<div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Absolutely. This is needed.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">You can do it with Sol-Ark's TOU settings, but <span class="Asgive ng" style="border-style:none;background:none">it is so</span> convoluted and confusing.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">We typically want the generator to start at 20% <span class="Asgive ng" style="border-style:none;background:none">SOC</span> when closed-loop comms are available and stop at 40%. It can do that multiple times overnight if needed. If the generator starts just before sunrise, there is no reason to keep it running. Just get me to daylight!</div><br clear="all"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><br>Jason Szumlanski<div><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956</span></div><div><font color="#333333" face="Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208</font></div><div><font color="#333333" face="Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> </font></div><div><font color="#333333" face="Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at 2:27 PM Ray Walters 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"><u></u>
<div>
<p>Another thing to consider is that factory recommended settings
are fully charging the battery, when off grid you really only want
the generator to bring the battery up to 70 or 80% and then allow
the sun to do the rest. I've recently been raising the start
voltages so that the batteries don't get down into the harder to
predict < 20% SOC range, but then also lowering the shutoff
voltages, so that the generator doesn't run so long. Running a
generator for that topping off phase is wasteful, and just not
necessary anymore with LiPo4.</p>
<p>Finding the best voltage settings with LiPO4, is tricky, since
they have more stable voltage for most of their range. However,
spending the time to dial in a system can significantly reduce gen
run time, which helps everybody. </p>
<p>Ray Walters<br>
remote Solar</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div>On 4/12/2026 10:43 AM, Mac Lewis via
RE-wrenches wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Wrenches,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I think Victron offers a great model for integrating an
effective autostart logic, more geared toward an off-grid
system of course. They have many, many options and you can
use the quiet time to segment how you want it to behave during
specific time periods. An example would be using quiet time
in the hours before dawn to start the generator at a lower
State of Charge (SOC) and also stop at a lower SOC before the
sun comes up. Another nice feature is a DC current start
trigger and an AC current start trigger. You could use this
to base the start on actual battery load, not just inverter
load, so if solar provides sufficient current, the generator
won't necessarily <a href="http://trigger.to" target="_blank">trigger.to</a> run. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Here is a screenshot of some of the triggers available:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><img src="cid:ii_19d82f44160cb971f161" alt="image.png" width="571" height="347" style="margin-right: 0px;"><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at
10:22 AM Zeke Yewdall via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">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 dir="ltr">
<div>The ability to stop the generator when the sun comes
out is one advantage of the AIO's over older equipment (at
least the Midnite AIO can do that, not sure about
others). That was always super annoying when people
didn't have a large enough battery bank to make it till
morning, and the generator would start at 5am, and fully
recharge the batteries, leaving the solar with nothing to
do when it did finally come out. I had one customer build
his own PLC controller just to accomplish that on an
outback system.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I agree, having a quiet time that still starts the
generator, just at a lower SOC, could be a good option.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Zeke</div>
<br>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br>
<br>
Pay optional member dues here: <a href="http://re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
Change listserver email address & settings:<br>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't
work, try the other:<br>
<a href="https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List rules & etiquette:<br>
<a href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm</a><br>
<br>
Check out or update participant bios:<br>
<a href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div><br clear="all">
</div>
<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>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<pre>_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
Pay optional member dues here: <a href="http://re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">http://re-wrenches.org</a>
List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>
Change listserver email address & settings:
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a>
There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:
<a href="https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/" target="_blank">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/</a>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a>
List rules & etiquette:
<a href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm" target="_blank">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm</a>
Check out or update participant bios:
<a href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br>
<br>
Pay optional member dues here: <a href="http://re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
Change listserver email address & settings:<br>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:<br>
<a href="https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List rules & etiquette:<br>
<a href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm</a><br>
<br>
Check out or update participant bios:<br>
<a href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote></div>