Sol-Ark Integration Guide

Notes
If the battery voltages are significantly different, one technique is to finish battery installation and only turn
on the lowest voltage battery using the pushbutton. Charge the battery, and when the charging voltage is ~0.2V
above the resting voltage of the next lowest battery, turn it on too. Proceed until all batteries are turned on and
at the same voltage level. If the batteries are below 51V, keep charging amperages below 10A per battery.
If the batteries are slightly more than +/-0.5V from each other, turning on the highest voltage batteries only will
reduce their voltages, and turning on the lowest voltage batteries only will lower the highest voltage. Likewise,
turning on the lowest voltage batteries as a group will raise the lowest voltage. Then, all the batteries can be
turned on within a 0.5/V difference.
Use of the Fortress firmware update tool can help speed up commissioning times. Fortress installers should
request a firmware update tool by filling out a support ticket at https://support.fortresspower.com
Setting-up Communication
Note: Ethernet ports on the batteries are bi-directional.
· Install the battery to battery communication cables. Do not over tighten the IP65 weatherproof caps that cover
the Ethernet ports.
· After daisy-chaining the battery to battery communication cables, one empty Ethernet port remains on each
side of the battery bank.
· Use one (either) of the empty ports for the battery to inverter communication as described further. Connect an
unmodified Ethernet cable to the empty port. The other end of the unmodified Ethernet cable is plugged into a
pinout converter (coupler resistor). Connect the modified cable to the inverter's Battery CAN port and the
pinout converter.
· If you have not received a modified Ethernet cable, you can make your own. You may use the yellow ethernet
cable included with the inverter. Simply disable pins 1-5 (cut them, so no signal can pass through), having pins
6, 7, and 8 active.
Tape the Ethernet jacket back up when finished.
· Connect the CANbus terminator to the other (remaining) empty port of the battery bank.
· Refer to the diagram below for a visual insight.
The instructions given above must be followed precisely to establish a closed-loop communication.