[RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark AC Coupling Issues

[Nick A Lucchese]

Sorry, I guess my question should have been are the Solarks adhering to the 26.7 AAC inverter output limits? A balanced amount of DC current is going into each cabinet when this happens?

Nick




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>



> On Jan 20, 2022, at 9:52 AM, Nick A Lucchese <lucchesesolar at me.com> wrote:
> 
> 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

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