I am getting ready to install a slightly larger system than what yours seems to be. I am going with 2 Sol-Ark 15ks, 52 400w (21kwh total) ground mount pure black solar panels with optimizers, 4 homegrid 8stack (38.4kw each - 153.2 Kw total) batteries in a homegrid powercube and a 26kwh kohler backup generator. I am going fully off grid. I have an AC a lot like your large one and a 200 ft deep well (originally built as a shared well, but only connected to me) and a 5 bedroom house (2K sqft), a washer and dryer, 17cuft upright freezer, 2 full sized refrigerators, 2 42" flat screen TVs, 4 computers and monitors, space heater and water heater, dishwasher ans various electric Ninja cooking appliances in an all electric home.

Great video content Brian appreciate all the great info on the Sol-Ark 15k system.

Your home appliances are so efficient bro

👍👏 Thank you for the great info! Very informative!

Excellent video.

Excellent load video test thank you! Its an expensive all in one system but it works well.

I would of liked for you to leave everything on all Mini splits the induction burners, and the turn of the 4-ton AC, that would be a better test

Cant wait to see how the EG4 18K does.

Holy mic gain Batman! Adjust that a bit LOL

I wonder how the 18Kpv EG4 compares to the Sol-Ark, looking forward to the video! I have a low frequency split-phase Growatt with a big transformer in it with an EG4 rack mount battery bank and I'm thinking the 18Kpv might be a nice upgrade. Will Prowse really likes the 18Kpv.

@jasongphillips

11 ай бұрын

Ford vs Chevy (if both Ford and Chevy were made in China). I think they are 1:1 direct competitive models. One phillips to another...

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

@@jasongphillips lol good analogy

@Zorlig

11 ай бұрын

Yeah I don't know. I know the EG4 can actually meet it's specs according to Will, but everyone whos gotten anywhere near the solark rated specs say it fails. Notice how in this video hes too scared to even turn the induction cooktop on all the way.

@user-dd5kv3ht6f

7 ай бұрын

@@jasongphillips Not really... Sol-Ark has 25% more daytime AC output, 50% more solar input, 10% larger battery amperage, and tremendous field experience. Luxpower (EG4's "OEM") isn't even a manufacturer...

I want one (or two) of these, but they're so damn expensive. Did you have to have the Utility shut off grid power to your home when you installed it? I'm assuming the SolArk is a low frequency/ toroidal transformer unit.

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

I did not need the utility to shut off power since when I installed the meter socket on my property I added a 200amp disconnect below it. Then from that disconnect it runs to my home. I was able to just switch that off and do the install. But I also know how to pull a meter to kill power to the home if there is no disconnect. Technically the utility doesn’t want you doing that though but I’ve never had an issue doing it. But to install the Sol-Ark 15k you definitely. Need the power shut off coming into your main home 200amp panel.

How many solar panels do you have and at what wattage, I have a Sol-Ark 12 with 3 Fortress batteries at 5.2 ea, I am interested in the EG 4 batteries but unsure if I can run them with the fortress batteries. Thx

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

I have 50 320 watt Longi solar panels. Total of 16kw at the moment. I’m about to install another 3,000 watts this week. I have 30 kwh of EG4 LL lithium 48v batteries.

TLDR he didn't do a load test, never got anywhere near the specs. No knowledge will come from this as to how a solark performs (or not) vs it's rated capacity.

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

Yeah I should have just started plugging in a hair dryer, vacuum, toaster…ect to get the total load closer to 12k. But I think this test clearly was a load test in the surge capacity of the Sol-Ark with being able to start my well pump and also a traditional 4 ton AC.

@Zorlig

11 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexan Could you do those tests with an amp meter that can measure that surge voltage? That will show what it can do! Ideally it can be running 8kw and then start the AC on top of it.

@niktak1114

11 ай бұрын

​@@Zorligit coild do that on a 4 ton AC with a soft starter but not without

Really interesting video; thanks! I have a very similar setup, using the Sol-Ark 15K, my one weakness is the battery bank I have that can only provide 150Amp continuous. Grid was "blinking" yesterday and the battery couldn't provide enough juice, faulting the Sol-Ark. Soon, my new (correct batter) will be installed, a Homegrid Stak'd setup that's about triple the size, can deliver 300Amp continues, 500Amp surge which should stop that kind of issue. Have you done similar testing with your Solar MPPTs off, and just the battery? How does it handle similar loads? Thanks for the content!

@unpluggedtexan

10 ай бұрын

That is going to be one of my next videos I’m going to do. Reviewing my EG4-LL batteries and putting them under load with no solar input. I’ll be doing that video soon as I just received the EG4 18K PV inverter and will swap out my Sol-Ark to begin testing it.

@unpluggedtexan

10 ай бұрын

And yes, not on camera yet, but my batteries easily run my whole home at night (but I do have a heat pump washer/dryer, heat pump water heater, induction cooktops, and heat pump mini splits for air conditioning and heat. So I rarely go over 8,000 watts of a load (but I do sometimes when my water well pump and water pressure pump kick on at night).

@sethgthomas

10 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexan Good deal! Looking forward to it! Wishing you lots of success.

@sethgthomas

10 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexan Thanks much! We have VERY similar setups in a lot of ways. We run two combo fridge/freezer units + 5 deep freezers for all our cold food storage, run a Sol-Ark 15K, with currently just a 10Kwh battery limited to 150A discharge (solar install company didn't provide the right one, so in the process of upgrading/swapping to a 28.8Kwh setup with heating pads for cold weather operations (I'm in Maine); our climate is very different. Our setup is only 9.6K for PV, but meets our needs most of the time and is roof mounted on an outbuilding. Looking forward to trying to run more off battery at night once the larger setup is in place. I see you have CT's wired into your Sol-Ark, my installer didn't do that..and I'm pretty sure should have. Where did you install the actual CT's in your setup? Between the meter and your disconnect or at your disconnect? Assuming looking at your very nicely done PDF download that your Eaton box is a disconnect, not a Sol-Ark bypass as well.

@unpluggedtexan

10 ай бұрын

@@sethgthomas correct on the disconnect. I have my CT’s inside that 200amp fusible disconnect on the two hot lines heading toward my 200amp home electrical panel.

I have two 200amp panels for my all electric house. I'd like to get two Sol-Arks 15k's, however I'm not sure they'll handle the load. I was hoping this video would test the advertised ratings of the inverter. Only other video I've seen has the the Sol-ark 12 failing well below advertised limits. oh well. Hurry up and wait I guess.

@unpluggedtexan

7 ай бұрын

My house is all electric except for my oven. But I have energy efficient appliances like a heat pump water heater, heat pump washer and dryer, mini split AC and heating. But I also run a 240v well pump and 240v above ground pump that pressurized water to 5 homes on my property. I never see more than 8,000 watts on my Sol-Ark 15k. Even if you could run more than that (which I’m sure it will) you’d need a $100,000 battery bank to run 12,000 watts consistently overnight. I don’t think you can find a better inverter for residential purposes than the Sol-Ark 15k. That’s my opinion. I often get 15,000 watts of solar into my Sol-Ark 15k and it handles it with no problem.

@machaf

7 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexan I'd like to use my house as normal during a power outage and not have the inverter dump when my 2hp well pump kicks on...I need to figure something out because the power company here in WA is screwing us with liberals + Lord Inlee's carbon emissions scheme BS. MY electric rates have gone up 40% in the last fews years. When we should have cheapest power in the country with all the dams.

@unpluggedtexan

7 ай бұрын

@@machaf my well pump is 2hp as well at 450 ft deep. The Sol-Ark 15k handles it without a problem for me.

@bradspaugh9827

2 ай бұрын

​@@machafhey buddy, you will need a hell of a lot of solar panels there in WA. Sounds like you have a lkt of electric. It might be cheaper to go with propane on the heavy hitters.

No load balancing and then fault the inverter that’s a problem. That’s a non starter for me . I’m using magnum pae 120/240 units , I think I’ll stay where I’m at now since no problem with load balance which means no inverter fault shutdown ie you have to physically fix the problem

One correction, it can do ~7800W on a single leg.

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

That’s funny, when I talked to a Sol-Ark engineer a few months ago he said it wouldn’t line balance, but he didn’t seem very confident, and the manual never stated it could. That’s kind of an important piece of info for them to not be clear on.

@niktak1114

11 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexanthe inverter is 15kW so it can't do much more than half on a single leg but it can do a bit more

@onthelake9554

10 ай бұрын

@@niktak1114 I would have to see it to believe it . Have you witnessed one do it ?

@niktak1114

10 ай бұрын

@@onthelake9554 Yes. I've had one for about 15 months now.

@onthelake9554

10 ай бұрын

@@niktak1114 I would think they would have put out a video about that since they had such a bad reputation for tripping from a hair dryer on one leg .

I currently don't have a battery hooked to my Sol-Ark 15k. Even if my PV is producing way more than the load, when I disconnect from the grid, the whole house goes out and the 15k faults/shuts down (F45 - AC_UV_OverVolt_Fault). It stays off until I reactivate the grid. Also, I noticed all my computer UPSes saying my input voltages were 117v. I checked the Sol-Ark (and the history in PowerView) and it looks like the Sol-Ark output voltage on both legs is just matching whatever is coming in from the grid. It's not correcting the voltage and outputting 120V. Are these things normal? Are they because of the lack of a battery?

@unpluggedtexan

10 ай бұрын

That doesn’t sound right to me. Give Sol-Ark a call and talk to one of their engineers. (972) 575-8875. If you have your WiFi dongle connected they can log into your system and check the settings.

@nommindymple6241

10 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexan I emailed them and got this: "When switching form the grid to only PV power, there is no reserve power for the Sol-Ark to draw from. The PV has to ramp up to the production needed. It is likely a large load (motors / inductive loads) will create an overload condition as well. The Sol-Ark was designed to operate with batteries. With just PV and the grid the inverter will do what can to cover the load with PV but will also use the grid to augment the PV production." But that still doesn't sound right. My installer was out here today around noon. The PV was generating something like 9kW. The load from the house was around 0.5kW. Turning off the grid resulted in the whole house losing power, the 15k saying OFF and that F45 error. The inverter (and house) stayed off until we reconnected the grid. I've got a battery on order and when it arrives, we'll see if the problem continues. Who knows, maybe disconnecting you battery from your Sol-Ark 15k and putting it in No Battery mode would make for a good video (assuming it fails like mine does).

@unpluggedtexan

10 ай бұрын

@@nommindymple6241 interesting. I think I may try that and see the results. 🤔

With this setup, if for any reason Sol-Ark fails you'll have no power correct. I'm starting my installation and thinking of installing bypass switch.

@unpluggedtexan

5 ай бұрын

I have some insulated connectors on hand. So if the Sol-Ark failed I could pull out the hot wire legs and splice them together in the wire gutter underneath my Sol-Ark. but I have electrical experience and feel comfortable doing that. A bypass switch is a much smarter way to do it.

Is it common for the screen and buttons to look that crusty or is there a piece of plastic over the front that hasn't been peeled off yet?

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

It’s a piece of plastic I just left on there.

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

It’s just a piece of plastic I left on it.

@BigJackXLT

11 ай бұрын

@@unpluggedtexan Oh you know we all want to see a KZread short of you peeling that plastic back revealing a pristine Sol-Ark!

@unpluggedtexan

11 ай бұрын

@@BigJackXLT lol, I’ll do that in about 5 years when I finally can’t see through the plastic sheet.

did you say 7 refrigerators ?

@unpluggedtexan

4 ай бұрын

Yeah we have a homestead here with a large garden, milk cows, and chickens. We buy full processed cows for meat and that takes up a full size freezer. We have 2 full size fridges for all the milk/cheese/butter from our milk dairy cow. So we have a lot going on over here.

None of the high frequency, transformerless inverters on the market today, last very long. The MOSFETs and capacitors used in high frequency inverters simply cannot take repeated exposures to multiple high surge loads such as full sized refrigerators, large power tools, portable AC units, or large microwave ovens. Without an iron core, copper wound transformer to absorb the back EMF and high surge demands of these high inductance loads, typically after a couple of year's or less worth of use, high frequency, transformerless inverters typically become a non-repairable brick. You might be able to start and run some high surge loads when high a frequency inverters is new but every time you fire up or shut down that inductive load, you're shortening the life of the MOSFETs in your these inverters. They also run much hotter than low frequency, transformer based inverters which makes the components such as capacitors, diodes, resistors and ICs that are used in high frequency inverters, far more prone to early failure. This is especially true regarding the amount of electro-mechanical wear on the inverter's capacitors. Inverters rely heavily on capacitors to provide a smooth power output at varying levels of current; however the electrolytic capacitors that are used in inverters have a limited lifespan and age much faster than dry components. Capacitors are also extremely sensitive to the high temperatures found in high frequency inverters. Capacitor electrolyte evaporate faster at higher temperatures which can reduce the life of these components. Another major consideration with high frequency, transformer free inverters is safety. All it takes is for one of the MOSFETs in the inverter's H-Bridge circuit to short to ground or the control circuitry to fail, and a high frequency inverter can send dangerous, high voltage, high amperage DC current straight to your connected AC loads which will not only damage most AC appliances but can also set those AC appliances on fire. Another consideration is that the vast majority of high frequency inverters are expensive to repair. At a typical shop rate of $125 per hour in the US, with no schematic, a far more complex design and limited parts availability, it typically won't make economic sense to even attempt to repair a high frequency inverter. Once the FETs have fried and have taken the inverter's PCB with it, (And trust me, sooner rather than later, they will fry if exposed to high inductance loads.) they basically become a brick. A far better alternative is to invest a little more money and purchase a hybrid, low frequency, transformer based inverter charger. Your system will last far, far longer, it will run much cooler and can easily power high surge loads without being damaged.

@unpluggedtexan

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the detailed info.

@odoohub5010

7 ай бұрын

This is a good info. Are you an inverter engineer? Are there many cases of failed solark inverters as compared to transformer based inverters? Thanks

@solarcharging9743

7 ай бұрын

Solark isn't as bad as the Chinese manufactured high frequency inverters primarily because they use high quality MOSFETs and caps. They do suffer from issues dealing with load imbalances though. Please see the video by David Poz, titled "Why Sol-Ark didn't work for me." or the video by Abney Solar, titled "XW Pro vs Sol Ark" for more info on that. @@odoohub5010

Too much power usage bud. Wow

This Rebranded DEYE inverter is stupidly overpriced.