We’ve started to use Fortress batteries for off grid installations lately as well. The tech support has been very frustrating and the integration guides are ridiculous – the Magnum guide was the worst – absolute nonsense, I believe most of which has been pulled from the Fortress site now. The variation in charge parameters for the inverter vs the charge controller for the Outback guide doesn’t make sense either. Lack of generator start/stop parameters in the integration guides have resulted in trial and error programming on our part to zero in on what works best.
Poor tech support on battery based systems is one of my biggest pet peeves in the industry………off grid customers rely on their equipment, unlike net metered installations it’s not just a matter of reducing their electrical bill it’s about keeping the lights on and the fridge working. From: RE-wrenches [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ray Walters via RE-wrenches Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2022 1:43 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Ray Walters Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark/Fortress charging issue Talk to Thomas Honey. He is the Fortress rep, nice guy, and knowledgeable wrench. He has stepped in on my issue. Ray On 11/16/2022 10:58 PM, Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches wrote: Good Evening, I have a frustrating charging issue involving 2 Fortress eVault Maxs connected to a Sol-Ark 15k. Commissioned the system last week, replacing a legacy off-grid Dual Stack SunnyIsland 5048s and 2-volt Rolls battery system. Initially, we connected one of the eVaults to the Sol-Ark, programmed it to Fortress' and Sol-Ark's specs, setup closed loop, and things seemed fine. The battery charged at around 95 amps off the 20kW Kohler. The next day we connected the 2nd eVault, went through the procedures as Fortress suggested, made the necessary settings changes in the Sol-Ark, and that is when the issue started. Ever since we connected the 2nd eVault, we have not been able to get the charge rate much above a combined total of 35 amps. Fortress has pretty much said that it can't be anything on their end (although the communication with them has been very much limited and frustrating). They say that nothing on their side would limit the charge rate to that low, especially if the batteries were in a lower state of charge. We've talked to at least 3 different Sol-Ark technicians more than once. We have changed the setting between closed loop, % SOC, and Battery Voltage multiple times. We've tried dropping back to a single battery, both the first one we had connected and the second one (changing the battery setup and the Sol-Ark parameters, but have only seen at times a moderate increase in maximum charge rate (up to about 40 amps total). This small increase happened after a Fortress technician suggested that we turn on both the generator and the grid charging toggles (the generator is connected to the grid port on the Sol-Ark as per Sol-Ark's recommendation. Sol-Ark has run out of suggestions at the moment, and are having us cycle the batteries tonight and they will start another charge cycle in the morning to see if having a lower SOC along with the firmware reload will change anyhing (I don't think it will - it didn't the last several times. Has anybody seen this type of behavior before? I don't think it is a settings issue, as several technicians have gone through them, I have gone over them many times using the Fortress/Sol-Ark integration white papers. Hoping to get higher level tech involved ASAP, since I don't feel like the lower level techs know enough to provide useful ideas. Thanks, Howie Howie Michaelson Sun Catcher NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™ Image removed by sender. Solar Electric Systems Sales & Service 802-272-0004 _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org List Address: [email protected] Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org List Address: [email protected] Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
