New Hybrid Inverter Troubleshooting - Can't Compete With Sol Ark In This State!

[@jasonbroom7147]

Try connecting two similar/identical strings, mounted and grounded properly, so the CC isn't trying to juggle dissimilar inputs? At the risk of pointing out the obvious, none of those solar panels are set up correctly, with grass shading the ones laying flat on the ground, and the panels leaning up against a building are at a horrible angle. Eliminate the things you already know you're doing wrong, before trying to troubleshoot a problem with the inverter.

[@xyvyx]

you should be (carefully) measuring your array voltages at various points & not depending on what the inverter is telling you. You should be able to get the voltage of each individual panel, then confirm that they're correctly configured in series & that the total voltage jives w/ the sum of your panels.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

It’s likely due to the lack of battery. It’s using the grid for heavy load fluctuations possibly. Hook the battery up and I bet it stops. You know much more about this stuff then me of course. But the inverter will only pull what it needs from the sun. So with 2000 watts of panels it may only pull a marginal amount from the panels as it needs it. And I’d say it’s confused on the amount it needs because it would prefer a battery to balance the loads.

[@BeeneEnergy]

That’s certainly one thought I had. I didn’t expressly mention it in the video but by the end I did go ahead and hook up a battery, unfortunately it didn’t seem to help. Only thing I could see that helped was turning off two of the three arrays! Which is a bit pointless IMO. Thanks for chiming in, I figured we all have just as much a chance figuring this out than the manufacturer at this point :).

[@JonOffgrid]

is it just grid tie

[@BeeneEnergy]

I think in this video that’s all I was doing. The inverter takes a 48v battery and can be run off grid.

[@JonOffgrid]

@@BeeneEnergy o cool 😎

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

My Sol-Ark12k's jumped around when my junk Chinese cells shut the Trophy battery off on OVP. I quickly connected another battery. A battery acts as a shock absorber.

[@BeeneEnergy]

That makes sense, nowhere for the power to go causing the battery voltage to spike and mppt to crash.

[@cec4]

@@BeeneEnergy i was gonna say it acts like it cant lock onto a stable mppt setting when you use more then one string. is there a setting somewhere like the growatt that sets power draw priorities? i ran into a problem with with solar not powering load when connected to ac but a change in a setting fixed that if i remember correctly

[@bobcole3852]

Following, saw that unit in your recent post, looked it up today and want to know how this turns out. Get the password from the US distributor in CA!

[@BeeneEnergy]

I’ll give that a try but I called the US support number and nobody answers and no voicemail setup :/.

[@bobcole3852]

@@BeeneEnergy they are two hours behind CST. Good luck with that today

[@dangoras9152]

Hey brother I don't have a clue on that one.... But we are wearing the same shirt🤘

[@BeeneEnergy]

Johnny Cash Wins! Thanks for checking in anyhow, I have another message in with the manufacturer so hopefully I'll get to the bottom of it.

[@dangoras9152]

Ok let me know im interested in seeing what is going on....

[@travishodges5179]

Try making the strings all the same voltage, make sure you are in the mppt range , double check the polarity of each panel in the strings

[@BeeneEnergy]

All great suggestions. I may have figured it out this morning after sleeping on it. I’ll know here in a few hours as the sun comes across.

[@williamjohnston3770]

Laying your panels in the grass is not a good solution for production. Try building a platform for them to sit on.

[@careyjohnson1784]

What if the wire connection and the seller is has a bad connection loose connection something like that

[@BeeneEnergy]

Each of the arrays works well independently though, which makes me think the wiring is snug. Thanks for chiming in! I’ll take any suggestion I can get. Might be able to try some more troubleshooting tomorrow.

[@BradCagle]

Does it use more solar if you have zero export off?

[@BeeneEnergy]

Haven’t been able to generate enough to hit that threshold yet so I’m not sure.

[@BradCagle]

@@BeeneEnergy right, I'm just wondering if it tries to share load with the grid in zero export mode to make sure it doesn't actually export anything. Just tossing out ideas

[@BeeneEnergy]

@@BradCagle Yeah I hear you. I’m not 100% certain which switch it is to allow it to full export. But at one point today I was charging a battery at 800-900w and while it started pushing power towards the house too it couldn’t grab any more from the arrays. I appreciate you chiming in!

[@travishodges5179]

Shake inverter maybe a screw fell out and is bridging a contact, lol

[@BeeneEnergy]

Yes this!

[@geauxracerx]

Their web site sucks. Can’t download any of the manuals. Maybe there’s a setting that’s set to one input🤷🏻‍♂️ Definitely strange that it’s sensing voltage from technically disconnected arrays.

[@randacnam7321]

The listed specs also have loads of inconsistencies, such as a battery connection that is rated for 40V to 60V yet the maximum charge potential is 59V.

[@bradspaugh9827]

Sol ark for the win

[@bobcole3852]

Any luck yet?

[@BeeneEnergy]

I think I’ve got it. Going to post an update video if I can get off the phone with Chase.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

Do you run a lawnmower over them now and again? Maybe that's the issue?

[@bradspaugh9827]

Hello Joe my man. Thank you for this comment.

[@soonerarrow]

Yeah, clean the panels off and tilt them toward the sun. Not rocket science.

[@randylenart9674]

Made in china

[@BeeneEnergy]

Yep!

[@BeeneEnergy]

But then so is sol ark.