Anyone use the Sol-Ark 15K with bed 30-amp outlet?

[Dolomasi]

I'm getting solar installed on my house in a couple of months and the installer suggests using the Sol-Ark 15K inverter/backup switch along with 11 kWh of batteries. The idea is to run a generator outlet from the Sol-Ark to the garage so that I can use the truck's 30-amp outlet in the bed to keep the batteries charged in the event of a long-term outage.

I know there are issues with generator ports and floating neutrals, so I'm mostly wondering if it can be set up properly with this inverter/switch. The truck won't ever be powering the house directly, just charging the house's backup batteries.

We're waiting to hear back from an electrician, but I thought I'd check here in the meantime to see if anyone has a similar system. Thanks for any insight!

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[cwstnsko]

I’ve been thinking about the same scenario, but my system is Enphase microinverters, so the transfer switch I would use would be the IQ System controller switch, which has a similar generator input to what you describe with the Solark.

 

[MurphysLaww]

I’ve been thinking about the same scenario, but my system is Enphase microinverters, so the transfer switch I would use would be the IQ System controller switch, which has a similar generator input to what you describe with the Solark.

We have an enphase system as well. I'm not very familiar with it's components, and wonder how that would work?

We've been talking to SunRun, and they sent someone out to look at our current system, and they did a quick design for a follow up call, and now they are talking about installing an entire secondary system just for the Truck/HIS, because we asked about adding 8 more panels, or around 3Kw to our already existing 5.4Kw system.

We had just started to think about adding the 8 panels when we got our build date, and the Truck was delivered week before last, and would like getting going on this. Maybe I should start a separate thread asking about this and others that may already have an enphase system, this feels a bit thread-jacky...

 

[eopiela]

I have a Sol-Ark 15k and would like to do the same thing. Just got my Lightning yesterday and have yet to try it out on the generator plug.

 

[d2blake]

It should work fine and the truck will actually power the house, not just charge the batteries. The 11kwh of battery is useless unless you are worried about power being out and not having the truck there at the same time.

 

[Dolomasi]

The 11kwh battery serves a couple of purposes. First, it immediately kicks in during an outage, so there's no delay while I plug in the truck. Secondly, it provides for backup if we're gone and the power goes out. Third, it can be charged from the solar panels, giving us full off-grid capability for extended periods of time, if needed.

I asked Sol-Ark about connecting the F150 to the generator port and this is what they said:

Our inverter needs to be connected to a generator that has a floated neutral because the system already has a bond in the main service panel.​

​

It looks like your truck also need a floating neutral from the inverter, so you will get into the situation of removing the bond every time you try to connect the truck.​

So it looks like it won't work automatically and I'll need to find a way to remove the bonded neutral (if that's even possible) somewhere between the truck and the 15K.

 

[Maquis]

The 11kwh battery serves a couple of purposes. First, it immediately kicks in during an outage, so there's no delay while I plug in the truck. Secondly, it provides for backup if we're gone and the power goes out. Third, it can be charged from the solar panels, giving us full off-grid capability for extended periods of time, if needed.

I asked Sol-Ark about connecting the F150 to the generator port and this is what they said:

Our inverter needs to be connected to a generator that has a floated neutral because the system already has a bond in the main service panel.​

​

It looks like your truck also need a floating neutral from the inverter, so you will get into the situation of removing the bond every time you try to connect the truck.​

So it looks like it won't work automatically and I'll need to find a way to remove the bonded neutral (if that's even possible) somewhere between the truck and the 15K.

I’m really curious about this design. There’s no technical reason that their inverter should need any neutral at all. It should just run on 240V.

 

[TF1000]

I asked Sol-Ark about connecting the F150 to the generator port and this is what they said:

Our inverter needs to be connected to a generator that has a floated neutral because the system already has a bond in the main service panel.​

​

It looks like your truck also need a floating neutral from the inverter, so you will get into the situation of removing the bond every time you try to connect the truck.​

Interesting. This is the opposite of what they told me last May (see below). I never went with Sol-Ark so didn't pursue it.

"Hi Ted,

Our generator input accepts any stand alone 240V split phase power source (2 hots legs). The fact that the neutral is bonded in the circuit at the truck is ok. So, based on this it sounds like the proposed configuration would work. However, we have not tested capability with a configuration like you described, nor am I super familiar with the specifications of the output capabilities of the truck, so please do your due diligence. We're always happy to help with any additional questions you have regarding the inverter side of the configuration.
Have a great day!"
John Michael Fuhrmann
Engineering Support
P: 972-575-8875 Ext. 2
E: [email protected]

 

[Maquis]

Interesting. This is the opposite of what they told me last May (see below). I never went with Sol-Ark so didn't pursue it.

"Hi Ted,

Our generator input accepts any stand alone 240V split phase power source (2 hots legs). The fact that the neutral is bonded in the circuit at the truck is ok. So, based on this it sounds like the proposed configuration would work. However, we have not tested capability with a configuration like you described, nor am I super familiar with the specifications of the output capabilities of the truck, so please do your due diligence. We're always happy to help with any additional questions you have regarding the inverter side of the configuration.
Have a great day!"
John Michael Fuhrmann
Engineering Support
P: 972-575-8875 Ext. 2
E: [email protected]

This is what I’d expect.

 

[Dolomasi]

I think regardless of whether the Sol-Ark accepts a bonded neutral, the F150 is going to cause a problem with its GFCI when connected.

 

[wighty]

When I learned about the SolARk 15 last year that's what I was thinking of doing myself.

I also have an Enphase system, 12.21 kw on iq7x inverters. Enphase just announced a 2024 launch window for their V2X EVSEs so I may wait and see what they come up with as it does feel a more elegant solution to have the EVSE/truck figure out if it should be charging or providing power from the same cable. Biggest downside is I feel like the Enphase is going to require their batteries and that entire system is pretty expensive, particularly with the 30kWh minimum I want.

 

[eopiela]

Ok tried this with my solark 15k during the winter storm, as our power was out for 12 hours. Initially I got the GFCI fault as predicted. Then I removed the ground pin from the generator cord before I plugged it into the truck (since the ground is bonded in the solark and in the truck it was showing a ground fault--removing the pin from this cable and labeling it to only be used with the solark/F150 is a solution I saw here on the forum). It worked great. You have to set the solark to only allow 7200w (30a) or you will trip the truck's breaker. It will pick up the house load first, and if there is any additional capacity it will charge the batteries. I also plugged it directly into my second breaker panel for AC condensers, which also worked. Decided to leave it there to make the batteries connected to the solark last longer and reduce conversion loss (DC-AC rather than DC-AC-DC). Running it all night only took 25% of my F150's battery.

 

[Dolomasi]

Ok tried this with my solark 15k during the winter storm, as our power was out for 12 hours. Initially I got the GFCI fault as predicted. Then I removed the ground pin from the generator cord before I plugged it into the truck (since the ground is bonded in the solark and in the truck it was showing a ground fault--removing the pin from this cable and labeling it to only be used with the solark/F150 is a solution I saw here on the forum). It worked great. You have to set the solark to only allow 7200w (30a) or you will trip the truck's breaker. It will pick up the house load first, and if there is any additional capacity it will charge the batteries. I also plugged it directly into my second breaker panel for AC condensers, which also worked. Decided to leave it there to make the batteries connected to the solark last longer and reduce conversion loss (DC-AC rather than DC-AC-DC). Running it all night only took 25% of my F150's battery.

This might be a solution I can live with one or two days a year. I'm still going to see if the electricians can come up with something better, but thanks for the real world test.

 

[eopiela]

This might be a solution I can live with one or two days a year. I'm still going to see if the electricians can come up with something better, but thanks for the real world test.

That is the only way I would use it, honestly too. Not worth the conversion loss and battery wear to make this a long-term daily solution. I also would not advise charging the vehicle from the same circuit you are providing power to. There's a YouTube video out there from a guy who narrowly escaped permanent damage to his F150 lightning by trying that. The default configuration of the Sol-Ark is to only allow gen input in a grid-down situation. You have to manually force gen in the settings to get around that. This is an emergency situation to extend backup time in an ice storm--not a way to daily implement time of use load shifting. What this does prove is that the Sunrun solution is not necessary to provide whole home backup, and moreover is not worth the cost as it does not provide UPS-style cutovers with not even a flicker of lights as the Sol-Ark does at a lower cost.

 

[world2steven]

I'm getting solar installed on my house in a couple of months and the installer suggests using the Sol-Ark 15K inverter/backup switch along with 11 kWh of batteries. The idea is to run a generator outlet from the Sol-Ark to the garage so that I can use the truck's 30-amp outlet in the bed to keep the batteries charged in the event of a long-term outage.

I know there are issues with generator ports and floating neutrals, so I'm mostly wondering if it can be set up properly with this inverter/switch. The truck won't ever be powering the house directly, just charging the house's backup batteries.

We're waiting to hear back from an electrician, but I thought I'd check here in the meantime to see if anyone has a similar system. Thanks for any insight!

Has anyone actually done this yet? I have a Sol Ark 12 I have yet to try this with.

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