that the software version before what I am on now with the 15k was completely reading incorrectly. Also, when these spikes would happen, the inverter would click and disconnect from the grid.

I'll try and post some of my graphs as soon as I get a chance. Will be interesting to compare this.

What I have observed related to this is the high terminal voltage will cause the inverter to shutdown. If you can plot your grid voltage and then you observe that the shutdown last for exactly 5 minutes and the voltage is high at that time then this is likely your situation. When your inverter is pumping power into the grid it can significantly raise the voltage between you and the transformer on the pole serving your house. I have seen this behaviour with my 12k.

To resolve it you need to enter the complicated world of the grid settings. You can increase the allowable voltage somewhat but you need to consider that devices in your home (and your neighbors) and what they will think of high voltage. There is a potential for damage. For the moment I raised the voltage limit a little and that solved if for now for me.

But if you cannot solve it that way, another potential solution is to implement the volt-var function available with the 1741 features of your inverter. Unfortunately it gets complicated but if your interested you can learn from many places on the net. I saw this video that might help you

Unfortunately SolArk tech support is not versed in the software features of their product as they do not do design or write the software anywhere in their company. So I predict little help from there.

 

[robby]

Unfortunately SolArk tech support is not versed in the software features of their product as they do not do design or write the software anywhere in their company. So I predict little help from there.

What are you talking about? They write all the firmware for the Inverter right in Texas.
That is why they can release a new update every month.

 

[Clint-L]

What I have observed related to this is the high terminal voltage will cause the inverter to shutdown. If you can plot your grid voltage and then you observe that the shutdown last for exactly 5 minutes and the voltage is high at that time then this is likely your situation. When your inverter is pumping power into the grid it can significantly raise the voltage between you and the transformer on the pole serving your house. I have seen this behaviour with my 12k.

To resolve it you need to enter the complicated world of the grid settings. You can increase the allowable voltage somewhat but you need to consider that devices in your home (and your neighbors) and what they will think of high voltage. There is a potential for damage. For the moment I raised the voltage limit a little and that solved if for now for me.

But if you cannot solve it that way, another potential solution is to implement the volt-var function available with the 1741 features of your inverter. Unfortunately it gets complicated but if your interested you can learn from many places on the net. I saw this video that might help you

Unfortunately SolArk tech support is not versed in the software features of their product as they do not do design or write the software anywhere in their company. So I predict little help from there.

I’m not losing grid connection after the last software update. Solark knew they had a problem with that. My problem is the inverter throttles the PV to only allow 13,200watts instead of the 15,000watts in which it is advertised to do.

I’ve been dealing with Cooper at Solark support for over a month with nothing but round and round remedial questions with no results. They just say “it’s supposed to invert 15kw of DC PV”

Here are a few red flags on the 15k.
1. The local LCD screen only show’s maximum of 8kw allowed if solar the screen graph.
2. Limit to load max on the 15k is defaulted to 12k. If you raise that, it will disconnect from grid once it tries to pass 13kw of PV
3. In power view max sell setting is capped at 16k, yet you’re supposed to be able to do an additional 19k of AC coupled

 

[robby]

You were contacted by Dylan who is one of their top people in the other thread. He wants to talk to you.