Aloha All, Thank you Jason. This is a huge and surprising issue. So much so that I dropped what I was doing and called Sol-Ark to confirm. Mind you this was level 1 support, but I was told this is what the Sol-Arks are supposed to do and it is a feature not a bug. Their take is if there is any fault on any one string, the Sol-Ark assumes the worst and shuts everything down.
I wonder what solutions could be implemented on future installs to prevent this from happening? Aloha, Lou Russo Owner l...@spreesolarsystems.com Office - 808 345 6762 Spree Solar Systems LLC CT-34322 On Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 11:45 AM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > I think it's more likely water in a J-box or possibly physical damage, but > someone passed by the property and did not observe any physical damage to > the array. > > Jason Szumlanski > Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group > NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP) > Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956 > Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208 > > > On Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 5:41 PM Jay <jay.pe...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Jason >> What’s the possibllity it was a lighting strike? >> >> Jay >> >> On Oct 10, 2024, at 2:57 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches < >> re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: >> >> >> We have been talking a lot recently about all-in-ones. I just had a >> massive fail during Hurricane Milton with a quad Sol-Ark 15K off-grid >> system that deserves some discussion about whether AIO is a good idea if it >> can't build in some resilience to errors. I'm not sure if the new Midnite >> unit is better in this respect, but this is what happened to the Sol-Ark >> system... >> >> Four inverters, each with 4 strings of PV paralleled to 2 MPPT per >> inverter. One of the slave units developed some sort of PV DC fault during >> the storm. This caused the slave inverter to shut down and throw an error, >> which in turn caused a parallel fault across all four inverters. Power >> output ceases at that point. Apparently the system keeps resetting because >> I have a cell modem that uploads data to Sol-Ark, but that cell modem is >> powered by the inverter outputs, so it must be getting power at least >> intermittently. The rest of the loads are basically flatlined according to >> the Sol-Ark data. It's mostly air conditioners, so they probably can't turn >> on fast enough before the PV fault causes another shutdown. >> >> So, in essence, one of 16 strings of PV develops a fault, and that causes >> all four inverters to malfunction? What is the point of redundancy if a >> fault of one results in a fault of all?! If there is a true PV input fault, >> shouldn't that just shut down that MPPT, or perhaps all of the PV DC input >> to that inverter? And why can't this inverter continue to invert power from >> the batteries and charge from a generator when there is a DC input fault >> that could be programmatically isolated and ignored? >> >> This is a bad design in my opinion, and something I hadn't considered. If >> the faulted inverter can't function with a DC input fault, it should just >> take itself out of the game. (This is 120/240 split phase, BTW). Is this >> how all AIO inverters work? One inverter fault on the DC side kills all >> paralleled units' AC output? Not good. >> >> This is a completely off-grid system on a remote island with no vehicle >> access, so it's not exactly easy to do a "truck roll" on this one, >> especially post-hurricane. To make matters worse, the generator was running >> at the time of the fault, as it was being signaled to run because the >> battery had reached the assigned charge voltage. The fault also killed the >> 2-wire start signal from the master, so the system also stopped passing >> through generator power to the loads. The house is dark. >> >> >> Jason Szumlanski >> Florida Solar Design Group >> >> _______________________________________________ >> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >> >> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org >> >> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org >> >> Change listserver email address & settings: >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> >> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the >> other: >> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> >> List rules & etiquette: >> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm >> >> Check out or update participant bios: >> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org >> >> _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > >
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