[RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark phantom loads

[Mac Lewis]

I had a similar issue once with a Sol-Ark 12k, triple stack.  The issue
ended up being that the phase relationship got reversed during the
installation. AC out and AC in need to be carefully phased out. I don't
really understand why, but it's an easy thing to check.

Let us know what you find.

Good luck

On Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 9:03 AM White, Will via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Don,
>
>
>
> Your Fluke clamp meter should indicate the current flow by showing a
> negative or positive current reading unless you’ve got an old meter. On the
> top of the meter inside the jaw is an arrow that points in the direction of
> current flow if the reading is positive. If it’s negative, the current is
> flowing in the opposite direction of the arrow.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Will
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> *On
> Behalf Of *don energysolarnow.com via RE-wrenches
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 25, 2023 5:17 PM
> *To:* re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> *Cc:* don energysolarnow.com <don at energysolarnow.com>
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark phantom loads
>
>
>
> *CAUTION:* This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not
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>
> Just spent yesterday debugging a Sol-Ark 15 kW inverter phantom load
> weirdness.
>
> With Work Mode set at Limited Power To Home it seemed to get a bit schizo,
> pulling around 6kW in from the grid on leg L1 and around 13 kW on the other
> L2 leg, with 7kW of PV added. No house loads were involved. The monitoring
> called this a 13 kW load.
>
> I measured something like 50 amps on L2 and neutral; 120 Volts on L1 and
> 125 Volts on L2 at the house. My Fluke clamp-on amp meter does not say
> which way AC current is flowing. The utility meter showed it as  power
> coming in.
>
> At the main meter panel about 150 ft away from the house the voltages were
> better balanced; probably due to proximity to the utility transformer.
> Those leg voltages were balanced when the inverter was shut down.
>
> Oddly, this phantom loading decreased with decreasing PV production later
> in the day.
>
> Working with Sol-Ark tech support we (of course) downloaded new firmware,
> then changed Work Mode to Limited Power To Load. After a couple of resets
> this had the effect of allowing the inverter to cover just the loads in the
> battery-backed subpanel; not those at the house main panel where the CT
> sensors are located. The phantom 13kW load has not recurred.
>
> Has anyone seen an inverter try to mix import and export on different legs
> by creating phantom loads?
>
>
>
> Don Barch
>
> Energy Solar
>
>
>
>
>
>
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