SiliconKid

Correct, as stated in my original post above:
"but unfortunately as the Grid draw increases and the CT accuracy improves the compensation you made by adjusting the CT ratio becomes an over compensation to a small extent, and there does not appear to be any way to combat that phenomenon."
We actually need SunSynk to make some changes, treat the negative load values as zero, and stop using the negative values in their internal calcs.

On the inverter itself go into the Advance menu and then go to the Others tab and you will find CT_Ratio there as an integer number you can edit.
You can also change it via the inverter settings from the Equipment page in the mobile app, under the Advanced options.

@Tsa
https://iccsoftware.co.za/help/
I already had an old Pi2B lying here, so I'm just using that, and I ordered the special cable you need to talk to the Pylontech BMS from Riaan at Diversified Solutions: [email protected]
Those guys are all very helpful.

Hi all
Last year in February I installed an SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter with 2 x US3000 Pylontech batteries, and ever since then it has been quite the journey to get everything working exactly the way I wanted it, without issues.
I have only just recently achieved a state of operation that I consider to be optimal, where everything works to my satisfaction, including the Wifi data logger and remote monitoring.
To achieve that state of Inverter nirvana required many hours (days) of fighting with hardware, communicating with Growatt reps in China, and flashing firmware in my garage myself like a mad scientist.
Finding the right firmware has always been a challenge because there is no official repository of Firmware for Growatt Inverters and Growatt do not want us to maintain our own equipment, so we (the PowerForum community) have had to source the Firmware piece by piece through direct communication with various Growatt reps, over time.
I have decided that it is now time to release my full curated and organised library of firmware and information to everyone.
You will find the entire library here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rySPfRIlk29Ij3wTQlYmuqM0dSTr_UHd?usp=sharing
 
PLEASE NOTE:
Everything you find at that link is SPECIFICALLY for the Growatt SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter.
Do NOT flash any other Inverter with those ROMs. Not ever. For any reason. Ever.
  I only use Pylontech batteries and some of the information might refer to Pylontech specifically.
  Growatt DO NOT approve of us flashing firmware to our Inverters over USB ourselves, or at all for that matter, and I have also been told that I should only be flashing firmware through some kind of USB emulator device.
I have personally never had a problem flashing over USB from a Windows 10 notebook without an emulator device, but I know what I'm doing and I'm methodical and careful.
You flash at your own risk. Both firmware, and in public parks.
  I do not have any Solar panels attached to my setup. It is configured as a pure battery backup / UPS solution. I have seen that other users of the same Inverter have had issues specific to Solar and I have very little knowledge on that sub topic. It is very possible that certain Firmware updates included in the link above may improve your experience with Solar, but I make no specific claims with regards to Solar and you should consult with other PowerForum users who have hands on experience with Solar connectivity with the SPF5000TL before you do anything crazy. DISCLAIMER:
I am providing this link, and these ROMs and tools, as a public service because I know how frustrating it is to not have this freely and easily available, and how hard it is to find this information and data, BUT I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY for what you choose to do with it.

I am not responsible for firmware adventures that go bad and result in the loss of life of Inverters because they were bricked because you forgot to charge your notebook battery before you started flashing or your cat jumped on the USB cable and pulled it out half way through a ROM flash.
I take NO responsibility for the consequences of your chosen actions, I am only the provider of information and knowledge. What you choose to do with it is on you.
DISCLAIMER ENDS
With great power (and a lot of ROMs from Growatt) comes great responsibility.
Good luck, and happy flashing
SiliconKid
 
 
 
 
 

Hi all
Last year in February I installed an SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter with 2 x US3000 Pylontech batteries, and ever since then it has been quite the journey to get everything working exactly the way I wanted it, without issues.
I have only just recently achieved a state of operation that I consider to be optimal, where everything works to my satisfaction, including the Wifi data logger and remote monitoring.
To achieve that state of Inverter nirvana required many hours (days) of fighting with hardware, communicating with Growatt reps in China, and flashing firmware in my garage myself like a mad scientist.
Finding the right firmware has always been a challenge because there is no official repository of Firmware for Growatt Inverters and Growatt do not want us to maintain our own equipment, so we (the PowerForum community) have had to source the Firmware piece by piece through direct communication with various Growatt reps, over time.
I have decided that it is now time to release my full curated and organised library of firmware and information to everyone.
You will find the entire library here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rySPfRIlk29Ij3wTQlYmuqM0dSTr_UHd?usp=sharing
 
PLEASE NOTE:
Everything you find at that link is SPECIFICALLY for the Growatt SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter.
Do NOT flash any other Inverter with those ROMs. Not ever. For any reason. Ever.
  I only use Pylontech batteries and some of the information might refer to Pylontech specifically.
  Growatt DO NOT approve of us flashing firmware to our Inverters over USB ourselves, or at all for that matter, and I have also been told that I should only be flashing firmware through some kind of USB emulator device.
I have personally never had a problem flashing over USB from a Windows 10 notebook without an emulator device, but I know what I'm doing and I'm methodical and careful.
You flash at your own risk. Both firmware, and in public parks.
  I do not have any Solar panels attached to my setup. It is configured as a pure battery backup / UPS solution. I have seen that other users of the same Inverter have had issues specific to Solar and I have very little knowledge on that sub topic. It is very possible that certain Firmware updates included in the link above may improve your experience with Solar, but I make no specific claims with regards to Solar and you should consult with other PowerForum users who have hands on experience with Solar connectivity with the SPF5000TL before you do anything crazy. DISCLAIMER:
I am providing this link, and these ROMs and tools, as a public service because I know how frustrating it is to not have this freely and easily available, and how hard it is to find this information and data, BUT I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY for what you choose to do with it.

I am not responsible for firmware adventures that go bad and result in the loss of life of Inverters because they were bricked because you forgot to charge your notebook battery before you started flashing or your cat jumped on the USB cable and pulled it out half way through a ROM flash.
I take NO responsibility for the consequences of your chosen actions, I am only the provider of information and knowledge. What you choose to do with it is on you.
DISCLAIMER ENDS
With great power (and a lot of ROMs from Growatt) comes great responsibility.
Good luck, and happy flashing
SiliconKid
 
 
 
 
 

NOTE TO ALL
We have now established that BOTH of the firmware updates that were provided to me by Growatt in China ARE required to get the BMS comms working correctly between the Growatt SPF5000 inverter and Pylontech batteries.
The two firmware updates they sent me are for two different things inside the inverter (Thanks to @Coulombfor taking a look at the firmware and confirming this):
The ARM chip. The DSP. Feedback from @Coulomb:   "So there are two firmwares in there, a TMS320F2809 (same DSP as most Axperts), and an ARM chip (Axpert Kings have one of these in the removable display)."
The firmware pack that I am providing to people who PM me asking for help contains both of those firmware updates, and they are both necessary to sort out all the BMS issues properly.
If you don't have both of those firmware updates installed, one of the symptoms is that BMS comms will appear to be working and there will be no errors BUT the SOC level will be stuck at 100% and the batteries will never get charged, which means that if you have solar connected it will never kick in and be used to charge your batteries.
And we have also confirmed that the firmware resolves the issues for a single standalone inverter and more than one inverter connected in parallel.
 

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

I'm with you as far as inverters that are either old and cannot be upgraded, or simply do not support BMS connectivity with a certain battery.
I was not aware of the current measuring capabilities of some inverters that you mentioned above, so that's some more useful information, thanks for that. 
I also don't dispute that the systems will work in User mode with manual config, and you can do that, but I'm still very skeptical about it working optimally and batteries being managed the best they could be if the BMS is not involved.
My real issue is with new inverters being sold with Li batteries that have a BMS, and then not working properly with those batteries, and then the supplier or installers tells the customer its not necessary and proceeds to work around the BMS by using a User profile.
That is not acceptable to me. If the inverter is not capable of BMS comms and cannot be upgraded with new firmware to support BMS comms, then it shouldn't be sold with those batteries.
That's exactly what happened to me recently and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm very technical, very persistent, not afraid of deploying firmware to anything, and refused to accept the 2nd prize solution, I would also now probably be running this inverter in User mode, and that would be a great shame because the whole system works far better and is far more accurate with the BMS active and in control.
Obviously if people are buying inverters and Li batteries privately and not through an installer, they also have a responsibility to do their homework properly and make sure they are buying an inverter that IS compatible with the BMS of the batteries they choose. But even then, the suppliers they buy from need to be responsible and tell customers when an inverter is not going to work with a certain BMS and warn them that combination they've chosen is not going to run optimally, using the BMS.
 
 
 
 

I've new to this game and I've been doing a lot of research lately and I'm concerned about one specific topic that keeps on coming up and seems to be causing a lot of confusion:
Why the BMS (Battery Management System) that is built into your expensive new Lithium battery should ALWAYS be connected to your inverter via a comms cable, properly, unless its physically not possible.
I'm seeing a lot of information about how BMS's are being bypassed completely and effectively ignored and inverters are being put into non Lithium specific modes (User mode) and configured manually so that they monitor the Lithium batteries using voltage monitoring only, as if they are the old Lead Acid or Gel type batteries.
And there seems to be a lot of acceptance that it's perfectly ok to do that and that the BMS really makes no real difference and it doesn't matter if your inverter is communicating with the BMS over a comms cable.
I have a real problem with that philosophy for a few reasons, and if you understand what actually happens when you connect your inverter to the BMS properly and proper comms is established, it becomes very clear why that is always a far better option.
Things to know and understand:
1. The reason you paid so much money for your new Lithium battery with a built in BMS is because that battery is not like the old Lead Acid or Gel batteries which are literally just a group of cells joined together with a positive and negative terminal.
The BMS built into Lithium batteries is a computer and is monitoring the internal state of your battery down to cell level micro voltages. It is aware of everything going on inside that battery and it knows when the battery needs to be charged, how much current it needs to draw, exactly what the current SOC (state of charge) is (as an extremely accurate % value).
2. When inverters are only connected to a Lithium battery via the voltage leads, and ignore the BMS, they can only use the voltage level they are monitoring across those voltage leads to make any decisions related to discharging the battery or trying to show you the current SOC of your battery (which they have to attempt to calculate based on voltage floor and ceiling values that you've manually configured and the voltage they are currently seeing across the battery terminals).
That does work, but it's not nearly as accurate as the BMS is.
The problem is that:
       a. Most inverters, particularly cheaper ones (under 20K ZAR as a generalisation) don't seem to be able to detect very fine grained changes in the voltage across the battery leads. And consequently they aren't able to give you a SOC value that is dead on accurate to what is actually going on with your battery. Depending on how coarse grained the voltage monitoring of your specific inverter is, the changes in charge level that you will see displayed will vary all over the place and it will not change by 1% at a time, it will jump values (random example: It might drop from 95% straight down to 90%).
       b. Lithium batteries have a narrower voltage range between fully discharged and fully charged, than the other types of batteries, and that makes the situation even worse for inverters that can't pickup small voltage changes because smaller changes in voltage now mean bigger changes in SOC.
3. If you get your inverter to talk to the BMS correctly, as intended by the battery manufacturer, the following happens:
     a. You have what we refer to in the software industry as an "inversion of control".  This is very important to understand. When the BMS establishes proper comms with your inverter the BMS TAKES OVER responsibility for what happens to the battery. In that scenario the BMS is now in control and NOT the inverter. That is why an inverter that is properly connected to an Li BMS, and is put into a proper Li mode, LOCKS multiple settings related to voltage floor and ceiling, charging current limits, and some other things. The reason is because the inverter is no longer responsible for deciding those values, and neither is the user (which is why you can't set them), the BMS is. 
The BMS now constantly reports it's SOC and other relevant information to the inverter AND it will tell the inverter when it needs to be charged etc. The inverter just does what it's told, how it's told, when it's told.
The inverter will also now display real time, extremely accurate SOC values and real time charge current values etc., because those values are constantly being sent to it by the BMS.
    b. If you have multiple batteries stacked, then one of those batteries is the master and the BMS will act on behalf of all of the batteries in that stack and make sure that charge is evenly distributed to all batteries and that things are always in balance across the stack.
 
The bottom line is that if you have Li batteries with a BMS, you should always want your inverter connected to that BMS properly, and using the old voltage monitoring approach is NOT the same thing.
I fully understand that if you have an older inverter you may be in a position where there is no new firmware available and it doesn't have an Li profile and can't communicate with a BMS, in which case you have no choice but to rely on voltage monitoring, and you still get multiple benefits from using Li batteries.
My problem is with brand new inverters being setup to willfully bypass the BMS on expensive new Li batteries and being configure to run in USE (User mode) and use voltage monitoring and that being considered perfectly acceptable and ok.
I've personally just spent 80K ZAR on a new battery backup system with a 5Kva Growatt inverter and 2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries and it took me a week of communicating with Growatt in China and doing my own research to figure out why my new inverter would not communicate with the BMS correctly (during which time I had USE mode and voltage monitoring active as temporary workaround). But I refused to accept that the inverter would not connect to the BMS properly and eventually I resolved the issue, upgraded the firmware, and got it right.
And now my system is far more accurate and I know that those very expensive Li batteries I bought are being managed properly and not abused, and I know that the information I'm seeing in the monitoring app and on the inverter display is dead on real time accurate.
If your new inverter is not connecting to your BMS properly then in my opinion that's a problem and needs to be addressed. New firmware must be provided if necessary to upgrade the inverter to be properly compatible with your batteries, and proper documentation must provided explaining exactly what type of cable needs to be used for BMS comms in your specific case, what dip switches need to be set on the battery (if applicable) and what mode the inverter must be put into to trigger proper BMS comms and run in a proper Li profile.
There is a reason we are paying 20K per battery for Li batteries with fancy BMS's built in.
Please use them.

Hi all
Last year in February I installed an SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter with 2 x US3000 Pylontech batteries, and ever since then it has been quite the journey to get everything working exactly the way I wanted it, without issues.
I have only just recently achieved a state of operation that I consider to be optimal, where everything works to my satisfaction, including the Wifi data logger and remote monitoring.
To achieve that state of Inverter nirvana required many hours (days) of fighting with hardware, communicating with Growatt reps in China, and flashing firmware in my garage myself like a mad scientist.
Finding the right firmware has always been a challenge because there is no official repository of Firmware for Growatt Inverters and Growatt do not want us to maintain our own equipment, so we (the PowerForum community) have had to source the Firmware piece by piece through direct communication with various Growatt reps, over time.
I have decided that it is now time to release my full curated and organised library of firmware and information to everyone.
You will find the entire library here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rySPfRIlk29Ij3wTQlYmuqM0dSTr_UHd?usp=sharing
 
PLEASE NOTE:
Everything you find at that link is SPECIFICALLY for the Growatt SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter.
Do NOT flash any other Inverter with those ROMs. Not ever. For any reason. Ever.
  I only use Pylontech batteries and some of the information might refer to Pylontech specifically.
  Growatt DO NOT approve of us flashing firmware to our Inverters over USB ourselves, or at all for that matter, and I have also been told that I should only be flashing firmware through some kind of USB emulator device.
I have personally never had a problem flashing over USB from a Windows 10 notebook without an emulator device, but I know what I'm doing and I'm methodical and careful.
You flash at your own risk. Both firmware, and in public parks.
  I do not have any Solar panels attached to my setup. It is configured as a pure battery backup / UPS solution. I have seen that other users of the same Inverter have had issues specific to Solar and I have very little knowledge on that sub topic. It is very possible that certain Firmware updates included in the link above may improve your experience with Solar, but I make no specific claims with regards to Solar and you should consult with other PowerForum users who have hands on experience with Solar connectivity with the SPF5000TL before you do anything crazy. DISCLAIMER:
I am providing this link, and these ROMs and tools, as a public service because I know how frustrating it is to not have this freely and easily available, and how hard it is to find this information and data, BUT I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY for what you choose to do with it.

I am not responsible for firmware adventures that go bad and result in the loss of life of Inverters because they were bricked because you forgot to charge your notebook battery before you started flashing or your cat jumped on the USB cable and pulled it out half way through a ROM flash.
I take NO responsibility for the consequences of your chosen actions, I am only the provider of information and knowledge. What you choose to do with it is on you.
DISCLAIMER ENDS
With great power (and a lot of ROMs from Growatt) comes great responsibility.
Good luck, and happy flashing
SiliconKid
 
 
 
 
 

500.12 was definitely a problem and Growatt themselves instructed me to revert to the previous version (500.11 as I recall) to stop the fan fail warnings.
As soon as I reverted, that nonsense stopped.

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

I've new to this game and I've been doing a lot of research lately and I'm concerned about one specific topic that keeps on coming up and seems to be causing a lot of confusion:
Why the BMS (Battery Management System) that is built into your expensive new Lithium battery should ALWAYS be connected to your inverter via a comms cable, properly, unless its physically not possible.
I'm seeing a lot of information about how BMS's are being bypassed completely and effectively ignored and inverters are being put into non Lithium specific modes (User mode) and configured manually so that they monitor the Lithium batteries using voltage monitoring only, as if they are the old Lead Acid or Gel type batteries.
And there seems to be a lot of acceptance that it's perfectly ok to do that and that the BMS really makes no real difference and it doesn't matter if your inverter is communicating with the BMS over a comms cable.
I have a real problem with that philosophy for a few reasons, and if you understand what actually happens when you connect your inverter to the BMS properly and proper comms is established, it becomes very clear why that is always a far better option.
Things to know and understand:
1. The reason you paid so much money for your new Lithium battery with a built in BMS is because that battery is not like the old Lead Acid or Gel batteries which are literally just a group of cells joined together with a positive and negative terminal.
The BMS built into Lithium batteries is a computer and is monitoring the internal state of your battery down to cell level micro voltages. It is aware of everything going on inside that battery and it knows when the battery needs to be charged, how much current it needs to draw, exactly what the current SOC (state of charge) is (as an extremely accurate % value).
2. When inverters are only connected to a Lithium battery via the voltage leads, and ignore the BMS, they can only use the voltage level they are monitoring across those voltage leads to make any decisions related to discharging the battery or trying to show you the current SOC of your battery (which they have to attempt to calculate based on voltage floor and ceiling values that you've manually configured and the voltage they are currently seeing across the battery terminals).
That does work, but it's not nearly as accurate as the BMS is.
The problem is that:
       a. Most inverters, particularly cheaper ones (under 20K ZAR as a generalisation) don't seem to be able to detect very fine grained changes in the voltage across the battery leads. And consequently they aren't able to give you a SOC value that is dead on accurate to what is actually going on with your battery. Depending on how coarse grained the voltage monitoring of your specific inverter is, the changes in charge level that you will see displayed will vary all over the place and it will not change by 1% at a time, it will jump values (random example: It might drop from 95% straight down to 90%).
       b. Lithium batteries have a narrower voltage range between fully discharged and fully charged, than the other types of batteries, and that makes the situation even worse for inverters that can't pickup small voltage changes because smaller changes in voltage now mean bigger changes in SOC.
3. If you get your inverter to talk to the BMS correctly, as intended by the battery manufacturer, the following happens:
     a. You have what we refer to in the software industry as an "inversion of control".  This is very important to understand. When the BMS establishes proper comms with your inverter the BMS TAKES OVER responsibility for what happens to the battery. In that scenario the BMS is now in control and NOT the inverter. That is why an inverter that is properly connected to an Li BMS, and is put into a proper Li mode, LOCKS multiple settings related to voltage floor and ceiling, charging current limits, and some other things. The reason is because the inverter is no longer responsible for deciding those values, and neither is the user (which is why you can't set them), the BMS is. 
The BMS now constantly reports it's SOC and other relevant information to the inverter AND it will tell the inverter when it needs to be charged etc. The inverter just does what it's told, how it's told, when it's told.
The inverter will also now display real time, extremely accurate SOC values and real time charge current values etc., because those values are constantly being sent to it by the BMS.
    b. If you have multiple batteries stacked, then one of those batteries is the master and the BMS will act on behalf of all of the batteries in that stack and make sure that charge is evenly distributed to all batteries and that things are always in balance across the stack.
 
The bottom line is that if you have Li batteries with a BMS, you should always want your inverter connected to that BMS properly, and using the old voltage monitoring approach is NOT the same thing.
I fully understand that if you have an older inverter you may be in a position where there is no new firmware available and it doesn't have an Li profile and can't communicate with a BMS, in which case you have no choice but to rely on voltage monitoring, and you still get multiple benefits from using Li batteries.
My problem is with brand new inverters being setup to willfully bypass the BMS on expensive new Li batteries and being configure to run in USE (User mode) and use voltage monitoring and that being considered perfectly acceptable and ok.
I've personally just spent 80K ZAR on a new battery backup system with a 5Kva Growatt inverter and 2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries and it took me a week of communicating with Growatt in China and doing my own research to figure out why my new inverter would not communicate with the BMS correctly (during which time I had USE mode and voltage monitoring active as temporary workaround). But I refused to accept that the inverter would not connect to the BMS properly and eventually I resolved the issue, upgraded the firmware, and got it right.
And now my system is far more accurate and I know that those very expensive Li batteries I bought are being managed properly and not abused, and I know that the information I'm seeing in the monitoring app and on the inverter display is dead on real time accurate.
If your new inverter is not connecting to your BMS properly then in my opinion that's a problem and needs to be addressed. New firmware must be provided if necessary to upgrade the inverter to be properly compatible with your batteries, and proper documentation must provided explaining exactly what type of cable needs to be used for BMS comms in your specific case, what dip switches need to be set on the battery (if applicable) and what mode the inverter must be put into to trigger proper BMS comms and run in a proper Li profile.
There is a reason we are paying 20K per battery for Li batteries with fancy BMS's built in.
Please use them.

I've new to this game and I've been doing a lot of research lately and I'm concerned about one specific topic that keeps on coming up and seems to be causing a lot of confusion:
Why the BMS (Battery Management System) that is built into your expensive new Lithium battery should ALWAYS be connected to your inverter via a comms cable, properly, unless its physically not possible.
I'm seeing a lot of information about how BMS's are being bypassed completely and effectively ignored and inverters are being put into non Lithium specific modes (User mode) and configured manually so that they monitor the Lithium batteries using voltage monitoring only, as if they are the old Lead Acid or Gel type batteries.
And there seems to be a lot of acceptance that it's perfectly ok to do that and that the BMS really makes no real difference and it doesn't matter if your inverter is communicating with the BMS over a comms cable.
I have a real problem with that philosophy for a few reasons, and if you understand what actually happens when you connect your inverter to the BMS properly and proper comms is established, it becomes very clear why that is always a far better option.
Things to know and understand:
1. The reason you paid so much money for your new Lithium battery with a built in BMS is because that battery is not like the old Lead Acid or Gel batteries which are literally just a group of cells joined together with a positive and negative terminal.
The BMS built into Lithium batteries is a computer and is monitoring the internal state of your battery down to cell level micro voltages. It is aware of everything going on inside that battery and it knows when the battery needs to be charged, how much current it needs to draw, exactly what the current SOC (state of charge) is (as an extremely accurate % value).
2. When inverters are only connected to a Lithium battery via the voltage leads, and ignore the BMS, they can only use the voltage level they are monitoring across those voltage leads to make any decisions related to discharging the battery or trying to show you the current SOC of your battery (which they have to attempt to calculate based on voltage floor and ceiling values that you've manually configured and the voltage they are currently seeing across the battery terminals).
That does work, but it's not nearly as accurate as the BMS is.
The problem is that:
       a. Most inverters, particularly cheaper ones (under 20K ZAR as a generalisation) don't seem to be able to detect very fine grained changes in the voltage across the battery leads. And consequently they aren't able to give you a SOC value that is dead on accurate to what is actually going on with your battery. Depending on how coarse grained the voltage monitoring of your specific inverter is, the changes in charge level that you will see displayed will vary all over the place and it will not change by 1% at a time, it will jump values (random example: It might drop from 95% straight down to 90%).
       b. Lithium batteries have a narrower voltage range between fully discharged and fully charged, than the other types of batteries, and that makes the situation even worse for inverters that can't pickup small voltage changes because smaller changes in voltage now mean bigger changes in SOC.
3. If you get your inverter to talk to the BMS correctly, as intended by the battery manufacturer, the following happens:
     a. You have what we refer to in the software industry as an "inversion of control".  This is very important to understand. When the BMS establishes proper comms with your inverter the BMS TAKES OVER responsibility for what happens to the battery. In that scenario the BMS is now in control and NOT the inverter. That is why an inverter that is properly connected to an Li BMS, and is put into a proper Li mode, LOCKS multiple settings related to voltage floor and ceiling, charging current limits, and some other things. The reason is because the inverter is no longer responsible for deciding those values, and neither is the user (which is why you can't set them), the BMS is. 
The BMS now constantly reports it's SOC and other relevant information to the inverter AND it will tell the inverter when it needs to be charged etc. The inverter just does what it's told, how it's told, when it's told.
The inverter will also now display real time, extremely accurate SOC values and real time charge current values etc., because those values are constantly being sent to it by the BMS.
    b. If you have multiple batteries stacked, then one of those batteries is the master and the BMS will act on behalf of all of the batteries in that stack and make sure that charge is evenly distributed to all batteries and that things are always in balance across the stack.
 
The bottom line is that if you have Li batteries with a BMS, you should always want your inverter connected to that BMS properly, and using the old voltage monitoring approach is NOT the same thing.
I fully understand that if you have an older inverter you may be in a position where there is no new firmware available and it doesn't have an Li profile and can't communicate with a BMS, in which case you have no choice but to rely on voltage monitoring, and you still get multiple benefits from using Li batteries.
My problem is with brand new inverters being setup to willfully bypass the BMS on expensive new Li batteries and being configure to run in USE (User mode) and use voltage monitoring and that being considered perfectly acceptable and ok.
I've personally just spent 80K ZAR on a new battery backup system with a 5Kva Growatt inverter and 2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries and it took me a week of communicating with Growatt in China and doing my own research to figure out why my new inverter would not communicate with the BMS correctly (during which time I had USE mode and voltage monitoring active as temporary workaround). But I refused to accept that the inverter would not connect to the BMS properly and eventually I resolved the issue, upgraded the firmware, and got it right.
And now my system is far more accurate and I know that those very expensive Li batteries I bought are being managed properly and not abused, and I know that the information I'm seeing in the monitoring app and on the inverter display is dead on real time accurate.
If your new inverter is not connecting to your BMS properly then in my opinion that's a problem and needs to be addressed. New firmware must be provided if necessary to upgrade the inverter to be properly compatible with your batteries, and proper documentation must provided explaining exactly what type of cable needs to be used for BMS comms in your specific case, what dip switches need to be set on the battery (if applicable) and what mode the inverter must be put into to trigger proper BMS comms and run in a proper Li profile.
There is a reason we are paying 20K per battery for Li batteries with fancy BMS's built in.
Please use them.

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

Hi all
Last year in February I installed an SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter with 2 x US3000 Pylontech batteries, and ever since then it has been quite the journey to get everything working exactly the way I wanted it, without issues.
I have only just recently achieved a state of operation that I consider to be optimal, where everything works to my satisfaction, including the Wifi data logger and remote monitoring.
To achieve that state of Inverter nirvana required many hours (days) of fighting with hardware, communicating with Growatt reps in China, and flashing firmware in my garage myself like a mad scientist.
Finding the right firmware has always been a challenge because there is no official repository of Firmware for Growatt Inverters and Growatt do not want us to maintain our own equipment, so we (the PowerForum community) have had to source the Firmware piece by piece through direct communication with various Growatt reps, over time.
I have decided that it is now time to release my full curated and organised library of firmware and information to everyone.
You will find the entire library here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rySPfRIlk29Ij3wTQlYmuqM0dSTr_UHd?usp=sharing
 
PLEASE NOTE:
Everything you find at that link is SPECIFICALLY for the Growatt SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter.
Do NOT flash any other Inverter with those ROMs. Not ever. For any reason. Ever.
  I only use Pylontech batteries and some of the information might refer to Pylontech specifically.
  Growatt DO NOT approve of us flashing firmware to our Inverters over USB ourselves, or at all for that matter, and I have also been told that I should only be flashing firmware through some kind of USB emulator device.
I have personally never had a problem flashing over USB from a Windows 10 notebook without an emulator device, but I know what I'm doing and I'm methodical and careful.
You flash at your own risk. Both firmware, and in public parks.
  I do not have any Solar panels attached to my setup. It is configured as a pure battery backup / UPS solution. I have seen that other users of the same Inverter have had issues specific to Solar and I have very little knowledge on that sub topic. It is very possible that certain Firmware updates included in the link above may improve your experience with Solar, but I make no specific claims with regards to Solar and you should consult with other PowerForum users who have hands on experience with Solar connectivity with the SPF5000TL before you do anything crazy. DISCLAIMER:
I am providing this link, and these ROMs and tools, as a public service because I know how frustrating it is to not have this freely and easily available, and how hard it is to find this information and data, BUT I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY for what you choose to do with it.

I am not responsible for firmware adventures that go bad and result in the loss of life of Inverters because they were bricked because you forgot to charge your notebook battery before you started flashing or your cat jumped on the USB cable and pulled it out half way through a ROM flash.
I take NO responsibility for the consequences of your chosen actions, I am only the provider of information and knowledge. What you choose to do with it is on you.
DISCLAIMER ENDS
With great power (and a lot of ROMs from Growatt) comes great responsibility.
Good luck, and happy flashing
SiliconKid
 
 
 
 
 

Hi all
Last year in February I installed an SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter with 2 x US3000 Pylontech batteries, and ever since then it has been quite the journey to get everything working exactly the way I wanted it, without issues.
I have only just recently achieved a state of operation that I consider to be optimal, where everything works to my satisfaction, including the Wifi data logger and remote monitoring.
To achieve that state of Inverter nirvana required many hours (days) of fighting with hardware, communicating with Growatt reps in China, and flashing firmware in my garage myself like a mad scientist.
Finding the right firmware has always been a challenge because there is no official repository of Firmware for Growatt Inverters and Growatt do not want us to maintain our own equipment, so we (the PowerForum community) have had to source the Firmware piece by piece through direct communication with various Growatt reps, over time.
I have decided that it is now time to release my full curated and organised library of firmware and information to everyone.
You will find the entire library here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rySPfRIlk29Ij3wTQlYmuqM0dSTr_UHd?usp=sharing
 
PLEASE NOTE:
Everything you find at that link is SPECIFICALLY for the Growatt SPF5000TL HVM-P Inverter.
Do NOT flash any other Inverter with those ROMs. Not ever. For any reason. Ever.
  I only use Pylontech batteries and some of the information might refer to Pylontech specifically.
  Growatt DO NOT approve of us flashing firmware to our Inverters over USB ourselves, or at all for that matter, and I have also been told that I should only be flashing firmware through some kind of USB emulator device.
I have personally never had a problem flashing over USB from a Windows 10 notebook without an emulator device, but I know what I'm doing and I'm methodical and careful.
You flash at your own risk. Both firmware, and in public parks.
  I do not have any Solar panels attached to my setup. It is configured as a pure battery backup / UPS solution. I have seen that other users of the same Inverter have had issues specific to Solar and I have very little knowledge on that sub topic. It is very possible that certain Firmware updates included in the link above may improve your experience with Solar, but I make no specific claims with regards to Solar and you should consult with other PowerForum users who have hands on experience with Solar connectivity with the SPF5000TL before you do anything crazy. DISCLAIMER:
I am providing this link, and these ROMs and tools, as a public service because I know how frustrating it is to not have this freely and easily available, and how hard it is to find this information and data, BUT I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY for what you choose to do with it.

I am not responsible for firmware adventures that go bad and result in the loss of life of Inverters because they were bricked because you forgot to charge your notebook battery before you started flashing or your cat jumped on the USB cable and pulled it out half way through a ROM flash.
I take NO responsibility for the consequences of your chosen actions, I am only the provider of information and knowledge. What you choose to do with it is on you.
DISCLAIMER ENDS
With great power (and a lot of ROMs from Growatt) comes great responsibility.
Good luck, and happy flashing
SiliconKid
 
 
 
 
 

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

@Tsa
https://iccsoftware.co.za/help/
I already had an old Pi2B lying here, so I'm just using that, and I ordered the special cable you need to talk to the Pylontech BMS from Riaan at Diversified Solutions: [email protected]
Those guys are all very helpful.

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

I've recently purchased and installed the following:
1 x Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter.
2 x Pylontech US3000 batteries.
1 x Pylontech cable kit with RJ45 BMS comms cable included.
I've just spent 5 days communicating with Growatt in China to figure out why I could not get the inverter to communicate with the BMS on the master battery properly.
After many, many emails back and forward, and far too many hours of research online, I finally got it right today and I think it is worth sharing this information here, in case anybody else needs it, because I couldn't find the right information anywhere on the internet, all in one place, explained properly.
It turns out that the Growatt SPF5000 has to be connected to the Pylontech batteries differently to the way Axpert inverters are connected to Pylontech batteries.
Everything I was reading online was saying that you need to plug the RJ45 comms cable into the CAN port on the master battery and then into the BMS port on the inverter, and then you need to set the battery type to Li (setting 05 on Axpert and Growatt inverters) and then choose Li profile L02 (also apparently the same for Axpert and Growatt inverters).
It turns out, the Growatt does NOT communicate via the CAN port. It communicates via the RS485 port that is positioned below the CAN port on the master battery.
And in addition to that, it requires a 9600 baud rate, which you can set using the 4 small white dipswitches on the master battery.
For the Growatt you must set those dipswitches to:  1 0 0 0 (ON OFF OFF OFF)
When connected to the CAN port and put into Li (L02) mode, the Growatt inverter faults and gives an error 20 and an error 04 constantly.
When connected to the RS485 port with the dipswitches set to 1000, comms is immediately established and it works as intended.
I also installed 2 firmware updates on the inverter, that were sent to me by Growatt in China (who were very helpful through this entire process despite not actually giving me the information I actually needed to solve this), but in retrospect I actually wonder if those firmware updates even made a difference because I was able to put the inverter into Li (L02) mode before applying those firmware updates anyway, I just didn't know about the RS485 port and the dipswitches.
Recommended configuration process
1. Turn inverter on but run off battery only. Disable A/C input and  A/C output (use isolator switches if you have them).
2. Go to setting 5 and select battery type = Li. Then select profile L02 (This is specifically for Pylontech batteries). Push ESC to return to home screen. Go back to setting 5 and verify that it was saved as Li.
3. Now shutdown the inverter and batteries completely. Turn the batteries off using the on/off flip switch, not just the red button on the master battery.
4. Now make sure that the end of the comms cable on the battery side (it will probably have a little sticker on it that says BAT) is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled RS485 that is below the CAN port. And also make sure that the other end is plugged into the RJ45 port labelled BMS on the inverter and NOT into the other RJ45 port that is labelled RS485 (Yes, I know, it's weird, just go with it).
5. Now set the 4 little white dipswitches to: ON OFF OFF OFF (1000).
6. Now turn the batteries back on and then turn the inverter back on.
You should no longer see any fault codes or the red fault light.
How to tell that the inverter really is communicating with the BMS properly
1. You should now see a little Li symbol next to the battery icon on the home screen of the inverter, and that Li symbol should NOT be flashing. When it's not flashing and is solid it means comms is working.
2. If you go and look at most of the battery values on the status screens or in settings related to battery level (SOC) you should now see percentage values where there were voltage values before. Setting 21 is a good example of that.
I hope this helps somebody else because the information available online with regards to the Growatt routers is of no help in this regard and most of the information available relates to Axpert inverters, which appear to be very similar to the Growatt at face value, but communicate with the Pylontech batteries differently from what I can see.
 
 
 
 
 

Growatt can't get their firmware right so now they're blaming the batteries. It's not the batteries, other better inverters work fine with the same batteries based on anecdotal evidence. 
The firmware version numbers from Growatt are all over the place. I gave up trying to figure out which is version is the "most recent" or "correct". 
I have a firmware update pack that I've been giving to anybody who asks, that sorts out the original 4/20 BMS comms failures, as detailed by me in the very first post in this forum thread. 
That update will get BMS comms working properly over an RS485 cable but there are still issues related to Solar and input being turned on and off inappropriately which the SA Growatt community have been fighting for months. 
For a straight forward battery backup solution using the grid to charge the batteries and with NO solar connected, the firmware I offer is perfect. 
If you have Solar it doesn't look like there is any hope. Growatt can't get it right and it looks their inverters actually just aren't all that good. They work with solar, but the implementation is basic and non optimal. 
For Solar I would suggest getting rid of the Growatt and buying a Sunsynk or maybe Deye instead. The Sunsynk are very good. 
If you want the firmware I have, PM me. 

Growatt can't get their firmware right so now they're blaming the batteries. It's not the batteries, other better inverters work fine with the same batteries based on anecdotal evidence. 
The firmware version numbers from Growatt are all over the place. I gave up trying to figure out which is version is the "most recent" or "correct". 
I have a firmware update pack that I've been giving to anybody who asks, that sorts out the original 4/20 BMS comms failures, as detailed by me in the very first post in this forum thread. 
That update will get BMS comms working properly over an RS485 cable but there are still issues related to Solar and input being turned on and off inappropriately which the SA Growatt community have been fighting for months. 
For a straight forward battery backup solution using the grid to charge the batteries and with NO solar connected, the firmware I offer is perfect. 
If you have Solar it doesn't look like there is any hope. Growatt can't get it right and it looks their inverters actually just aren't all that good. They work with solar, but the implementation is basic and non optimal. 
For Solar I would suggest getting rid of the Growatt and buying a Sunsynk or maybe Deye instead. The Sunsynk are very good. 
If you want the firmware I have, PM me.