No auto transfer switch when the grid goes down? That’s what gets power workers getting grid back up hurt. Hard to believe the code doesn’t require it

I guess if you live in texas you need to do this here in illinois our infrastructure is robust we do need to do this

Great review. Most of my power outages are 3-5 hours long, and I could definitely use that for my fridge (without opening it).

How often do you need to update firmware on the SolArk? Would be odd if it's more than once a year.

They always say to point solar panels due south. I've found what works best for me was two arrays pointing south, one array pointing east, 3 - 300 watt panels to the west and another 9 - 300 watt panels pointing south. My 15 - 320 watt panels pointing east normally have my batteries fully charged by 11 am or earlier. The rest of the day is used to charge my Ford lightning, heat my domestic water and charge my Ecoflow solar generators.

Nice video. Very informative. I have several manual transfer switches. One that transfers from grid or the generator receptical that I plug my Ford lightning into when I'm powering from that. Another manual transfer that switches from my 11 kw generac or Grid/Ford power. Another that switches between Grid/Ford power and Inverter output. Transfer switches are really nice to have, and I prefer manual over automatic.

I run on solar and still have the grid as a backup because it's cheaper than running my 11 kw generac. But instead of all that, I use my Ford lightnings 131 kwh battery as my backup if I get several cloudy days. Then, when the sun finally comes back out, i charge my truck with my solar system. And since I can only charge it at 7 kw an hour, it sometimes takes me several sunny days to get it back to a 90% SOC. But that's never been a problem yet. Currently, I have 13 kw of solar panels & and about 24 kwh of lipo4 batteries. 3 - 4400 watt magnum inverters that power my home and a 10 kw PowerMr that is strictly used to run my EV truck cgarger. 3 - 80 amp outback solar charge controllers. Currently not using the 2 - 100 amp solar charge controllers that are built into the PowerMr. Getting ready to add another 5 kwh of batteries. After a good sunny day charge, I usually end up with at least a 50% SOC before the sun comes up in the morning. I also use excess solar to power a 40-gallon water heater that I use as a pre-heater for my 40-gallon propane water heater.

10:06 yea mostly..but sometimes I’ve regretting knowing more about something/someone.

Dude if only you were grid tied. You could be selling those 19k watts of solar at that time.

If no one else has mentioned it yet, you should note that the EG4 18kpv is 18 kilowatts of pv input but only 12 kilowatts of AC output. However using two of their 12 kpv inverters paralleled will give 16 kilowatts output for around $7000.

If your going to spend that much money I would have just done a permitted grid tied system with an interconnect agreement. The ROI on building a system big enough to go 100% off grid doesn't work out if you use lot of power your having to build a giant system to power those loads 24/7. If you blend it with grid power to the point where you save money but reduce 2/3rd of the power from the grid your ROI is shorter. What I'm doing is I built a non permitted portable system using a generator transfer switch pro/trans2 made by reliance controls. This way I can off grid circuits that I know run 24/7 not pulling tons of power like stoves, electric driers, AC units but loads that take lot of power over 24 hours. That savings adds up I built a 4500 watt system for about $5000.

I just wanted to say I love your content. I am a licensed electrical contractor and I’ve been doing solar since I was a crew lead for Solar City here in Phoenix, AZ. That being said, I’m not dogging ya, I just wanted to point out what my wife and I noticed as we were watching your videos…… almost every single video you start the video with, “So……” lol. Again, not dogging ya, love your content, just letting you know.

8:48 naw bro rest easy... you made the right call with the Sol Ark... but again, this is me assuming they're still making their products hardened with EMP/solar flare shielding to withstand carrington events

4:04 Those 8 refrigerators will only pull about 1200W to about 2800W total... People think refrigerators use tons of electricity but modern ones don't. It's the water pumps that are power hungry. If you haven't invested in variable speed pumps you're selling yourself short.

Thanks Brian. Awesome.

thx u

I'd like to see you run a test with the extra battery. And see what you come up with.

Where I had the problem was with the extra battery it does not switch to the extra battery like they state in the manual also the charging does not go into sequence that they state. I like the unit, but the switch over with the extra battery was not good so I returned the extra battery. What was the power Queen and the power inverter to run 385 watts into the vtomam like it would do a solar because it's designed for 400 w input ( check the manual but I think it's 40 volt)

U left off load management 30kw isn't much when your ac or heater is going

Did you show the transfer switch in the right place on your diagram or would it be inline of the solark and the house? please describe how the transfer switch would work be it seems like there will be a point where the grid and solar system could still overlap and allow for back feeding, but that could also be my lack of complete understanding.

Isn't the transfer switch good enough without the grid disconnect? Don't you need an inverter disconnect switch?

Thank you for everything! I put in my name and email and pressed the download. I was almost instantly able to view it and saw all the hyper links and was stoked! I then tried to save it on my Mac and there was no choice. I checked my downloads folder and it was not there. I tried to download it again and it said I already did that. So how do I get to view it again where I can go through it in detail? Thank you.

100% of my paycheck has been high-end battery based solar systems for 26 years now. (Flooded lead acid batteries in my early days!) So refreshing to see an intelligent discussion as well as a relatively basic, yet very hardy design. Super good job!

See if you can help me with this scenario. Already purchased system to include a whole home NG generator. My system is fairly large for residential. I have 45 solar4america 325w panels and 2 SMA 7kW inverters. I am generating about 11kW peak /hr , 71kW peak /day. I am producing much more than I am using and feeding the grid. I want to feed batteries. Would I be best off buying an additional hybrid inverter and battery system for that? Replacing one of the inverters? What's your thought? I also get free electric from 9p- 7a so I may be able to set up to charge batteries for rainy days/winter. I live in east TX.

Your layout sounds interesting. Wanted to see your wiring diagram but because I'm already subscribed it won't download. Can you help?

Its accepts two 2/0 cables to equal a single 4/0.

I watched the first couple minutes of this video and I saw two things that tell me this guy doesn't know what he's doing.. 1) He bought an over priced piece of junk inverter (Sol-Ark). No one with a system that large should be using a high frequency inverter.. it is a sign that they don't understand what they're purchasing. 2) Confirming the ignorance related to item 1, he installed an EMP Shield ! ROFLMAO. Another over-priced piece of junk. These people fall for fancy marking and flashy blinky blinky lights. Lastly, EG4 battery bank use pass-through BMS units.. at least the last time I checked they did.. Pass through BMS's are great for 12v drop in replacement batteries, e-bikes, etc.. but not so much for running a home. You could have spent 1/2 as much and got a system that was twice as good.

My be able to avoid the permitting requirements in some areas?

I built some like that but I used I' pipe 24' and drove it about 18' into the ground and screwed it to my 4x4 post

sweet

I'd use 2 12v water heater elements from Missouri wind and solar and lift the induction burners off the stove top p

I'd use 2 12v water heater elements from Missouri wind and solar and lift the induction burners off the stove top

Awesome 👏 Thank you for this amazing video!! Where do you live? Do you have another home on your property for sale?? lol 😂

Can you do a video where you show how you made those changes to your inverter?

So, the Sol-Ark has a built in transfer switch, so why do you want a second, external one? Does the built in switch not function during an upgrade?

It would be interesting to see how quickly the sol-ark ramps up if you add a big load, like an AC unit.

First: I thought an _automatic_ transfer switch was a technical requirement for a grid-tie/hybrid system. Else you'd be back-feeding the whole neighborhood until you can throw the manual switch. Second: Those buckets seem like the wrong design for most people. My first thought was they are too low for anyone with livestock. What's gonna keep some large farm-yard critter from sitting on a panel? And then the fixed 25° angle seems optimized for summer production--when (because of the shorter hours) optimization for winter production is the better plan. Also the low angle collects more dirt, doesn't shed snow, etc. The design is clearly optimized for production cost, not usability. Your wooden racks blow away the plastic buckets. Other than those two points, awesome video. Awesome to see solar working so well.

Nice. Thanks for sharing. More information is not necessarily better. Running eg4 batteries without communication with the 6500ex is best from what I am seeing.

😂 anyone who can count how many times he said I, my, or me gets a cookie. Good GOD man. Congrats on your 5 houses on your property. Narc.

Why did you choose this system rather than the Tesla? do you think this could handle using a welder with all the other Home products working? Great info! Were you able to get a rebate?

Not sure why so many DIY'ers run scared of building their own battery packs from raw cells? It's not that difficult and comparing the 90kwh capacity that I've got about $8.7k invested in. It's a no brainer compared to rack mounted or any other option out there. And they do have comms for about any inverter that has the capability.

Another racking option is the IntegraRack IR-30. you can install it on the surface and secure it in place with gravel or dirt.

Regarding customer service: Signature Solar is by far the worst… Hands-down. I recommend that if you do purchase an EG4 system definitely get it from Current Connected. Their folks are absolutely more knowledgeable than Signature Solar.

I did just upgrade to another 30KWh’ of the EG4 48v LL for 60KWh’s. I drilled one hole for each mount but I built dual axis trackers and have four trackers that each hold 4,000 watts of panels. The EG4 15K has a built in transfer switch, I just upgraded from the 6500es EG4 inverters to dual 6,000 EX EG4. My other system down in Dei Rio has the Growatt 12k transformer inverter and the Gyll batteries which is now EG4 batteries and the system has been running for 4 years now. I am in Central Texas and also the Del Rio area of texas so I feel your pain when it comes to rocky ground.

Good review. This unit is tiny but a decent starting point for emergencies on a budget.

great set up.. for my single person house hold... with no 240 ac loads. redundant 2 inverter system .. each leg is always less than 20 amp draw... fridge/ infotainment is separate leg from toaster/ kitchen /lighting stuff. 2 inverters each with outboard mppt victron { real nice monitor app and Bluetooth ota upgrades } 2 different EG4 batts.. 12 surplus panels.{free!} getting close to 3 grand in parts. all diy... smiling sparky ..off grid all summer in the city... everyone needs/wants a battery!

Transfer switches are very expensive! Have you found one you would likely use?

I patched in a generac transfer switch, making grid in the generator port and the 15k into the grid port.

I used an interlock connect switch for my main panel, couldn’t be easier for switching back-and-forth from grid to inverter.

How well would bifacial panels would work with these?