Sol-Ark 12K Inverter - Six (6) Month Review 

Gotta love technology.....NOT! You guys are a candid reminder for everyone...."Simple doesn't mean easy"! Glad they final rolled back the firmware for you. Great videos, always so informative.

You guys have proved that Solark really screwed up and we also fear the systems upgrade conundrum.

David Poz had a similar problem. The problem is the Sol-Ark is basically two 120V connected in series to create 240V. Running a 240V piece of equipment applies 120V on each leg keeping the unit balanced. If you have two 3000W units on one leg you get 6000W on a leg only good for 4800W, results, shut down. The cure is installing a autotransformer. It helps balance the two legs. See David Poz video on why the Sol-Arc didn't work for me. It shows his problems and how he corrected the situation.

Even after doing all of your due diligence, and going off-grid, they still own you. Next, digital currency, door locks, car ignitions, etc. and they can shut you down at will. Didn't Amazon's Alexa just lock down some person's house because Alexa didn't like what someone in it said? Enter the new and scary A.I. world. Sorry about your power issues.

Your issue is balancing between the two phases. The Solark uses a transformereless design, which makes it much more sensitive to unbalanced loading. The newer firmware must have increased the protection for unbalanced loading. If that saw was 240V, you'd have no issue. It's also kinda ironic that if you had more load on the other 120 leg while starting the saw, it would probably have no problem. Last note - you could add a balancing transformer between the output of the Solark and your load panel, which would make all loads appear as 240V loads to the Solark. They're not cheap, but it would completely remove the concern.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've worked in tech support for a renewable energy company, so I understand that the support rep had a "script" she had to follow...steps to check, to make sure it wasn't their product. Those things would make sense if you had a new installation, but in your case you had a system that worked fine until the single change. So, I wouldn't give them too much credit for "great support" because if the rep had a good understanding of the system and product they should have skipped much of that needless testing in your case. I don't believe you ever exceeded the current limit of the inverter. I suspect that that the most recent firmware update had a change to (or the addition of) a ramp limit. That's a monitoring of the Delta (I'd put a triangle here, if I could)...the rate of change...and it's likely that the inverter's new firmware sensed the current climb rapidly from near-zero to the saw's inrush current and cut off the inverter because it anticipated a current climb that would exceed limits...even though that limit didn't get hit. I saw this exact issue in a wind turbine inverter firmware and a change to the ramp setting fixed the issue.

If you're after high surge capability, you should have purchased a low frequency, transformer based inverter instead of a high frequency, transformerless inverter. None of the high frequency, transformerless inverters on the market today, last very long. The MOSFETs and capacitors used in high frequency inverters simply cannot take repeated exposures to high surge loads such as full sized refrigerators, large power tools, portable AC units, or large microwave ovens. Without an iron core, copper wound transformer to absorb the back EMF and high surge demands of these high inductance loads, typically after a couple of year's worth of use these high frequency, transformerless inverters will become a non-repairable brick. You might be able to start and run some high surge loads when high frequency inverters are new but every time you fire up or shut down that inductive load, you're shortening the life of the MOSFETs in your these inverters. They also run much hotter than low frequency, transformer based inverters which makes the components such as capacitors, diodes, resistors and ICs that are used in high frequency inverters, far more prone to early failure. This is especially true regarding the amount of electro-mechanical wear on the inverter's capacitors. Inverters rely heavily on capacitors to provide a smooth power output at varying levels of current; however the electrolytic capacitors that are used in inverters have a limited lifespan and age much faster than dry components. Capacitors are also extremely sensitive to the high temperatures found in high frequency inverters. Capacitor electrolytes evaporate faster at higher temperatures which can reduce the life of these components. Another major consideration with high frequency, transformer free inverters is safety. All it takes is for one of the MOSFETs in the inverter's H-Bridge circuit to short to ground or the control circuitry to fail, and a high frequency inverter can send dangerous, high voltage, high amperage DC current straight to your connected AC loads which will not only damage most AC appliances but can also set those AC appliances on fire. Another consideration is that the vast majority of high frequency inverters are expensive to repair. At a typical shop rate of $125 per hour in the US, with no schematic and limited parts availability, it won't make economic sense to even attempt to repair one of these units. Once the FETs have fried and have taken the inverter's PCB with it, (And trust me, sooner rather than later, they will fry if exposed to high inductance loads.) they basically become a brick. A far better alternative is to invest a little more money and purchase a hybrid, low frequency, transformer based inverter charger. Your system will last far, far longer, it will run much cooler and can easily power high surge loads without being damaged.

If Sol-Ark had any sense then they should send you a 15k and be done with it!

I've had a Solark for 4 year this September and couldn't be happier. I upgraded the firmware recently because of trying to get the generator input working properly. Once I did that I had some weird solar input dropouts where one array of two would stop generating power - a problem I NEVER had before. I called them and was just gaslit by the support guy, I was so mad I considered replacing the thing but remembered the 6 months of hell I went thru before with all the other usual cheap Chinese inverters you see all over RU-vid. Needless to say that problem I was having went away shortly after my numerous emails complaining. Maybe they changed some setting, who knows? It has now gone back to being a reliable workhorse. I'm not upgrading any firmware unless at gunpoiint.

Yeah, for your usage, the Sol-Ark 15K would have been a much better choice. It is made to run and entire house off-grid. You do mention that. Since part of the problem was Sol-Ark's fault, you should see if they will trade in your Sol-Ark 12K for the 15K and give you some credit for it. They may be amenable to that. I wish you the best with your off-grid home project.

I felt for your problems and I'm glad that you've been able to resolve them! I have myself a solar system for over a year, 5 KW on 240V (standard in Europe) and it was a pain all along until recently. Something wasn't right from the beginning... To cut my story short, after two claims I got a new hybrid inverter unit and now is all great :-). But I feel that unless one pays a big bug for a proven American or German brand, it's a bit of gamble. I overpaid for the unit quite a lot by buying it from a local distributor (as opposed to Amazon and alike), but at least I have functional tech support and reliable 2 year warranty.

I work IT and as soon as I heard "firmware update" I visibily cringed :(

The fact that the chopsaw didn't trip the inverter when you were already pulling a few kW of load suggests that the new buggy firmware pukes when it sees a sudden surge from a low load condition, the inverter control loops being better able to handle a surge when they're already dealing with a big load.

The protection algorithm in the Sol-Ark is probably set for detecting an overcurrent NO MATTER what the duration. The saw probably has a very fast (microseconds) transient that the software sees but the meters may not have time to display. The software engineers at Sol-Ark need to build some "pad" into their protection and they need to adapt their software so it CAN display very short peaks of current. The peak current from an electric motor can vary from small to 2 or 3 time the rated NOMINAL amps. Sol-Ark needs to go back to the code. Circuit breakers are much slower than a fast transient and would not always or even often trip. I am an EE.

It is not just the amps surge. It is also the inductive component of the surge current. With saw motor startup there is a highly inductive current which the inverter has trouble with. It can damage inverter. The inverter's maximum current ratings are based on resistive loads like an electric heater. A motor's inductive surge can cause a voltage overshoot spike on the inverter's internal high voltage DC supply. There is a large bank of 14 capacitors for high voltage DC filtering that get stressed with voltage overshoot. The new firmware likely changed the protection against inductive surge current reducing the amount of allowed HV DC overshoot inside the inverter. Buy a $15 'Kill-A-Watt' meter and check the power factor of the saw. A power factor of less than 0.8 gets into troublesome area. During startup the power factor is worse than run power factor.

Glad you got it running, things like this make people shy away from Solar

Although it does concern me that a firmware update completely changed the usage of this inverter. But I still want to point out that inrush current is different from what. you measured. The clamp meter you have doesn’t do inrush current. You would have to buy the AstroAI Inrush Digital Clamp Meter Multimeter 1000A or another branch that specifically say it can do inrush. Thanks for the video, more research to do as this was one of two inverters I was considering. FYI, I also noticed the imbalance between L1 and L2 and this has caused Sol Arc to shutdown with some. Some have fixed this with an auto transformer and that might fix your issues as well.

Breakers are pretty slow to react.

It’s not the inverter is the saw. The arc the bushing causes it to short. Arc crack

Good Morning To Both Of You 👌👍😇🌞I think you are suffering of a post trauma electric solar panel systems 🤣👌👍Keep Up Your OUTSTANDING Team Work and Sense Of Humor 👍👍👌👌😇😇Cheers 🍻🍻

This is why Schneider inverters are the best in America. I have 2 5k all in one Growatt US version inverters. I can spike to 12kw for 10 seconds I they do not cut off. Schneider is the best but I didn't have Schneider money. What you spent Schneider was the way to go.

I went through a similar thing with Harvest Right freeze dryers. It was to the point I was going to have to send it in. I lucked out and had the basic programing on a stick, I had to clear it and reinstall it and it has been fine ever since. But that was after a month of trying different programs, and they didn't want to give me the basic program back.

Sol Ark inverters are famous for having issues with 120 inductive loads. I've seen many video's where this happened to folks. I personally went with Schneider after having never ending issues with cheaper inverters.

The problem with Sol-Ark is that it don't like unbalance high inductive load. Solution Dry transformer with H1-H3 jumpers on the primary and X2-X3 jumper on the secondary. Feed the transf. from a 240Vac 20Amp Breaker to H1 & H4 Then from secondary X4 to Neutral and X1 to 120Vac Use this output for inductive loads Saws, Pumps, Garage Doors an so on.

As a 5 yrs (and counting) off-grid solar system operator, it's painful to see you have to go thru such a long list of 'tasks' that you shouldn't have had to do. Seems like a system this expensive should have a way to record what caused the error within it's firmware - so you don't have to do hit/miss diagnosis. Also, I don't upgrade firmware as long as I can avoid it / things are working and this episode illustrates why. Enjoyed following you're build to this point and thank you for all the really inspirational vids!

It doesn't sound like they were 100% clear on specs or something? I wondered if the update damaged something in the inverter or was the update designed to put a max on voltage/watts /amps? I think i like on grid power wise. I am in a rural N.S. forward thinking town. 3 towns partnered up and co-own hydro, wind and solar installations. So i believe we are 80+ ish % renewable. I will have to look it up. When you are out in the stix you are on your own without cost sharing etc. I can't wait to see what's next. 🙂👍👍👍🇨🇦⚡

time to get a schneider xw pro :)

First rule for mechanical, electrical systems: If it works, don’t fix it.

Wow, sorry to see you go through all of this. Hopefully everything works out for you

I would have lost my mind lol but at least it’s working again

As noted in some previous comments, I recommend adding an auto-transformer to your SolArk split-phase inverter to help even out the load. In the video, I noticed a significant difference between L1 and L2 in some settings. This makes it hard to get the most out of your inverter because there's often 120V equipment on one side that throws off the balance, leading to the inverter shutting down. Since your inverter doesn't have built-in load balancing due to its transformerless type, installing a split-phase auto-transformer could help distribute the load more evenly between L1 and L2.

David Poz and many others did a video about this Solark inverter that be doing the same exact thing . Check out David Pos and there may be a solution to this , maybe even getting a low frequency inverter transformer based inverter will handle large surges better 😊😊then an expensive high frequency inverter . May the solar be with you .

Hello I had the same problem. Was not happy with my sol-ark. I put a Growatt transformer, and i haven't had that problem any more. In your case would get the 11.4k transformer. From signature solar. Good luck. Great video

One the reasons I bought my Pecron portable solar generator was because it doesn't have wifi so no firmware updates. To many bad memory's of when I used to use Windows. Lol Great video. You guys have the patience of saints. I would have been not so nice to the girl on the phone. You paid 7 grand you should get what you paid for.

You guys bought the wrong inverter. You need a low frequency inverter like a Schneider for your use and you bought a HF inverter (Sol-Ark). The Sol-Ark is a great inverter, but you are using it in the worst possible way you could. Imagine you bought a car for long road trips that is great for everything you could dream of, checks every box on your list, except it has the worst MPG of all cars.. That's what you did with solar inverters. I own a 12k sol-ark. Had a firmware issue similar to yours. Customer support ended up reversing my firmware to the original version to fix my issue and I never updated again. Customer support even called me after a few days (unprompted) to make sure my issues were gone! Surge loads are the one thing sol--ark isn't good at. Maybe naming products also since you're right, the 12k should really be called a 9k.

Wow I don't think I woukd have that kind of patience.

Just another thought. What is the lenth and awg of the extension cord being used to power the chop saw? Looks a little on the thin side which would add to your current load.

I have yet to do a firmware update on any of my solar equipment. I run a 6kw Sun Gold Power split phase. I have no problem with overload. THe worst thing I have to throw at it is the my big air compressor. It handles it just fine. I then decided to try my 2.4 kw MPP Solar and it never shut down either. I hope Solark get this fixed for you quickly.

Not a fan of SolArk. There’re several YT videos showing the limitations and it seems you’ve now discovered the truth with this “12k” inverter. For surge performance, the Schneider inverter is far superior. With the SolArk, I’d be looking to change the chop saw and any other high surge devices for 240v models.

Great knowledge. I'm not going to have near the loads for some time, but when I ordered my system (which is yet to be installed, after almost a year, because of.. .well, life) I did the Victron dual 10K Quattro's.

It's tripping due to leg imbalance of the surge load. Saw surged leg 1 to 30.57 amps while leg 2 was at 1.2 amps. Bad firmware parameter causing shutdown fault

I highly doubt 12k inverter is enough for your house. Maybe you need to add another 12k inverter or just get the 15k. If I want to go off grid, I think the best option now is the sol ark 30k.

Solark used your current home setup to test the firmware upgrade. All that nonsense they had you do was to record the results with the programmers and engineers in the company. Essentially, they made you an employee of the company to run tests on the firmware. Crazy!!

Rich & Cathy, I have a 12k and am experiencing the same problems. I have not requested a firmware rollback but considering it. Based on the comments, it appears one solution that resolve several issues would be to install a transformer. This appears to solve this issue and protect the system from the other issues mentioned in the comments. What do you think? Thanks for your video! Mike from Fbg, TX

I have a spare 12k laying on the floor because it kept shutting down. Mine was the older version. I've been using a Schneider XW Pro now for a while and haven't been able to shut it down yet. Make sure they put you on the "do not update" list!

Take a look at David Poz's history with Sol Arc. Ordering Schneider inverters that have true 30 minute or 60 seconds surge capability. So sorry you guys are having problems 🙏 Wish you the very best.

Great vid. I have EXACTLY the same issue. Like you, I'm also off grid. My saw is a Makita. Also found what you did when trying my well pump first go. Had to purchase soft starter to make it work. Max amp draw was 36.5. Should have worked, but it didn't. Go the same run around from Sol Ark. Really wish they would own up to their mistakes instead of putting it on the customer. I'm building as well and don't have time to screw with their excuses. I just went directly to a genny to run my power tools.

Wow I'm glad I seen this ,time to reevaluate what I was going to do. It's junk, the company is very bad. Junk SUNGOLD SOLAR FAR BETTER Two 6500s 2700.00

FWIW, I have a Schneider XW Pro 6848 and it has no problem at all starting big compressors, saws, etc and handling L1/L2 mis-balances. Its a monster. BUT, their firmware is quirky and occasionally erratic, the inverter has a habit of needing reset to factory defaults and reconfigured from scratch every few months, and the tech support is marginal at best. I guess we all can pick our poison...

US Customs records for Ningbo Deye Inverter Technology, a supplier based in China. shows 266 container sized shipments to Portable Solar Llc Dba Sol-ark Llc in Allen, Texas. I thought Sol-Ark has been claiming for years that their inverters are made in the U.S.A. Have they been misleading us all this time?

Inrush current is not the same as continuous use current! It won't necessarily pop that 20A breaker! Inrush current can be HUNDREDS of amps, but only for a fraction of a second! That will not necessarily pop the breaker! And can be so instantaneous that you probably won't see the peak at all on the display, or even if you catch _something_ on the display, it might still not be the peak. Clearly, something changed in the firmware on the Sol-Ark or your batteries that might have changed inrush current limitations or how they handle it.

I’ve always felt Sol-Ark is overrated. If you want serious muscle in an inverter, I always recommend Schneider. Plus I’ve seen EG4 inverters start loads that would trip up a Sol-Ark. Go figure.

In the Philippines I have 7 Deye 5kw Hybrid Inverter in parallel charging 12 pcs of 200 amp hour Lifepo4 and no problem, load during the day 10kw to 15kw. Each cost around 55,000 pesos or $1000 = $7,000 For the price of one Sol Ark 15KW $7,000. I use Victron Autotransformer For split phase balancing cause in a power failure the Deye puts out single phase 220 since I use 110 volts tools and Kurig coffee maker from the US, Victron Autotransformer corrects the 220 to split phase. Sol Ark is Deye

Good to see all the testing "science"

This is a prime example as to why consumers should stay away from any brand of high frequency, transformerless inverter. They offer poor surge ratings, and they have short life expectancies. A much better choice would be to purchase a hybrid, low frequency, transformer based inverter charger. They last far, far longer and offer considerably more surge capacity. I would never i stall a high frequency, transformerless inverter in my home, even if it was free.

20 amp breaker takes a while to 'kick'. Minutes, sometimes. A software 'breaker' can easily detect inrush. A 20 amp breaker can't.

16:01 Youre axtually not over 40 amps in total (240V) youre at about 27A on one leg and 13A on the orher, meaning your max draw is 27A as rhe inverter sees it. The challenge for batteries and inverters are the difference between the two, not the total. I like tbis video thiugh. Goid troubleshooting.

Great work on working through it all. Frustrating to watch even but good on ya. Schneider XWpro 6848 have the transformer and are able to take 6,800 constant, 8,500 for 30min 11,000 for 5min and 12,000 for 30sec capable on one leg so even unbalanced keep truck’in. They are little beasts. Long life and no nightmare.

Solar ark is junk. I watched the XW Pro VS Solar Ark . Other people dumped their solar ark just because of their problem

Thanks for the videos guys, from a long-time ADKer (60 yrs?) I've just signed a contract for an 18kw array, Enphase/Q Cell battery system, and I'm taking notes for my first meeting with the Project Manager. Just added: Ask how firmware/software updates are handled, and is there a solid back-out plan in case of failure? I'm retired from a 25 year, very technical, IT career. I've done a few firmware updates and the vast, vast majority of them are successful, and are important. But you need to have a solid process for saving the configurations and restoring them if needed. It's brain surgery and failures can be fatal. Rock on!

What are the firmware versions that you have on the 12K now with it working? If you don't mind, I would like to know the MCU version as well as the comms version. (I'm sure you know this, but those versions can be found in the first menu page after tapping the gear icon from the home screen.)

In reality the superior method is to make sure you have a balance load from your 120/240 volt AC electrical panel. Use your ampere meter on both power legs - - - | - - - If amperage load is higher on one side of the panel than the other >> redistribute load wiring between breakers to balance the load amperage evenly

It’s probably in balance on your legs, if you have very little load on one leg and peak on the other solark is sensitive. You can use an auto transformer and plug 110v high load tools into that and it’ll balance out the load between the legs. I do that for compressor and it works well but not convenient if you want to use tools at various places.

Love the way it becomes your problem to figure it out. Instead of SolArk fixing it or replacing it immediately.

You have all or most of your loads on one leg. Balance your load in the panel and this will stop regardless of firmware. You can also install an Auto Transformer $300. Stay away from Growatt. The 18k PV eg4 is good.

Buy a low frequency inverter from Schneider or Victron if you want to build a house or run high inrush loads. It’s not rocket science.

When a b m s on a lithium battery senses full charge , it shuts the battery off.... So unless you're solar Panels are already drawing in the power needed to run the saw ,, the system will shut down

Hey guys, sorry you're going through such an electro-nightmare. Is there any way Sol Ark can just dial-back the firmware update and restore it back to what was working? Be well. Edit: (never mind - I asked the question before reaching the end of your video and you answered).

Sol Ark does not like this video, and they should learn from it. Was thinking of Sol Ark 30k but noooo.

somebody should have told you to get a soft start

Hey Rich, I've learned a bit (and have been mildly entertained :)) )while watching your journey..... You are correct, in the grand scheme of things, 300watts doesn't seem like much, but it does add up. Keep it up, looks like a great place, and I'm sure it will work out in the long run. Firmware is always tricky, as an engineer myself, I strongly believe "if it ain't broke, don't upgrade". The vendor will always say, bring it to the most current for warranty purposes, but ... well, that's all I have to say about that. FYI, had a similar issue and learned all about inductive loads with my well pump and the in-rush current with my previous system (It was an older Growatt all in one). It helps having the correct tools and understanding the value of in-rush loads. AC compressors, well pumps, other motors all have this issue. Soft-starts help a bunch. I do love the Sol-Ark suite of products... decided to go with the 15k unit for a few reasons... First,. I can use the 200 amp ATX and completely get rid of the Generac ATX. That's cool. Additionally, as it has a 200 amp transfer switch, I can use it to power the whole house instead of needing a critical loads panel. If I do decide to grid-tie (which I'm not going to do at the moment), it will work well and I can sell the extra back to the power company. But the extra power (15k vs 12k) was the biggest reason, and the price difference was insignificant. I realize the new 15k is new, and wasn't available when you made your decisions, and to upgrade to it may be a challenge, but you might give it a thought. it does handle much larger inductive loads/in-rush currents. Cheers, keep up the good work on your homestead!

Change it to Victron equipment,and all these problems will disapear.

Guy did all the troubleshooting and quality of service for the inverter. I hope he got compensated for that issue that started with a bad firmware from arc.

Could be more of a power factor issue with the saw not so much as an overload. Using a heater is a resistive load with a unity power factor and would not duplicate the issue with the inductive load (Saw motor). Either way, unless there was an issue with the old firmware mfr should not have made this change.

FROM OTHER SITES ITS UNBALANCED LOAD THE FAULT SHOUD SHOW 26 OR 27 NOT WHAT IT DOES SHOW,IF THE LOADS ARE NOT BALANCED ON EACH BUS BAR IT SHUTS OFF AS ITS NOT A TRANSFORMER INVERTER A FEW PEOPLE HAVE HAD THE PROBLEM,I WONDER COULD YOU BUY PORTABLE SOLAR GENERATOR FOR SAW

Was thinking bout Solark....not. How come Solark isnt calling you, knowing that you're having issues. Na I'll pass. Sounded like customer service was troubl shooting out of a manual. Nope not for me!!

Split phase is the problem. You need an inverter that is truly built for split phase.

The nameplate rating is what the unit is tested to, regardless of what she says on the phone. The unit is rated as follows: single phase 120V rating is PER LEG, so if you only load up one of your phases, it should be able to handle 4800W continuously (indefinitely, assuming 0W on the other phase). If you’re using both phases, then it’s rated to 9000W total with no more than half of that (4500W) per phase. I’ve had the same unit for years and tested it running about 8000W before I ran out loads to add. And I’m pretty sure I’m on the original firmware as I’ve never asked them for an update.

What firmware did you roll back to? I have the same inverter with the same issue.

Sometimes when talking to customer service no matter who it feels like you’re educating them rather than the other way around

Sol ark initially had issues with surges and leg imbalances, I though the solved that issue

Inrush current is usually measured in milliseconds. Shouldn't even be an issue

That dreadful beep on inverters is like the blue screen of death on Windows. You have a bad day (sometimes week) every time that happens. I have had new firmware mess things up before but nothing as vital as this example. Interesting that 3k watts is lost to charging, they don't mention that often.

Hi if you can get ahold of bill at milestone solar in w.v hes is an expert on theses issues , not sure if he charges for advice.

12k is not, its like saying you have a race car that has 1200hp on all 4 wheels but its actualy 900hp forward and 300 hp in reverse and only 480hp for rear wheel traction only, its misleading at best

I love updating the firmware on all my stuff, but do like someone else to go first if I don't have a test/backup or trial system of my own

Sol-ark works great for me,

Got an aimes 6000w , 240/120v for a 24v system weight is about 90 lbs heavy duty marine rated. Could run with another in parallel to get 12k continuous. No updates or computer programming. Been running solid daily 7 years. Simple is better.

What is the wire size to the power tools ? If there is ANY 14g wire.... Remove it. Even the extension cords. The imbalance in the SolArcs 120v VS 120v (1/2 of 240) is to great. The updates appeared to have made the unit more sensitive to the differences. 09;45, Did we see arc spin around the Dewalt motors armature? If so, that not a good sign. There maybe several factors at play here. Run the saw and another load at the same time ON the other leg of the 240 to keep the draw a bit more balanced. Davids link is good. I think David is very clear on some flaw that may need worked on by SA.

Was considering Sol Ark. Now I'm not.

This video was eye opening. I'm considering the 15k and now even more. Great details on a thorny problem. Thanks!

Oh brother, sounds like they're taking lessons from apple. These folks have only been around for a few years. In case you decide to throw in the towel with these folks, Outback has been making extremely high quality inverters since at least the 1990's

So you've got a 5000watt inverter. You could've bought 5x5000watt growatt inverters and had power to spare plus backup inverters in the case 1 failed. This fails and no power for you.

Sol ark uses Chinese firmware and is trying to port their servers to us servers now.

I have the exact same Sol-Ark, and we are off grid as well. I started having the exact same issue with the exact same saw. I have learned a few things. As you learned, this is actually a 9kW inverter as far as the loads go. I actually understood this going in, but their advertising is a bit misleading as far as I am concerned. And yes, this 9kW can be achieved along with the surge specs if, and only if, you have 240V balanced loads. Most of us have mostly 120V loads, and they are never perfectly balanced. Each 120V leg on this unit can only handle half of the rated watts and surge capacity. Another thing I learned is that the surge capacity is higher the more solar you have coming in. If you look at the incoming solar on your video, it is always low when you were tripping the inverter, and high when the inverter started the saw. So, working at night or cloudy days is problematic. What I ended up doing was installing an auto-transformer, which perfectly balances the 120V loads across the two legs of the inverter. The transformer does use a small amount of power when in use, so I put it on a separate breaker and switch to be able to turn it off when not needed. In actuality, I rarely turn it off because we usually get plenty of solar input to charge the batteries (may turn it off in deep winter). This has fixed any issues I have had with the inverter tripping.

Any big motor load on half a split phase is going to be a problem, you have to oversize your inverter, this is engineering 101. A 240 to 120V transformer will solve your problem for certain appliances, most homes have all their big loads on 240V anyway. If you want to run 10A motors or more on 120V that's on you. Also Get a soft start for all your big motors.

@21:55 the label shot. I have this unit as well. I knew they were sketchy advertising it as 12K and it was only 9K. What I didn’t realize was that it was 37.5 amp DC. I thought it was 63 amp. Now I find it is only 63 amp connected to the grid. I am trying to run a tiny house (640 sq ft) and a cabinet shop (lots of 220v saws) and also a 220v well. I am grid tied and have a separate panel for the 220v saws. BUT the whole point in spending this much money was t be 100% off grid. I thought I was buying a bigger unit.

Need a soft start to put between the wall socket and the saw.

SOLARK ON 15 K SAYS YOU UNCOPLE THE BREAKERS OR EVERYTHING GOES ON ONE BREAKER

It’s per leg. I bet it’s 66amps total or 33 amps per leg. Plus resistance added from long cable run with splices.