15K AC Coupling Guide (Re-Upload) || Sol-Ark Install Guide
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- In this install guide, Dylan teaches you all you need to know about AC Coupling with a Sol-Ark 15K.
Our 15K promotion is live now! Get $599 Amazon Gift Card with the purchase of a Sol-Ark 15K. Visit our website to learn more: www.sol-ark.com/15k-sale/
If you have any questions please reach out to our support or sales team here: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
If you are an installer and are interested in on-site training, fill out this form to schedule a session at our headquarters in Plano, TX: forms.zoho.com/solarkllc/form...
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Recommendations & Requirements
02:58 - Programming Walkthrough
08:01 - Outro - Věda a technologie
Drawings help a lot when you are explaining techy-ish things.
THANKS FOR THE GREAT TEACHING OF YOUR PRODUCT
great video!
Hello,
Many thanks for a detailed video. you have perfectly cowered the off grid situation. But what about the On grid situation. Am I right, when the grid is available, inverter is in zero export to ct with sell surplus solar option, load first priority, the power from ac coupled system will be used first to cover the loads, then to charge the battery and when the battery is charge it will not be shut off as in off grid situation, but will feed to the grid?
many thanks in advance
Probably already answered but have been reading online that I can connect A/C coupling (Enphase Micro-Inverters) for the Sol Ark 5K and 8K only up to 3KW but the specs from Sol-Ark say 9.6KW for AC Coupling. My solar array is all with Enphase Micro Inverters. Really interested in using a Sol-Ark 8K with the HomeGrid Stack'd Battery. Recommend YES NO?
If I am using the generator input for A/C coupling, can I still have Net Metering at the same time or is this input only for off-grid?
Does the 90/80% only apply to off-grid mode? I want the ac coupled inverter to always function while the grid is on. So I can net meter that power. Even if the battery is topped off.
I’m running in to the cap that is in powerview that says max sell is like 16k. When having 12kw of DC PV and the 13kw of AC couple, this is an issue for me.
For the Smart Load OFF Batt section, why is 90% 51volts and 80% three volts higher at 54v. Isn't percent of battery charge?
Are the enphase m250 micros ul1741sa compliant? The spec sheet says ul1741 (no sa)
If the battery voltage drops to low in an off grid situation and the inverter has to shut down the loads does it have a way to wake the ac coupled system up to charge the batteries without turning the loads on yet? So basically powering the gen port without powering the loads until the battery voltage gets high enough?
Hi Carlos,
If the inverter shuts down due to low battery voltage, you will not be able to wake up the AC coupled system. This is why we recommend Installing both AC and DC coupled panels if you plan to operate the inverter in extended grid down scenarios, that way the batteries can still be charged by the DC coupled panels. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask our solar engineering support team here: www.sol-ark.com/sol-ark-15k-all-in-one/
Is it possible to AC couple a micro inverter system and a whole home generator like a generac?
I have 2 separate enphase micro inverter systems already, and a generac 16kW generator and would like to be able to use both. And add more panels on the DC coupled side? Is this possible?
Also am I correct in reading that even though the 15k is rated for 200 amp pass through, it can only support 50 amps in an off grid operation?
Thank you!
Hi Corey,
We'd like to give a quick answer to all your questions:
1. It is possible to connect an AC Coupled solution and a generator at the same time with a 15K. You'll connect the generator to the GRID input via an automatic transfer switch and you'll connect the AC Coupled solution to the GEN breaker.
2. You can add DC Coupled panels to a 15K in addition to AC coupled panels, the DC coupled limit will still be 19.5kW
3. You are mostly correct, the 15K can passthrough 200A from the grid and the 15K can output up to 50A from the batteries alone. If solar is available then the max output becomes 62.5A
If you'd like more in-depth answers or have any questions, I recommend contacting one of our support engineers here: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
Is the 62.5A with PV input relative to the type of PV, ie., AC or DC coupled? How about if you have both AC and DC coupled panels and batteries-what is the 15K max off grid output then? Thanks
@@balrog006 62.5amp L1 and 62.5amp L2, or you can say 105amp total 240vac load. I’ve spent several months testing and proving this out. I’ve got 7kw of AC coupled on gen port, 12.8kw on the DC PV input. The only time I can generate more than about 13,500w of PV is if I’m also sending some to the batteries from the DC PV. The inverter will only “invert” 15kw and I’ve only seen mine do about 13,600watts maximum DC to AC inversion. Those are the hard facts. I was a bit disappointed, but nonetheless, Sol-Ark 15k is still the best thing on the market. They do have good support.
2 questions: Once the battery bank is saturated, will the excess production go out to the grid?
2nd with the ac coupling attached to the gen in, is there a chance of back feeding the generator? Thanks
Yes, there are multiple possible modes of operation (such as zero export) but selling back to the grid when the batteries are full is normal grid-tied operation. If you wanted to have it all (AC coupled solar, grid connection, with gen auto-start) a simple solution would be to program the generator to only automatically come on at night. An alternate strategy would be to put a 100A manual transfer between the generator and AC-coupled solar and only operate the generator manually. If offgrid, you can connect the generator to the grid side of the inverter and run in "zero outflow" mode of operation.
Does the Sol Ark 12K support AC-coupling on the Gen side? I have been trying to figure this out but haven't found the info.
Any advice would be helpful, thanks!
Same here. Been reading it only accepts 3KW.
At 00:22 he says max ac coupling input on 15k is 19.2kw.
If you are AC coupling a older grid tie system that is only UL1741 compliant will a battery bank with a capacity of 840AH be sufficient? You mention sizing of the battery bank being important with older grid tie systems. My old grid tie array is 22 panels at 200 watts each (probably far less due to time) and my battery bank is 3 EG4 Power Pro wall batteries.
840 Ah should work but depending on the age of the UL1741 inverter you can run into issues. Very old UL1741 inverters only operated within an incredibly narrow grid frequency range which can be problematic in backup mode of operation. Usually these are out of warranty inverters and you can move the solar array over to the DC-coupled ports on the Sol-Ark.
So you're saying I could just remove the mico inverters from the strings and wire the array to my 15k on the DC side? Just making sure I understand. And in your experience is this a difficult task? @@Sol-Ark
@@mysolaraddiction Micro-inverter circuits are different than string inverter circuits. Best to keep them an AC coupled the micro-inverters. You can keep your micros as is, so long as the micro-inverters are
@@Sol-Ark One last question. I have been running my system for about 3 months now with the old array AC coupled to the gen port, and its working great. My questions is about the algorithm that calculates return on investment. It appears that the it only includes my DC connected PV, and the AC coupled array information is not included in the calculation. Is this correct? Is there a way to have it include it? If i owned Sol-Ark I'd be talking to my software engineers. This is a common install with both AC and DC arrays so I'm sure others would want a more accurate picture of ROI. Love my 2 15k's by the way. 🌞
I have a customer who would like to AC couple some existing solar with a sol-ark, but also have a Generac generator connected too . what configuration do you recommend for this type of setup? is this an application where load side solar coupling is the only option?
Keep the Generac on its existing transfer switch on the grid side. We have a mode of operation specifically for that, with AC-coupling.
Can you program these via an api? I would like to be able to program this remotely and not have to push bubble buttons on the front. Drawings help a lot when you are explaining techy-ish things.
No API at this time. We do have integration partners for various edge devices like Solar Assistant for Residential.
hello, you say 19.2 on the gen port and 19.5 on the dc.
So almost 40 kW in total? or 19.2 with both (ac+gen)?
While it technically can do both, it is impractical to do so. The grid export will limit to 19.2kW and in backup mode the AC-coupled solar frequency shift off when the batteries are full.
I have an existing 16 KW solar array with an existing solar edge inverter. I am in the process of replacing the existing solar edge inverter with a 15K sol arc inverter. At the same time I am adding a second 15k sol arc inverter with an additional solar array. My new array is approximately 23 KW so it exceeds the DC input on a single inverter and I am told by my planning team that this would void the warranty on the inverter. Additionally I cannot mix and match existing panels and new panels on one inverter because I am told that the hardware of the two arrays will not work well together on a single inverter. I also have a whole house generator and I am connected to the grid and do have the ability to sell back power. With this install I am also adding 80 kWh of battery. Since I will have two 15k sol ark inverters, is it possible to reattach my existing solar edge inverter to enough of the panels so that I don't overload the DC input and then use output from the solar edge inverter as an AC coupled source? Since I have two 15k sol ark inverters, is it possible to connect my whole house generator to the Gen lug on one 15k sol ark inverter and AC couple my solar edge inverter on the Gen lug on the other 15k sol arc? One other question. My generator is 27 KW which also exceeds the generator input limit. Can I still attach that to the Gen lug? If not, could I just put a breaker (100 amp) on that line from the generator and then attach it to the Gen lug? If I am forced to continue using my automatic transfer switch, can I attach my sol arc to my transfer switch/generator to tell the generator to start? My concern is that I don't want my generator to turn on when the grid goes down if I still have enough solar power and battery to run my needs. Please advise.
Hi Harvey, these are awesome questions for our solar engineering team, and I'd definitely start a conversation with them through this link: www.sol-ark.com/contact-us/
With that in mind, here's a couple of answers that may help clarify your situation:
If you have a 16kW system, and you're adding 23kW more, you'd be right at 39kW PV. Each 15K can take 19.5kW PVdc, so 39kW with two systems in parallel.
You can connect different brands of panels, just not recommended on the same MPPT, as voltages across the MPPT should be the same. Each 15K has 3 MPPT's, so you should have some room to change the cabling to make it make sense.
Adding a larger generator is fine, as the 15K will not take more power than needed. Also, each 15K can take up to 24kW of a generator, so if you are paralleling the generator to both 15K's you should be within specs.
"Since I have two 15k sol ark inverters, is it possible to connect my whole house generator to the Gen lug on one 15k sol ark inverter and AC couple my solar edge inverter on the Gen lug on the other 15k sol arc?" No. Not if you're running the systems in parallel. I'd contact solar engineering for more help on system design.
The 15K's also have a two-wire start for automatic generator battery charging, and "My concern is that I don't want my generator to turn on when the grid goes down if I still have enough solar power and battery to run my needs," the generator charging voltage setpoint will take care of charging the battery from the generator as soon as the batt voltage reaches the predefined setpoint.
Hope this helps. Again, I highly encourage you to reach out to the solar engineering team. -Bernie
That’s a huge system? Are you powering a small community? Or just a farm?!? 😂
I noticed that you guys run the AC & DC in the same trough. I know here in NYC we don't pass our installs with AC & DC in the same raceway.
Wherever you are in NY, and whoever is making that decision is operating in contravention to the NEC
300.3(C)(1).
C) Conductors of Different Systems.
(1) 600 Volts, Nominal, or Less. Conductors of ac and dc circuits, rated 600 volts, nominal, or less, shall be permitted to occupy the same equipment wiring enclosure, cable, or raceway. All conductors shall have an insulation rating equal to at least the maximum circuit voltage applied to any conductor within the enclosure, cable, or raceway.
Informational Note No. 1: See 725.136(A) for Class 2 and Class 3 circuit conductors.
Informational Note No. 2: See 690.4(B) for photovoltaic source and output circuits.
If I couple on the gen side, where do I put my generator?
You still have to put a transfer switch in front of the grid side of the solark (mine cost $750 200a generac). I too was dissapointed on this feature. My ac coupled system is 200' away from the meter where the solark resides. AC coupling works fine on the load side but will not do power control without disconnecting all the loads when it needs to shift - very dissapointed. So at this point the main reason to buy the 15k solark was to reduce the wiring and generator associated costs, and I will still have those if I want to keep ac coupled without disconnecting the loads in off-grid mode. On-grid mode is fine and you cannot use the gen port with ac coupled to the load side.
@@eastmanresearch3143 thank you, my initial install from 2015 was all micro inverters (53) 250w. So I was hopeful I could just land that on the Sol Ark without going through a big hassle.
@@sanpietroprogettista9887 Same here, I did 34 235 watt panels (trina) in 2015/2016 and wired them up to an SMA7000US ac coupled. Subpanel at my barn is 200' away from meter main and have another 200a panel at both locations. Doing ac coupling to the gen port is ideal as when doing power control in off-grid mode the load side will not disconnect, only the gen side will disconnect to perform power control over ac coupled to make sure it does not get too much inrush current/power. It would seem that there would be a better way to do this (SMA uses RS485 communication between sunny island and SB solar inverters) to perform power control besides disconnecting all the loads. Effectively AC coupling is really only good for on-grid systems w/ this setup unless you want to spend the extra time and money. There should be a standard where maybe you have another disconnect switch at the opposite location that can talk over canbus, etc to detect/perform power control actively without flapping the entire relay and taking down the load side.
@@sanpietroprogettista9887 If your microinverters terminate to a panel close to the sol-ark, not a huge deal. Or install another sub-panel w/ the micros and run them to the gen port.
@@eastmanresearch3143 thank you, I’ve been trying to get an answer on this forever. I really appreciate your help.
If the mode is set to limited to home with AC coupled panels, how does the Sol Ark stop production once the batteries reach the max value and production exceeds the load?
Hi John,
Great question, this is something that we did not cover on the video. By nature, AC Coupled solutions will sell any excess power to the grid if the grid is available. Therefore, you cannot operate a Sol-Ark 15K in Limited to Home Mode without Solar Sell being enabled. Even if you do not enable Solar Sell, the inverter will still sell power to the grid in excess.
If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to our solar engineers here: www.linkedin.com/company/solarksolar/
@@Sol-Ark Is this the same with the 5K and 8K?
@@Sol-Ark Can you be clear when I have set limited to home you are NOT limiting tha AC coupled power at all when on-grid ? If not why ? I get that there is a surge to grid "saftey" consideration but why not frequency shift ? You are locked to the grid frequency ? One ac "bus" in the 15K gen being switch to connected or disconnected ? That would make sense ...
F34.