houseofancients
Solar Wizard
i think it is time to contactbthe supplier and ask them if pylontech in their batteries runs over ra485 or canbus
What brands of BMS work with Solark in Closed Loop Communication
- Thread starter jasonojordan
- Start date
jasonojordan
New Member
When I talked to him originally about this issue (Over a year ago) he said canbus. But I will reach out again and let you know.
jasonojordan
New Member
Confirmed that he "believes" the correct port to use on the battery with solark is the canbus port.
He has offered me a partial refund for the battery since I was explicitly clear when I purchased it that I wanted on that communicated closed loop with the solark. He assured me it would...well it has never worked for me. He has since stopped selling this battery for the most part and is selling this in its place....
www.tesselectric.com
Needless to say my faith in the guy is pretty shaken to the point I am not going to return this battery and then spend extra money for this new version that supposedly also communicates via closed loop with the solark.
All the battery does for me is act as an emergency backup so not sure its the end of the world that it dosent work in closed loop communication but still sucks that I paid close to the same amount of money for this when I could of gotten one that did for nearly the same price.
What steered me away from other batteries is the shipping cost. This guy was localish at the time so no shipping costs made the $1500 battery closer to $1500 not $2000 like the other options out at the time..
He is no longer really local as I have asked several times for him to show me what I am doing wrong and he is always too busy setting up new systems down in Georgia now...
He has offered me a partial refund for the battery since I was explicitly clear when I purchased it that I wanted on that communicated closed loop with the solark. He assured me it would...well it has never worked for me. He has since stopped selling this battery for the most part and is selling this in its place....
10Kwh LiFeP04 Battery LFP HS51200-10, Tess Electric
Battery has built in soft start function - when the inverter needs to start from the battery it can reduce the current impact.
www.tesselectric.com
Needless to say my faith in the guy is pretty shaken to the point I am not going to return this battery and then spend extra money for this new version that supposedly also communicates via closed loop with the solark.
All the battery does for me is act as an emergency backup so not sure its the end of the world that it dosent work in closed loop communication but still sucks that I paid close to the same amount of money for this when I could of gotten one that did for nearly the same price.
What steered me away from other batteries is the shipping cost. This guy was localish at the time so no shipping costs made the $1500 battery closer to $1500 not $2000 like the other options out at the time..
He is no longer really local as I have asked several times for him to show me what I am doing wrong and he is always too busy setting up new systems down in Georgia now...
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
do the batteries support deye ?Confirmed that he "believes" the correct port to use on the battery with solark is the canbus port.
He has offered me a partial refund for the battery since I was explicitly clear when I purchased it that I wanted on that communicated closed loop with the solark. He assured me it would...well it has never worked for me. He has since stopped selling this battery for the most part and is selling this in its place....
10Kwh LiFeP04 Battery LFP HS51200-10, Tess Electric
Battery has built in soft start function - when the inverter needs to start from the battery it can reduce the current impact.
Needless to say my faith in the guy is pretty shaken to the point I am not going to return this battery and then spend extra money for this new version that supposedly also communicates via closed loop with the solark.
All the battery does for me is act as an emergency backup so not sure its the end of the world that it dosent work in closed loop communication but still sucks that I paid close to the same amount of money for this when I could of gotten one that did for nearly the same price.
What steered me away from other batteries is the shipping cost. This guy was localish at the time so no shipping costs made the $1500 battery closer to $1500 not $2000 like the other options out at the time..
He is no longer really local as I have asked several times for him to show me what I am doing wrong and he is always too busy setting up new systems down in Georgia now...
please ask him to talk to his oem and have them send you a manual..
i seriously doubt this battery doesnt work
alternative option would be swapping to a pace, eve, or gobal power bms
jasonojordan
New Member
I have messaged him requesting any further documentation he might have. I do not see deye as an option? Is that a Canbus communication type or rs485?
Attached is the documents I have gotten from him in the past.
Attached is the documents I have gotten from him in the past.
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
run the canbus section through google translate
jasonojordan
New Member
Will do as I have time and will report back.
OlderDIYer
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2022
- Messages
- 21
Interesting Jason. I just installed a Sol-Ark 12k in my house and I paired it with 16x 400w Rich Solar panels. I also chose to start with 5x SOK server rack batteries (25 kwh - 500 ah) and also noticed the similarities in the front panel controls with your battery. Sounds like you know that and it has been no help. I was curious why you only installed one battery but it sounds like you are selling power back to the grid as your energy storage so that makes sense.
I had to contact Sol-Ark for support at one point and asked him is there is any limit to how much more battery capacity I can add as I'm not selling to the grid. He replied up to 9999 ah but said on the other side of the scale the 12K requires 200 ah minimum. But I'm not sure why or if that applies to your situation. The BMS on the SOK's has been working well with the Sol-Ark and amongst themselves.
I'm a retired electrician but a novice on solar and these new all in one inverters and rack mounted batteries. Great Stuff. But to select a system I had to learn and watch videos like everyone does I suppose. Now that I've had time with the system I want to double the batteries to 50 kwh in order to ride out cloudy days while still drawing a minimal amount from the grid.
Since you may have lost faith in your battery provider I can recommend the SOK brand and I purchased through Current Connected and the experience has been good. You might check with Sol-Ark to see if two batteries are needed as a minimum in your setup.
It's funny, I originally intended to start with this system without solar and to use it as a whole house UPS system to backup the power in an outage. But once I got that installed I pulled the trigger on the solar right away and that led to my goal morphing into trying to eliminate as much utility power usage as possible. So it's an ongoing adventure and one that I find fascinating and is likely to lead to all kinds of different changes and tweaks to my infrastructure and energy usage habits.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
You have to set the batteries to Pylontech.
If you can’t, just operate the 12k in Voltage mode.
Last edited:
jasonojordan
New Member
Thanks for the reply. SOK is one of the top ones I am considering if I replace this current battery with someone else. Whole reason I went with this brand was I was assured it would work just like the SOK in the regard of closed loop communications, it was local (sucker for the local guys), and because it saved me $500 in shipping costs over any of the other brands at the time of purchase.
Glad to hear the SOK is working well for you. I have talked to solark about the issue and they are as stumped as I am. I only went with the 100ah of battery because I had intended to buy them one at a time and spread out the blow to the wallet and the only purpose they fulfil is in a grid down situation still having a building on the property that has power for the winter months if it turned into an extended down time event. Knowing what I know now about how much solar I generate during the winter months I am not sure I would generate enough solar to make it more then 12 hours in the garage with this one battery just running lights and the fan on the forced air hot water heat exchanger. Fortunately in the 2 years I have been at my current house most of the lengthy down time events (longer than an hour) were in the summer and my longest down time event has only been 6 hours.
jasonojordan
New Member
It works just fine in voltage mode. As established above I am aware that Pylontech is the correct Modbus mode to work in closed loop with the solark. My battery is in that mode. (See attached Photo) but still does not communicate with the solark for whatever reason. I have followed the communication establishment procedure for the SOK battery since it is the closed in terms of looks to the battery I have. All the documentation I have found/been provided for the current battery does not have a start up procedure that is any different then the SOK.
Attachments
OlderDIYer
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2022
- Messages
- 21
Jason, I just went to the CC website to see what their shipping is on one battery and it was 330, not 500. Still a lot but better. AND when I first hit their site they have a new lower cost SOK battery without all the bells and whistles, just a very plain front and a 1339 price. Not what you are looking for I don't think but I wonder what kind of system it would well in. I already ordered my second set, plus they say don't mix it with the smarter batteries so not for me but it makes me curious.
Till recently I always rejected any type of electrical backup system saying it wasn't justified because of how reliable the grid has been. But after the Ukraine war started and seeing their electrical systems get knocked out as a wartime strategy really made me rethink how dependant we all are on the electrical power that we take for granted. It seems to me we are at increased risk of long term outages and I'm retired and have the time and the funds to invest in what has become an interesting adventure for me. I started out just to back up some critical circuits but I probably won't stop until I'm able to produce all the power I need and reduce my grid usage to zero. (Because of that I'm a little concerned about how the utility will react to that but I guess that's part of the adventure!)
jasonojordan
New Member
Their shipping prices have come down. It was $500 at the time I got the battery I have if I remember correctly (over a year ago).
I am fortunate with my utility. I am a 1-1 so the grid is more or less my battery. The worry of the grid going down in war time is one that has been considered. If that occurred I do plan at some point rather then go with more batteries to target a propane generator. I am sure that will be one of the natural resources as we have seen that has been targets as well but I will just pray that a war won't come to our door step in my life time!
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
Not just war but the Deferred maintenance, rising cost, Dumb asses with rifles and a bunch of other contributors should make you say “ Hey this grid is fragile”.
Most of the US infrastructure is laying out in a field somewhere.
Only thing that has kept it safe was people being courteous.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
jasonojordan
New Member
On the solark I have not tired anything other than 00
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
pylontech comes in 2 flavors :
old : 0
and new, i believe 12, but for the life of me, can find the ref document anymore
jasonojordan
New Member
So perhaps try other addresses rather then 00 on the solark side?
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
yeah, i mean no harm in trying..
jasonojordan
New Member
Sounds good. Let me know if you find that sheet to help me narrow down the amount of trial and guess I end up doing.
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
good luck..
after changing modes it usually takes up to 45-60 seconds for the comm to come "alive"
jasonojordan
New Member
Can this be done without going through the whole ordeal of rebooting the bms and the inverter? Just activate the lithium battery in the settings on the solark and change the number and wait a couple minutes?
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
that is what i always used, but my experience is limited to the seplos bms, pylontech and jakiper , eu models
jasonojordan
New Member
Sounds good. I will give it a try. I had been just been following the procedure in the SOK video and it makes for a lengthy trial and error process with all the reboots and such.
houseofancients
Solar Wizard
that would be the actual procedure, and once you get any comms, i'd run through that regardless.
dexter does a miate of test before he posts stuff, and that will be the proper procedure
Similar threads
