Growatt question

[cliver1956]

Hi,
Welcome to this wonderful area of cyberspace. I too have solar PV and Battery courtesy of Growatt but have expanded my system on a DIY basis to cover the shortcomings of the Growatt system. I also run 2 EV's and very happy to share my experience of slar and EV.

Hi johnb2731,
Thanks for the reply and offer to share your experience/expertise.
One immediate question I have re the Growatt is that I have been looking for details in the documentation and online about "Power harvester" mode.
When I look via server.growatt this is the mode my SPH5000 is set to.
The docs, as far as I can see don't mention this mode at all.
Plus; when I look via Solar Assistant settings I see no mention of Power harvester mode at all. This is possibly because Solar Assistant has only recently updated to include Growatt settings.
I'd ultimately like to dump the shinephone dongle altogether and control via Solar Assistant if I can just so I can stop sending my data to China and have them control my system without my knowledge (paranoid I know).
Is there any decent source of info that explains this?

Split from "introduce yourself"

 

[johnb2713]

Hi johnb2731,
Thanks for the reply and offer to share your experience/expertise.

Youre welcome to the little I know

One immediate question I have re the Growatt is that I have been looking for details in the documentation and online about "Power harvester" mode.

This has come up before and I've never found the answer, mine has never reported being in this mode either.

When I look via server.growatt this is the mode my SPH5000 is set to.

I havent seen any mode settings as such but the inverter does change it's mode based on settings, mine at the moment is in 'on grid mode' it's taking grid power and charging the batteries.

The docs, as far as I can see don't mention this mode at all.
Plus; when I look via Solar Assistant settings I see no mention of Power harvester mode at all. This is possibly because Solar Assistant has only recently updated to include Growatt settings.

Agreed, I can find nothing. I use Home assistant for all of my solar, battery and other house duties for monitoring and control, power harvester doesnt feature in that either.

I'd ultimately like to dump the shinephone dongle altogether and control via Solar Assistant if I can just so I can stop sending my data to China and have them control my system without my knowledge (paranoid I know).
Is there any decent source of info that explains this?

Not that I know of but to be honest, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

 

[cliver1956]

I havent seen any mode settings as such but the inverter does change it's mode based on settings, mine at the moment is in 'on grid mode' it's taking grid power and charging the batteries.

Are you saying that if you log in at server.growatt.com and go to settings for your device you don't see the setting as in the attached picture?
Out of interest, what version of Solar Assistant are you on?
I've recently updated to 2023-08-16 and it now shows a whole raft of settings under Configuration > Settings that weren't there before.

 

[johnb2713]

Are you saying that if you log in at server.growatt.com and go to settings for your device you don't see the setting as in the attached picture?

No, I'm saying I have never seen my inverter in Power Harvesting Mode, nor can I see anywhere to set this mode of operation.

Out of interest, what version of Solar Assistant are you on?

I dont use solar assistant, I use Home Assistant

I've recently updated to 2023-08-16 and it now shows a whole raft of settings under Configuration > Settings that weren't there before.

Are any of them relevant to Power Harvesting?

 

[cliver1956]

Are any of them relevant to Power Harvesting?

No. The point is I don't see Power harvesting anywhere except through the UI at server.growatt.com.
I have Home Assistant, Solar Assistant and the Shine Wi-Fi setup in an efort to evaluate the best for my needs.
I'm just trying to get my head around why it only appears in the shine wi-fi interface and non of the 3rd party setups.
And exactly what that option means in terms of operation.