<div dir="ltr">Hello Chris,<div><br></div><div>I think you will find that the generator interaction with the Sol-Ark is very basic and you won't have much flexibility to do this.</div><div><br></div><div>As far as ancillary equipment to do a load start, one idea that comes to mind is a Victron shunt, Cerbo and GX device. I'm brainstorming a little bit here but if you add the shunt into the battery negative cabling, the Cerbo can be sent the battery current measurement. The Cerbo could then be programmed to start based on battery current. This is a little different than standard AC load start but it may cover what you need. Unfortunately, if the inverter is getting overloaded while its sunny, battery current alone can't catch the solar current that is being sent directly to the loads and shutdowns will still occur.</div><div><br></div><div>Before you do this, I would suggest contacting Kienan Maxfield of Green-go Solar Distribution (he's on this list) and knows Victron equipment really well. He can probably tell you if I'm off in the weeds...</div><div><br></div><div>Let us know what you find out.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Sep 25, 2023 at 11:25 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">
<div id="m_6688405728370562207signature">I would trigger genset on Soc. Is that what you are doing?<br>
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<pre><strong><span style="font-size:small">Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
<a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> </a><a style="color:blue;font-size:11px;font-family:"Lucida Grande",Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:400;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" href="https://offgridsolar1.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:12pt">https://offgridsolar1.com/</span></a><a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> </a>
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text 209 813 0060</span></strong></pre>
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<p id="m_6688405728370562207reply-intro">On 2023-09-25 9:20 am, Chris Daum via RE-wrenches wrote:</p>
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<p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span> </span>Hi folks:</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left:11.55pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt">We have a situation where the Sol-Ark 12kW Inverter isn’t able to adequately manage the loads and perform auto-gen start other than low battery level. <span> </span>And despite thorough understanding of the customer’s initial loads, after he’s bought the system, he’s continued to add more and more loads – a severe case of load creep. </span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left:11.55pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt">He’s got a 38KW generator and we’re looking for the components to make the generator <em><span style="font-style:italic">load responsive</span></em> instead of just kicking on when the battery voltage is low.<span> </span>Are there any ideas on switching equipment that can do this and work with the Sol-Ark?<span> </span>We’re waiting for a reply from Sol-Ark, but thought you folks may have some ideas.<span> </span></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left:11.55pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt">The original design was for a larger solar system and inverter, but the customer balked at the cost and said he’d reduce his loads accordingly.<span> </span>Unfortunately, that has not happened!<span> </span><span> </span>Now we’re trying to bend the laws of physics and have his 38KW <span> </span>generator make up the difference. We need to come up with a means of accommodating the compromised design and now are faced with additional loads -- along with a significantly reduced solar array. <span> </span>Is there a way to make this (2 wire start) generator more load responsive?</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left:11.55pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt">Thanks for any and all advice!</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span> </span>Chris Daum</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span> </span>Oasis Montana Inc.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span> </span>406-777-4309 or 4321</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span> </span><a href="http://www.oasismontana.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.oasismontana.com</a> </span></span></p>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div><br></div><div><font color="#305A78" face="'times new roman', serif"><br></font></div><div><br></div>Mac Lewis<br><br><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:medium;color:rgb(255,153,0)"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3"><p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><span style="font-family:arial;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(48,90,120)"><font face="'times new roman', serif">"Yo solo sé que no sé nada." </font><span style="font-weight:700;color:rgb(104,104,104)"><font face="'times new roman', serif">-Sócrates</font></span></span></span></font></p></font></b></span></div>