[RE-wrenches] sol ark battery

Wed Oct 9 17:26:48 PDT 2024

To clarify, there IS closed loop comms between Sol-Ark and EG4, but the
problem is the batteries mess up settings in the Sol-Ark that can cause
erratic behavior. Sol-Ark recommends against implementing closed loop. It
could plausibly work in some simple scenarios. But I don't physically
connect it at all.

The nice thing about HomeGrid is it seems to simply feed it's SOC to
Sol-Ark so the inverter can do it's thing.

When you have EG4 and Sol-Ark open loop, just like other batteries, Sol-Ark
requires several charge and discharge cycles to get SOC "accurate." In
comparing the EG4 Communication Hub to the Sol-Ark SOC at any given state
of discharge, the Sol-Ark seems to be pretty close, but only if the
batteries regularly reach 100% charge.

I wish EG4 would just feed SOC info to the Sol-Ark and not cause it to
change other parameters.

Otherwise, it seems to be a good pairing.

Jason

On Wed, Oct 9, 2024, 8:12 PM Jay <jay.peltz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Good to know they don’t closed loop communicate, definitely preferably but
> not that big a deal in the end.
> So is the sol ark building a SOC or reading the battery SOC but it’s not
> able to use it for charging algorithm?
>
> I probably have either what I’ve sold or advised 200 x 5 kWh blocks or
> some version. Their marketing is so good it’s hard to push people away.
>
> No real issues.
>
>
> They do seem to be confused on how to recalibrate their BMS which I really
> can’t figure out why they are. Weird.
>
>
>
> But their tech support is quick and I can get through in seconds or
> minutes.
>
> If they ever pull off their Outback power redux?
>
> Jay
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 9, 2024, at 5:38 PM, Jason Szumlanski <
> jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
>
> 
> Jay,
>
> I should mention I have a couple of customers with big EG4 LifePower
> battery banks (i.e. 120kWh+, 80kWh, etc) and Sol-Arks. The clients
> purchased the batteries directly, so I didn't have a choice. I will say
> that the systems are performing flawlessly, but forget about closed loop
> comms and SOC management. Everything is voltage based, which is suboptimal.
> But we're making it work. The Sol-Ark app still reports their version of
> SOC, which is handy for clients, but charge setpoints are done with
> voltage.
>
> Signature Solar has provided pretty good support, but I didn't need much
> help.
>
> I strongly suggest the Communication Hub to get SOC data from the battery
> BMSs. It's pretty handy and very easy to install.
>
> With that said, I don't sell EG4 and don't necessarily recommend it, but
> to be fair, I haven't had any problems and the capacity claims seem
> legitimate. The value proposition can't be ignored.
>
> Jason Szumlanski
> Florida Solar Design Group
>
> On Wed, Oct 9, 2024, 7:29 PM jay <jay.peltz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thats all super helpful, appreciate the advice everyone.
>>
>> I’ve not used the sol ark 15 and just wanted to make sure I wasn’t
>> missing anything about battery options.
>>
>> And specifically the ones that don’t seem to play well.
>>
>> Jay
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Oct 9, 2024, at 2:56 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>> HomeGrid works great with Sol-Ark. Closed loop comms reports battery SOC
>> from BMS. Parallel stacks install easily. Customer support is competent and
>> patient, in my experience.
>>
>> The best part is the ability to easily add batteries. On Sunday I had a
>> client with two stacks of five batteries each call me in a panic ahead of
>> Hurricane Milton. He wanted more capacity. We had them in stock. On Monday
>> my team added three batteries to each stack on the fly since we couldn't do
>> a roof install that day due to rain. We had it done in about 2 hours, and
>> that included moving the stacks due to a height conflict with a piece of
>> equipment.
>>
>> And now, 48 hours later, I'm looking out my home office window at the
>> trees bent over. A tornado passed close by a few hours ago, debris pelting
>> my windows, and a neighbor lost their lanai ceiling. Too close for comfort!
>> But I have power, at least. :)
>>
>> Wish us luck.
>>
>> Jason Szumlanski
>> Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
>> NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
>> Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
>> Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 4:44 PM MDElectricSolar via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> We’ve been installing the Tesla power wall 3 and have had zero issues, a
>>> very robust product, downside is no generator support.
>>>
>>> Michael D Nelson
>>> MD Electric & Solar, Inc.
>>> 707-684-0064 mobile
>>> 707-884-1862 office
>>> www.mdelectricsolar.com
>>> www.facebook.com/mdelectricandsolar
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 9, 2024, at 1:24 PM, Dana Orzel via RE-wrenches <
>>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>> 2 – Homegrid both required quite a bit of programming assistance not
>>> everyone who answered the phone was knowledgeable enough to get the fixes
>>> installed.
>>>
>>> 2 – Pytes fired up fine no issues.
>>>
>>> 2 – Solar Edge both required assistance, quick & simple fixes with Tech
>>> staff.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I have a client who has started off with “I want Tesla batteries” how
>>> has Tesla batteries faired on installation?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _________________________________________________________
>>>
>>> Dana Orzel                GREAT SOLAR WORKS!
>>>
>>> C – 208.721.7003      E – dana at solarwork.com
>>>
>>> W - www. greatsolarworks.com     www.solarwork.com
>>>
>>> *“Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988!”*
>>>
>>>
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