Tour of my off grid solar system with the Sol-Ark 15K 

What I'm doing is, I've installed 3 systems for redundancy. If the grid goes down. And you take a huge lightning strike it would be good to have a small system on each of the houses on your property.

Hey there, I also live in Texas and I keep my house completely off grid from 7 am until 9 pm. I'm with Just Energy, on their free night's plan, with solar buyback. My 17kW on grid solar system feeds into the grid all day everyday, and my off grid 2.7kW solar system with 39.6 kWh of batteries is enough to power my home. I charge my backup batteries overnight (9pm-7am), with the free night time energy so they're fully charged and ready to power my home for the next day. I get loads of credits every month.

Another great video, Brian. Thanks for the overview. All the best from north Texas.

Look into building 2x 304 AH EVE in a EEL battery box with a seplos 200A BMS. I have roughly same set up as you, (15K, eg4 rack (4)eg4 lifepower 2x Jakiper(100ah) 2x Trophy (100ah) and 2x 305 eve/304 envision cells. Last 2 cost 2700/2200$ . Huge $ save.

You have five homes powered by one 15K? One of them is your home. Are the other four dog houses or running mostly on LP? Don’t forget to add midnite solar surge protection devices.

Wow! I guess I'm way above normal. I use 84kWh per day on average, everything electric and 2 EVs. Looking at a very similar system.

What settings on your Sol-Ark 15K did you use to power your load first with you PV, then with your battery and finally with your grid? Also, since I can't figure out how to even search for this, do the voltages across your system (as seen by pressing the battery icon on the inverter screen) all follow whatever voltage your grid is pumping out to you? I don't have my battery yet, and that's what I'm seeing. I'm wondering if that behavior stops with a battery (i.e., it doesn't matter if the grid is feeding me 116V or 124V, the load will always get 120V).

Great video and breakdown.

The problems with the Texas Grid is squarely due to Ercot's lack of oversight on the industry.

Very nice setup. Im surprised you didnt make the panel racks adjustable for the seasons. I dove into making batteries awhile back and just built a 7kw one for less than 1000 bucks using 280ah cells. You can cut your battery cost in less than half with diy battery racks. There is another Texas guy I watch on here. You guys have me on zillow looking at houses down there. Id love to escape this leftist hell hole called WA.

I'm in a suburb in West Sacramento, California, grid-tied with a Sol-Ark15k and 19.2kW HomeGrid stack with a modest 5.525kW of solar panels. Superb results. I had no electrical or solar knowledge, and was trying to get a solar company to do a solar installation for me, but quickly got really discouraged with how sketchy that industry is. And as I researched system components, in depth, trying to make good choices, I found out how difficult it would be to get any solar installer to install the components I wanted instead of the components they'd prefer to sell me. So I took a deep breath, and designed, permitted, and installed the system myself, using solar electricians to perform the electrical connections and conduiting since I wasn't competent to do that work AND so I wouldn't void my equipment warranties. I drew the permit wiring diagrams based on Sol-Ark and HomeGrid manuals, drew the conduit routes based on where I was locating equipment. I fired the first solar electricians before they even began work, then hired a young hungry group who priced reasonably, scheduled me promptly, showed up on time, worked carefully and well, and promptly corrected any errors along the way. My system runs my whole house, no critical loads panel, with the 15k on my back porch hung on my back porch wall, under a big patio roof, and right next to the back door from the in-house laundry room. The HomeGrid Stack'd ESS is on the other side of that wall, inside my laundry room, about a foot from that same wall. Beautiful looking battery, by the way. The battery and com cables from the inverter pass through the wall into wall-penetrated rigid, mounted conduits, then travel about a foot out of each conduit to connect to the HomeGrid Stack'd ESS. A removable fitted wood cover conceals the wiring. The door out to the back porch is located such that you walk by the battery on your right, located a foot from the same wall the door is on, out to the patio and see the side of the inverter a foot away. I hung the inverter with the screen at eye-height. Biggest lessons I'll pass on from my first-timer's experience doing solar: Get a lot more panels than you think you need, you can never have too many. Buy the big-boy inverter, can't beat the satisfaction and simplicity of running the whole house even when the grid fails. Get even more battery than you think you need. And this final tip: Don't budget your solar and backup system build based on trying to get it to pay itself off (ROI, or Return on Investment) That's the common way solar is sold or considered but it's just just crazy: you don't buy cars that way, you buy what you can afford based on quality of experience. Quality of experience is truly a big part of your Return on Investment! Energy independence, quality equipment that has less chance of failing, whole-house backup, loads of backup battery: just like buying a nice car or truck, only probably cheaper, lasts twice as long, doesn't require gas, oil, tires, insurance, etc. Yeah, build a system that works like a truck instead of a moped.

Did you actually wire the grid directly to the solArk? Not jut a double pull breaker 50 amp. But actual 100 amp service directly to the SolArk. Just wondering how I could do that.

WIndmill for storms? You have any EV cars?

Did you connect an EMP Shield to your battery bank?

👍🏾👍🏾

The problem with Texas is it's power grid is isolated from the rest of the country unlike other states and also the state and electrical utilities are not doing anything to improve the system that is why there is all the black out's it's the state's fault !

What I did is I used solar panels to run my house and what I did is not used a grid. What I did is use nothing but solar panels, and I did that for several years with there's sunny days, there's no sunny days it didn't matter. I didn't have the grid. I didn't care about the grid. I didn't want the grid. I didn't care if I couldn't power everything when I didn't have fully powered batteries. It didn't matter to me 1 bit. Who cares if I can't use the kitchen oven? Because I don't have enough hard because there was no sun. I guess to use a grill. Or air fryers or other things Who cares. And you wanna know the best parts I live in Wisconsin? Will we get snow in 3040 below 0? Sometimes norium, right around 22 below. Sometimes 30 below, but still but for some reason. Today. It's actually quite nice out so nice. I think we're moving down to Texas with this weather. I mean, right now. It's pair woman here than it is in Texas. And this is the beginning of february and the coldest month of the year. But I suppose you gotta like it when the North Pole moves farther away. A pretty soon I end up in the middle of Russia somewhere. Is not? I don't know exactly where, but it used to be in Alaska for one part of time, at least 26000 years, but then it moves up to where the North Pole was for 26000 years now, it's moving again, it's going to be a Russia someplace. Too bad I don't have enough solar panels to run everything in my house all that exact same time but I'll be getting there pretty soon. The only problem is none of the solve panels are all the same size. I'm got a few one size a few another size. A few another size. A couple another size so I can't connect them all together with one another. So I was running all 12 V. But I think I'm starting to change that a little bit. To run with generators, solar generators. Cause I won't get anything that uses gas or cool. Or any kind of fuel other than electricity. I need to select trees if I mache from the solar panels I buy.

I have a 2,000 propane tank. No problem in corona time

No I don't think I want that solar ark At 1 time I didn't want a differentype of solar inverter but now I think I might go with generators. Maybe I still get a solid converter. I don't know but the problem that I had last year in the middle of the summer, the 23rd of July. I don't know if I'd go with a inverter anymore. But I still might.

Your system is very similar to mine here in Louisville, KY. I have the Sol-Ark 15K and the same 30 KWh of EG batteries. However, I only use 22 bifacial solar panels on metal racks to produce up to 19.1 KW of power. I also have a propane backup generator that will recharge the batteries if needed. I drive a Tesla so I charge it directly from solar for free. I live on about 10 acres of land and am considering buying an electric robot lawn mower since paying for lawn mowing is a major expense. Of course, charging the electric lawnmowers would come from my solar system. I had my system installed by an experienced expert and he did a great job. I love my system and am happy with the investment.

Consider SUB - Solar Utility Battery and save you Battery for Grid Fail. It cost 10 to 30 cents to convert kWh to eChem and back. do the math. If you have TOU then eChem power has payback.

Market forces.. Which one causes the privatized Texas grid to be reliable?

Really nice system. Curious how many and what type of spare parts you keep on hand in case of an extended grid outage.

IMO a total off grid system is the way to go.....if you have the space to do it. You obv do have that space. But even in an urban environment there is a lot to gain from battery power. And you touched on this....inflation.....how much more expensive and how much less reliable will the grid become? Heading off to work washed and refreshed is way better than heading off tired and face washed. Cheers, gr8 vid.

Why so many panels? I have a 15k as well, but I only have 32 440w bifacial panels. Are you not having an issue with overloading the solark?

Awesome system, thank you for sharing. It will be interesting to see how the eg4 inverter compares to Sol Ark

If the batt run low and it goes to grid what if the grid is down while the batteries are low.

I sat here for a solid minute saying to myself "Tour my own Solar System" wondering just exactly what inter dimensional shit you were on..... lol. damn. im dumb.

Why is it that Sol-Ark has never posted pics or videos of their US based manufacturing facility? Just curious?

electricity crazy demands.. you said it all.. the whole world been hit of that!!!

Thanks for sharing this great video with us Brian!!

Simple question... what type fuses did you install in your AC disconnect? (RK1, RK5 or ?)

Yes propane generators give lower output with higher fuel usage then gasoline or diesel. Something doesn't sound right with three month wait for propane delivery when thet are required to deliver within 7 days of your call/order

What part of Texas? I'm in East Texas outside of Crockett. I'm putting my system in next few months hopefully done by Spring

We found a small company in Oklahoma to do the installation and setup. 12kw panels, sol ark 15k, and 10kw storz batteries. $42k with grid buyback available. Turn key, and i watched enough to underthe basics.

How well does the induction cooktop work with solar?

Just brilliant thank you 👍🏻

Great channel, you talk and I understand. I have questions. BUT a bit of advice for those of us who live in very hot climates, install an evaporator cooler to control the temperature of the inverters and batteries. This was an inexpensive solution for the 118 degree heat in the West Valley on Phoenix, AZ. The BMS will shut down. The portable AC unit blowing on the system will also over heat. What a mess. 2-12k Sol-Arks - 4 Fortress E-Flex batteries.

I thought the benefit of Solark is a chutoff is not required. Am I wrong

Concrete bolts for that solid rock

US Customs records for Ningbo Deye Inverter Technology, a supplier based in China. ssows shipments to Portable Solar Llc Dba Sol-ark Llc in Allen, Texas.266 container sized shipments. thought Sol-Ark inverters were supposedly made in the U.S.A.?

Cool!

thanks for sharing.

Thx Brian. There are 3 good systems (Solark 15K, Schneider XW Pro & EG4 18K-PV) a fourth one could be added, the Appolo. You did a wonderful job and I hope you can enjoy your investment for years to come. Congratulations Brian!

You are not off grid!!!

How many watts are your solar panels?

Did Sol-Ark fix their inductive load problem?

I would NEVER power an off grid home with a low surge, high frequency, transformerless inverter. It's got to be a low frequency, transformer based inverter like an Schneider XW or a Sigineer inverter or nothing.

So you have at least a one and a 1/2 horse power. Well, pump in the ground that's 240 V. Then you have another probably 3/4 horse or one horse pump. That's two forty there could be running at the both at the same time. So you already using at least half your inverter. And assuming you have an AC in the house and AC in your shop and anything else turned on. Like the clothes dryer and the washer you're gonna be over your twelve k. I have been off the grid for 7 years with a twelve k inverter. I also have A310AC on the house. I wanted to have horsepower well pump and all kinds of other large things that get to run at my shop. I even have 3000 W of AC couold panels. So during the middle of the day I actually have fifteen thousand watts of usable and I could still go over.

That's a lot of panels 😂

This is Big $.

Make it $50k because you really should have double the battery capacity.

0:55 and I comment. Hahaha, what a bogus argument about "getting more electric cars plugged into the grid", while a second later talking about a propane generator. Okay, it's propane, probably not a big deal. However, ask yourself how much energy is needed for fuel refinement. Deduct that amount from the grid's capacity and you'll suddenly see that electric cars shouldn't be a problem. However, I clicked on your video for a reason which you explained very well and totally agree! I've heard Texas E(R)COT (R in "reliability") had a lot of struggles, if I would live there I'd do the same as you did! Well done, Sir!

That’s a very good system, very big! Nice explanation of the design. I wonder if the air conditioning demands are what is taxing the grid, much more than EV cars, the EV cars can charge at off peak hours easily. Thanks for the video.