SolArk 15k Bypass

[teal95]

Getting ready to hook in my second rack of batteries and trying to figure out the least intrusive method for my family. I've been getting frequent arc faults and when that happens the SolArk doesn't power down but it does go into a bypass mode where it kicks a relay in that supplies all my loads from grid.

Is there a way to manually trigger this bypass mode? When in this mode can I shut down the batteries? Does the SolArk shut the batteries down from its end when this happens?

 

[Oldphile]

Are you saying arc faults are causing the Sol-Ark to disconnect from the grid?

 

[Tulex]

I can't remember what mine did, but I got constant ark fault errors. I talked with Sol-Ark, they gave me a list of things to check, everything checked out, so simply turned it off.
Sol-Ark will work without battery. I think you have to change the setting back to no battery first, then you can just turn the battery breaker off. I think..... I ran without battery for the first few months.

 

[Quattrohead]

I think it will bypass if you turn it off but if it faults it might not.

 

[teal95]

When I get arc faults it shuts down PV and appears to shut down the battery. Nothing in the house turns off however and when it resets I can hear a big relay click then it goes back to running loads from solar/battery.

I have a couple more connections to verify before I turn arc fault off.

 

[Oldphile]

I had an arc fault yesterday. At first the Sol-Ark beeped, but then went silent and switched off. The TIGO optimizers had dropped out. This is an issue I'm troubleshooting. I guess the Sol-Ark turned off because there was no DC. I don't have batteries, but will very soon. The Sol-Ark turned on again when the optimizers magically restored themselves. I think the CCA is dropping out, but I don't know why.

 

[teal95]

I don't think that's what's tripping mine. I suspect the TIGO optimizers are putting some noise on the line that the AFCI sees as an arc.

I'm using the 120v AC output of the SolArk to feed power to the TIGO box. I guess I should rethink this as I have no direct comms from the SolArk to the TIGO, so since it goes into grid bypass they are still powered up.

 

[Oldphile]

I don't think that's what's tripping mine. I suspect the TIGO optimizers are putting some noise on the line that the AFCI sees as an arc.

That's what I thought until I noticed some dropouts that occurred without causing an arc fault. I've upgraded to TIGO premium optimizing with 1 minute data granularity. Using Advanced Charts I can see past and present dropouts. They are typically 5 minutes +/- 1 minute.