Sol-Ark 12k Solar Generator: First Impressions

and some early lessons learned

This post will not be about the installation and technical details, rather it is simply to relate our first impressions, and some behavior changes we have made in view of the data generated.

Energy Generation and Use Data

This is the chart produced by the PowerView application, which gets its data from the Sol-Ark via a wifi “dongle” attached to the left side of the Sol-Ark and connected to our home wifi. To expand on the chart legend a bit:

• PV = photovoltaic power, the power off of the panels; this is the lighter blue above the X-axis.

• Battery = this is the darker blue, most readily seen as a near mirror image of the PV but below the X-axis

• SOC = State of Charge of the batteries; this is the one line on the chart

• Load = power consumed by the House, Well House, Sugar House and Power House

• Grid = power contributed by the grid (above X-axis) to support Load and/or battery charging; or, power contributed to the grid by the system (below X-axis). We have our system setup to not contribute power to the grid, at least not yet.

That chart is a bit busy, so let’s see if we can’t simplify it a bit, and get into the details.