Hi guys, not sure if this belongs here, but I thought I'd share my findings. Hopefully it helps a newbie like me.
Warning: I'm completely new to all of this, so feel free to provide constructive criticism.
This is a simplified how-to based off
How to connect and get a Sacolar/Growatt 5kw inverter to use the Li battery setting and properly communicate with the BlueNova BMAC.
From what I can tell, the Sacolar inverter is basically identical to the Growatt ES5000, but with far less popularity and online support. I went cheap, and that has its drawbacks.
The manuals are identical, and the online monitoring app for the Sacolar actually mentions Growatt in the EULA, so I'm assuming this would work for Growatts too.
It took me forever to figure out how to get the BMAC to communicate with the inverter properly, but it turns out to be quite simple to do.
Edit, leaving this next bit for posterity. I just tried out of curiosity, and turns out you don't need a special cable.
A straight patch cable will do! Wow. Just needed the right protocol setting.
I just needed the correct cable, which is probably going to be the biggest challenge for most if you don't happen to have an RJ45 crimping tool and cable/connectors lying around.
You need a standard cat-5 cable, wired:
Inverter side: pin 4 and pin 5 -> BMAC side: pin 7 and pin 8
All other wires cut/not connected.
If you don't have the equipment/know how, I'm sure a computer shop could make it for you.
The inverter and battery manuals explain the pinouts but I found them to be somewhat unclear, probably because I don't really understand the different protocols.
Plug the BMAC one end into the INV CAN port on the BMAC, and then the inverter side into the BMS port on the inverter.
On the BMAC, from the WiFi portal set the inverter to Growatt.
On the inverter, set menu setting 5 to Li
It will take you to menu 36, where I had to select L52. Why 52? I don't know. See the above link.
I found YouTube videos where 51 would work but not 52, for example, so I assume they actually are different.
P.S. if anyone has details of what those settings actually mean, that would be very insightful.
The inverter should beep about a fault for about 5 seconds and then be happy.
Now the inverter knows the actual SOC as per the BMAC, and everything lines up nicely.
Hope this helps