Growatt SPH inverter settings, anyone familiar with these ?

[torbrowser]

My system is now all installed tested, powered up and working, let it run a couple of days to settle in.
The unit seems to be working but with a mind of its own.
Read the book, fiddled with the settings and tried to contact Growatt technical to no avail.
I do have on order the shine link wi-fi adaptor for the app, maybe this will simplify the setup procedure?

First one, the battery communicates and charges up but doesn't deliver power on demand at night. any idea why?

Jack.

 

[binky]

Gi

My system is now all installed tested, powered up and working, let it run a couple of days to settle in.
The unit seems to be working but with a mind of its own.
Read the book, fiddled with the settings and tried to contact Growatt technical to no avail.
I do have on order the shine link wi-fi adaptor for the app, maybe this will simplify the setup procedure?

First one, the battery communicates and charges up but doesn't deliver power on demand at night. any idea why?

Jack.

Probably in the wrong mode. Give the manual a damn good read as it's not very clear. Be careful with altering advanced settings like depth of discharge, there's an awful lot of things you can mess up if not being careful.

I'm not familiar with Growatt, their technical team may well be based in China, but I have found other Chinese brands are helpful if you email them. Response times tend to be slow due to time difference, but they should respond.

 

[johnb2713]

My system is now all installed tested, powered up and working, let it run a couple of days to settle in.
The unit seems to be working but with a mind of its own.
Read the book, fiddled with the settings and tried to contact Growatt technical to no avail.
I do have on order the shine link wi-fi adaptor for the app, maybe this will simplify the setup procedure?

First one, the battery communicates and charges up but doesn't deliver power on demand at night. any idea why?

Jack.

If the timer is set to charge the battery at night, it wont use inverter power to your house during that time. What time is set for battery charge and what time is it not giving power to your home?

Screenshots of my settings if it helps (SPH6000):-






Note: Under AC Charge Time Slot 1 the times are 00:30 to 04:30 to coincide with Octopus GO off peak rate.

 

[torbrowser]

Thanks Binky, fair point on adjustments, as for the book, the pages were bleeding never mind my eyes!
Tried contacting Growatt over week ago for technical on another matter but nothing came of it.

John, Mine is a SPH6000 also,
I have left AC charging disabled as i'm not on an E7 type agreement so no times were entered.
Under the priority settings - set to LOAD FIRST, so assume this sends the PV current to household first then charge to battery.
And stop SOC set at 90%, again assume battery will charge to 90% full
Display informs me battery at 98%
Export limit set to ON
I have tried it again by switching on some loads ( shower, oven ,immersion ) to see if the battery will come in, and it doesn't, and checking the readings the battery has discharged 0.1 kWh today and 1.7kWh total (5 days ) i have never seen the direction arrow point anywhere than at the battery.

Is your screen shot the Growatt shine app?

Regards
Jack.

 

[johnb2713]

Thanks Binky, fair point on adjustments, as for the book, the pages were bleeding never mind my eyes!
Tried contacting Growatt over week ago for technical on another matter but nothing came of it.

John, Mine is a SPH6000 also,
I have left AC charging disabled as i'm not on an E7 type agreement so no times were entered.
Under the priority settings - set to LOAD FIRST, so assume this sends the PV current to household first then charge to battery.
And stop SOC set at 90%, again assume battery will charge to 90% full
Display informs me battery at 98%
Export limit set to ON
I have tried it again by switching on some loads ( shower, oven ,immersion ) to see if the battery will come in, and it doesn't, and checking the readings the battery has discharged 0.1 kWh today and 1.7kWh total (5 days ) i have never seen the direction arrow point anywhere than at the battery.

Is your screen shot the Growatt shine app?

Regards
Jack.

Yes from 'settings' within shineapp.




As you can see, mine is discharging now, it was at 100% at 15:00 but Ive just cooked a Sunday Roast with all the goodies. You will also note it's importing from the grid as well, this is one of the oddities of the SPH just around sunrise and sunset it allegedly does a self test which results in the battery not supplying power for a few minutes even though it's not flat.

And then, after a couple minutes......

 

[torbrowser]

At a bit of a loss what else to try then.
What else could be stopping the battery discharging?

 

[johnb2713]

At a bit of a loss what else to try then.
What else could be stopping the battery discharging?

Does the inverter report the state of charge in the battery?

Daft question, is the battery switched on?

Is it a Growatt battery?

 

[torbrowser]

Yes, Growatt batteries, 2 x ML33RTA,
Inverter acknowledges the batteries state of charge, has charged them from the factory 20% up to where they are now.
I can press the on/off button on the first battery and both turn on, inverter recognizes when turned on or off.

Im using the factory CT clamp, have checked this by reversing it and watch the load direction arrow change, moved it closer to the main fuse, so don't think that is at fault.

Other issue is what it's doing today, nothing, it just sits there, all lit up in normal mode but no indication arrows on, if i turn on the Immersion heater it will read 3000w or so when you scroll down the display to Po = AC power output, so its aware power is being drawn just doesn't do anything about it.

Cheers

 

[johnb2713]

Yes, Growatt batteries, 2 x ML33RTA,
Inverter acknowledges the batteries state of charge, has charged them from the factory 20% up to where they are now.
I can press the on/off button on the first battery and both turn on, inverter recognizes when turned on or off.

Im using the factory CT clamp, have checked this by reversing it and watch the load direction arrow change, moved it closer to the main fuse, so don't think that is at fault.

Other issue is what it's doing today, nothing, it just sits there, all lit up in normal mode but no indication arrows on, if i turn on the Immersion heater it will read 3000w or so when you scroll down the display to Po = AC power output, so its aware power is being drawn just doesn't do anything about it.

Cheers

It sounds like you really need to get your installer back, I know there was an issue with mine on first startup and Growatt technical spoke with my installer and talked him through a firmware update which resolved the issue which was battery related but I'm not sure precisely what it was.

 

[torbrowser]

I am the installer!

 

[johnb2713]

I am the installer!

Then go and sort your client out LOL.

So in the Shine app you can see import from the grid and the inverter makes no attempt to take the load?

Grid high and low voltages set correctly?

 

[xanld]

Hi, you said you were using the factory CT, but the screenshot days 'meter' for power harvester.

I don't think the dialogue always shows the current settings, but is it worth checking it is definitely set to read from the CT, and isn't expecting meter readings?

 

[xanld]

P.S.

This doesn't solve your problem, but once you get it sorted, here's a tip I'm fond of...

I've figured out, it won't use the battery whilst in Battery First mode, even if SOC is above the target.

For example, I set my Charge Stopped SOC at 30% which is usually enough to see me through until the sun comes up. But if DOC is already at 50%, it won't discharge down to 30%, it'll import from the grid anyway which is annoying.

To get round this, I've minimised my Battery First period to an hour, just before my off peak rate ends at 4:30, and run my appliances like air source heat pump before this at 00:30. Then, I'll use battery, if it's available or grid at off peak if not, but always recharge it to 30% before my off peak ends.

 

[johnb2713]

Hi, you said you were using the factory CT, but the screenshot days 'meter' for power harvester.

I don't think the dialogue always shows the current settings, but is it worth checking it is definitely set to read from the CT, and isn't expecting meter readings?

The screenshots were from my system not the OP's

 

[torbrowser]

Just to get back on track,

• This is my own system at my house,
• I don't have the shine link app yet, it's on order. Controlling settings through front keypad.
• Battery is set to 100% charge rate, i have no option to set discharge rate through the keypad
• Battery communicates and does charge, but will not discharge when expected, ie, loads switched on
• I am using supplied CT link, confirmed it is working correctly

Then go and sort your client out LOL.

So in the Shine app you can see import from the grid and the inverter makes no attempt to take the load?

Grid high and low voltages set correctly?

Ha ha, i would if i could john, not got the shine app yet so i am limited to the changes i can make.

 

[johnb2713]

Just to get back on track,

• This is my own system at my house,
• I don't have the shine link app yet, it's on order. Controlling settings through front keypad.
• Battery is set to 100% charge rate, i have no option to set discharge rate through the keypad
• Battery communicates and does charge, but will not discharge when expected, ie, loads switched on
• I am using supplied CT link, confirmed it is working correctly

Ha ha, i would if i could john, not got the shine app yet so i am limited to the changes i can make.

What grid high and grid low voltages do you have set?

 

[torbrowser]

Grid high and low voltages are not something i can access from the front panel controls,
I have just got my shine link dongle this afternoon though, so will get this plugged in tomorrow and see what options this opens up.

Good news also on getting in contact with Growatt, i now have a contact that responds and wants to access the unit through the shine link connection once its installed.
Hopefully i am getting somewhere.

Thanks again for your help so far, and i will report back on what happens with the technical guy.

Cheers
Jack

 

[xanld]

Sorry for taking you off track. . Hope the shinelink reveals all.

 

[johnb2713]

Good news also on getting in contact with Growatt, i now have a contact that responds and wants to access the unit through the shine link connection once its installed.
Hopefully i am getting somewhere.

Thanks again for your help so far, and i will report back on what happens with the technical guy.

Cheers
Jack

Growatt tech support are really good with their remote access, I’m confident you’ll be sorted quickly.

 

[torbrowser]

Well, you were right John,
I ended up fitting the shine link device last night as i couldn't resist, and to my surprise it worked straight away!
I emailed Eric the tech guy late last night, and within half an hour had an email back saying he had fixed it!
Checked the local time in China and it was 06.45, so these guys don't muck about.

I replied asking what the issue was and all he said was incorrect factory setting, so that's that.

So had a cup of tea and slice of toast to celebrate and watched my free electric boil and grill both!

On a side note, i would count the shine link more of an essential item than an optional extra, the whole system now runs smoother and works as expected.
I'm going to let it run now for a few days and learn the app, i'll more than likely be back with a few more question as i progress with it.

Good result.

Thanks