[RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark AC Coupling Issues

Thu Jan 20 12:52:44 EST 2022

Greetings Vince,

Yes, this is quite the system, looks (mostly) fun. To elaborate/inquire slightly more on Pieter’s note about the battery bus voltage being high. I’ve done a few dozen Blue Ion jobs myself and multiple times have observed the bus going straight to 55.2vdc absorb voltage after incidents where I had to do a cold start when the battery bank was depleted and the client did not get to adding charge before the system shut down (manual start gennies in the winter). On two of these systems I observed about a minute or more of lag time where the voltage pegs straight to 55.2 before it “self corrects” and drops down to the true battery voltage of around 45 vdc or so.  In my instances it was on the Outback’s bus side and this odd behavior with the FM80 though the Blue Ion’s BMU was driving this behavior and the FM80 was just doing what it’s told. In each instance I was just moments away from getting that fun stomach tickle thinking something is extremely wrong but then the voltage quickly drops by a delta of about 10vdc and the glitch disappears, everything back to “normal”.

Surely you’ve observed this happening in a comfortable SOC  somewhere in the middle of being full and still needing a reasonable charge?

If you leave the Radian out of the loop can you observe that the entire DC coupled array going into the Solark acts as it should? 

About how much current is going into each BI cabinet when this happens?

Can you reduce PV current enough to test one BI cabinet at a time to rule out that it may be one of the BMU’s stuck at the high voltage I’ve experienced?

Truthfully Blue Planet’s hardware is the last thing I typically suspect but perhaps it’s a BMU. Please let us know what you eventually find. The client is lucky to have you!

Nick

> On Jan 19, 2022, at 9:15 PM, Vince McClellan <vince at solarenergydesign.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks Pieter
> We seem to have the opposite problem from what you are experiencing. Our freq-watt regulation of the Radian inverter by the Sol-Ark inverters seems to be actuated by the DC power from the solar array that is DC connected to the Sol-Ark inverters. It is supposed to be actuated by the SOC of the Blue Ion batteries, but that is inconsistent at best. We can turn the DC power from the solar array on on the master inverter, but when we try using the MPPT channels on the two other inverters it briefly actuates the freq-watt function of the Sol-Ark disconnecting the Radian inverter. 
> 
> Vince McClellan
> Energy Design
> NABCEP PV Installation Professional
> p. (541) 485-8122 <tel:(541)%20485-8122>  f. (541) 338-8202 <tel:(541)%20338-8202>
> 
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> 
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 8:20 PM Pieter Huebner <pieter at offgridenterprises.org <mailto:pieter at offgridenterprises.org>> wrote:
> Vince, For what it is worth:
> 
> We have also been working on similar issues when using multiple Solark inverters connected in parallel. The issue has been that parallel Solark inverters don't seem to be able to properly regulate the battery charge voltage. Although Solark technical support has been outstanding, and with their help we have diminished the severity but not solved the issue.  For the sites that we currently have deployed for the interim we had to resort to turning down the charge voltage set points in order to protect the Lithium batteries. and avoid BMS shutdowns. We have a client with an existing outback system and were planning to expand the existing system using AC bussed Solark 12K inverters with additional battery and solar capacity (the site is 100% off grid, and has evolved into a micro grid), but are now going a different direction. Although we have not yet attempted an AC bussed Solark system, I suspect that the issues you are having are related to the battery voltage regulation problem we have experienced.
> 
> Pieter
> 
> <image001.png>
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org <mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>> On Behalf Of Vince McClellan
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2022 5:16 PM
> To: RE-wrenches <RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org <mailto:RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>>
> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark AC Coupling Issues
> 
>  
> 
> Is anyone on the list familiar with AC coupling Sol-Ark inverters?
> 
>  
> 
> We haven't been able to AC couple an existing Outback Radian system to a new system that we built with 3, Sol-Ark 12K inverters and 3, Blue Ion batteries. Each time we have tested the system the Sol-Ark inverters accept the power from the Radian inverter until we turn on the DC power from the new solar array to the Sol-Ark inverters. As soon as there is significant DC power coming from the solar array the Sol-Ark inverters freq-watt turns on for a brief second and disconnects the Radian inverter even when the Blue Ion batteries are below the programmed state of charge threshold. If we don't turn on the DC power from the new solar array the Radian will connect and stay connected. 
> 
>  
> 
> We have been working with Sol-Ark for several months now to get this system to accept the incoming power from the Radian without freq-watt kicking in on the Sol-Ark inverters and disconnecting the Radian inverter. Sol-Ark has sent two software revisions to the Sol-Ark inverters and we are still experiencing the same problem. 
> 
>  
> 
> Can anyone think of what we might be missing and where to direct our troubleshooting efforts next? 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> 
> 
> Vince McClellan
> 
> Energy Design
> 
> NABCEP PV Installation Professional
> 
> p. (541) 485-8122 <tel:(541)%20485-8122>  f. (541) 338-8202 <tel:(541)%20338-8202>
> 
> If you have received this email and are not the intended recipient please delete this email. Copying, or using any part, content, or attachment of this email is strictly prohibited. 
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