Hi What if I want to use Solar Panels FRIST- then - if Solar Panels production is not enough for the load, use Battery - and then if Battery reaches below, say, 30%, use the Grid for the loads and charge the batteries
In the video, it shows the maximum setting for the allowable draw on the battery is 9kW. If you have a two inverter setup will this value show as 18kW, or is this value capped regardless of how many inverters you have in your setup?
Hi Jason, You are correct, the maximum battery draw is additive whenever you stack inverters. Just keep in mind that the draw on the batteries should be matched to what is best for the batteries themselves. If you have any further questions, please fill out this form (at the bottom) and we'd be glad to assist: www.sol-ark.com/support/
TOU is usually for weekdays and I have that programmed. TOU is not in play for the weekend. So what I have to do is change the settings not to use the battery on Friday and set it back on Sunday evening. Is there a way to set up a weekend schedule
Hi there, Apologies for the inconvenience, we currently do not have a setting that allows for separate weekday and weekend schedules but that is something we hope to be able to implement in the future. If we do add any features to our software, we usually make a community post on LinkedIn, follow us on LinkedIn if you're interested: www.linkedin.com/company/solarksolar/
When you have cell time box checked and a charge time box checked at a different time. What do the other non-check boxes default to. Mine is not necessarily doing exactly what I tell it to do on those times.
Hi there, If no checks are selected for a timeslot, the inverter will discharge the battery down to the chosen %/V for that time slot if there is not enough PV power available. If you are still experiencing issues setting up your Time of Use settings, I recommend asking one of our engineers for help here: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
Hi James, For this particular plant, we were on the latest software for Outdoor 12Ks as of now, 6982 / 1426. To gain access to the remote setting changes through Powerview, be sure to check out our videos on how to get your inverter connected to the internet. If you have any more in-depth questions, feel free to submit a ticket to our support team here: www.sol-ark.com/support/
UA-cam video opens 1,000 more questions. Your menu explanation probably should require a 30min video to get all my questions answered. But thx anyways.
It is specifically for selling the battery back to the grid, such as in California's NEM3 program. The solar array will sell-back to the grid when the batteries are full (or when no batteries are installed) after offsetting the home load.
@Sol-Ark sorry, I'm still new to this. why would one sell battery power when it is the least profitable? i mean, under NEM3 or TOU, it seems best to keep your batteries full (or at their SOC) and only sell excess PV to the grid, i e. don't sell when the utility only pays you per kw a fraction of what you pay them per kw. confused.
@@ronaldchong 95% of the year, California pays for a fraction of exported energy. But in September and October, it pays well above retail for solar exported between 6-8PM. This can be confirmed standing in front of the inverter, looking at the grid limiter settings. Other markets have other rules, as the USA grid is a patchwork quilt of electric policies. The Sol-Ark can perform seasonal time-of-use and peak shaving, and programmed export as well as DERMS response and generator controls. Hence our "all-in-one" focus.
In the video, it shows options for selecting percentage of battery usage whereas for the Fortress evault I only have option to set voltage parameters for my batteries. Is this unique to Fortress or is there a different config available?
Hello, That is definitely possible with our inverter! If you would like to have set points based on voltage then you can use Batt-V mode instead of Batt-% mode. This will change all set points in the inverter settings to rely on the battery's voltage, just keep in mind that the inverter will no longer try to calculate an accurate battery % in this mode, so the SOC% the inverter is showing may begin to deviate from what the BMS is showing. Hope that helps! If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us here: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
Likely a settings issue. You can fill out a support ticket at www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/ . It will speed up the resolution if you include the online monitoring plant name in the support ticket.
The web portal version of powerview has a few more settings such as "solar sell" and "energy pattern". Can you explain what those do and when we might use them?
Hi Michael, When you enable solar sell, this option allows excess PV power to be sold to the grid (when available). The energy patterns that you see are battery first and load first, and for now, we recommend keeping battery first enabled at all times. The load first option is under testing and still needs some adjustments. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us using this form: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
This should have been done on the inverter settings screens. Not in some app. Also, I'd love a video on how to use Seasons. It looks like they're set up on Settings > Basic Setup > Time. I guess they're supposed to be used in Settings > Limiter. But, I have no idea how and the manual is of no use.
You can do both (app or inverter LCD screen). TOU settings are accessible via the limiter button on the LCD settings home screen. The seasonal controller (programmed on site or remotely when within season) is under the LCS settings -> basic setup button -> time tab. You can always find answers by filling out a support ticket - we support installers and homeowners alike.
My net metering agreement only allows 10kw feed into the grid. Is there any way to program the unit to use the excess production to charge the battery instead of being wasted?
Yes. You can limit the grid sell to 10k and you can tell the utility it is listed as a PCS for controlling the feed which might helps. If the utility will not allow a larger inverter, the Sol-Ark 12k model can be used (a bit unique and different than the sol-ark 15k. The 15k does 15kWac daytime output, whereas the 12k does 9kW AC output plus 3kW of additional DC charging).
Extremely good job Bernie ! I wish you had more Instructial vids out there.
Hi
What if I want to use Solar Panels FRIST- then - if Solar Panels production is not enough for the load, use Battery - and then if Battery reaches below, say, 30%, use the Grid for the loads and charge the batteries
I want to use the same logic. Perhaps someone will reply.
What about week day/weekend settings for TOU metering ?
hey, this is a great video. thanks!
Thank you Alain! We're glad it could help you out.
In the video, it shows the maximum setting for the allowable draw on the battery is 9kW. If you have a two inverter setup will this value show as 18kW, or is this value capped regardless of how many inverters you have in your setup?
Hi Jason,
You are correct, the maximum battery draw is additive whenever you stack inverters. Just keep in mind that the draw on the batteries should be matched to what is best for the batteries themselves. If you have any further questions, please fill out this form (at the bottom) and we'd be glad to assist: www.sol-ark.com/support/
TOU is usually for weekdays and I have that programmed. TOU is not in play for the weekend. So what I have to do is change the settings not to use the battery on Friday and set it back on Sunday evening. Is there a way to set up a weekend schedule
Hi there,
Apologies for the inconvenience, we currently do not have a setting that allows for separate weekday and weekend schedules but that is something we hope to be able to implement in the future. If we do add any features to our software, we usually make a community post on LinkedIn, follow us on LinkedIn if you're interested: www.linkedin.com/company/solarksolar/
When you have cell time box checked and a charge time box checked at a different time. What do the other non-check boxes default to. Mine is not necessarily doing exactly what I tell it to do on those times.
Hi there,
If no checks are selected for a timeslot, the inverter will discharge the battery down to the chosen %/V for that time slot if there is not enough PV power available. If you are still experiencing issues setting up your Time of Use settings, I recommend asking one of our engineers for help here: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
What software were you using for this configuration. I have only seen the screens on the front of the Sol-Ark
Hi James,
For this particular plant, we were on the latest software for Outdoor 12Ks as of now, 6982 / 1426. To gain access to the remote setting changes through Powerview, be sure to check out our videos on how to get your inverter connected to the internet.
If you have any more in-depth questions, feel free to submit a ticket to our support team here: www.sol-ark.com/support/
UA-cam video opens 1,000 more questions. Your menu explanation probably should require a 30min video to get all my questions answered. But thx anyways.
so in TOU, the "Sell" checkbox is specific to selling from the battery? It does not "sell" from PV?
It is specifically for selling the battery back to the grid, such as in California's NEM3 program. The solar array will sell-back to the grid when the batteries are full (or when no batteries are installed) after offsetting the home load.
under what scenario would you want to sell from your battery?
California NEM3 rates, and less common net-metered time-of-use rates with solar.
@Sol-Ark sorry, I'm still new to this. why would one sell battery power when it is the least profitable? i mean, under NEM3 or TOU, it seems best to keep your batteries full (or at their SOC) and only sell excess PV to the grid, i e. don't sell when the utility only pays you per kw a fraction of what you pay them per kw. confused.
@@ronaldchong 95% of the year, California pays for a fraction of exported energy. But in September and October, it pays well above retail for solar exported between 6-8PM. This can be confirmed standing in front of the inverter, looking at the grid limiter settings.
Other markets have other rules, as the USA grid is a patchwork quilt of electric policies. The Sol-Ark can perform seasonal time-of-use and peak shaving, and programmed export as well as DERMS response and generator controls. Hence our "all-in-one" focus.
@@Sol-Ark ok, gotcha. i was unaware of those regional details. makes sense. thanks for the explanation.
In the video, it shows options for selecting percentage of battery usage whereas for the Fortress evault I only have option to set voltage parameters for my batteries. Is this unique to Fortress or is there a different config available?
Hello,
That is definitely possible with our inverter! If you would like to have set points based on voltage then you can use Batt-V mode instead of Batt-% mode. This will change all set points in the inverter settings to rely on the battery's voltage, just keep in mind that the inverter will no longer try to calculate an accurate battery % in this mode, so the SOC% the inverter is showing may begin to deviate from what the BMS is showing. Hope that helps!
If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us here: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
My “sell” boxes aren’t working, it’s selling for seemingly all time slots from the battery
Likely a settings issue. You can fill out a support ticket at www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/ . It will speed up the resolution if you include the online monitoring plant name in the support ticket.
PowerView Pro is no longer available for Android at the link you provide above as of 11/2022
The web portal version of powerview has a few more settings such as "solar sell" and "energy pattern". Can you explain what those do and when we might use them?
Hi Michael,
When you enable solar sell, this option allows excess PV power to be sold to the grid (when available). The energy patterns that you see are battery first and load first, and for now, we recommend keeping battery first enabled at all times. The load first option is under testing and still needs some adjustments.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us using this form: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
This should have been done on the inverter settings screens. Not in some app. Also, I'd love a video on how to use Seasons. It looks like they're set up on Settings > Basic Setup > Time. I guess they're supposed to be used in Settings > Limiter. But, I have no idea how and the manual is of no use.
You can do both (app or inverter LCD screen). TOU settings are accessible via the limiter button on the LCD settings home screen. The seasonal controller (programmed on site or remotely when within season) is under the LCS settings -> basic setup button -> time tab. You can always find answers by filling out a support ticket - we support installers and homeowners alike.
My app doesn’t have the boxes he tells you to use. 15k pv pro app doesn’t look like this. There aren’t any boxes for soc under time of use.
Under your battery setup tab, you must ensure you are under Battery %, not Battery V, to see the SOC boxes for the Time of Use. -B
This isn't what the new app looks like
My net metering agreement only allows 10kw feed into the grid. Is there any way to program the unit to use the excess production to charge the battery instead of being wasted?
Yes. You can limit the grid sell to 10k and you can tell the utility it is listed as a PCS for controlling the feed which might helps. If the utility will not allow a larger inverter, the Sol-Ark 12k model can be used (a bit unique and different than the sol-ark 15k. The 15k does 15kWac daytime output, whereas the 12k does 9kW AC output plus 3kW of additional DC charging).