Hi all

My recently installed Growatt 3kva inverter which has 2 x 100ah gel batteries. Power is from the grid and not solar.

I have noticed that it is constantly charging, even though in theory the batteries should not have drained as we have not had load shedding as yet. I sometimes hear the fan running as well. When I  checked the battery voltage it seems to be at a constant 25.3v, which is what it was when first installed.

I would like to know whether this is normal or do I need to be concerned. Need to make sure everything is working correctly with load shedding coming tonight possibly.

Thanks in advance.

Kavesh

 

 

The 25.3V seems low. The float should be 26.2V if left switched on. Charging is normally at about 28.2V

May be after using some battery power check the voltage as it is charging back to see to what level.

Ok so load shedding did not happen as planned.

I had a look at the settings and they were not set per above. We have now set the charging at 28.2v, with the float at 27v.

Also some settings needed to be changed which I can report has allowed the charge light to go from constant blinking to steady green, which I believe indicates fully charged.

I need to study the manual and familiarise myself with how it works.

In the box came an additional cable, one end is a USB and I assume the other will fit somewhere on the inverter. Is this something that would make setting up the inverter easier or to obtain reports or graphs?

 

44 minutes ago, Kavesh said:

In the box came an additional cable, one end is a USB and I assume the other will fit somewhere on the inverter. Is this something that would make setting up the inverter easier or to obtain reports or graphs?

Growatts are manufactured by Voltronic as Axperts are. I assume that the 3kW model has the same or similar communication board as my MKS 5K. The cable I received is a standard USB printer cable and fits in the corresponding connector on the board. Connecting the other end to a laptop allows you to monitor and control the inverter with software such as Watchpower. If your board doesn't have the USB printer type connector, it has a RS232 interface. It would require a RS232 to USB adapter to connect to a laptop.

On 2022/06/22 at 11:01 AM, Beat said:

Growatts are manufactured by Voltronic as Axperts are. I assume that the 3kW model has the same or similar communication board as my MKS 5K. The cable I received is a standard USB printer cable and fits in the corresponding connector on the board. Connecting the other end to a laptop allows you to monitor and control the inverter with software such as Watchpower. If your board doesn't have the USB printer type connector, it has a RS232 interface. It would require a RS232 to USB adapter to connect to a laptop.

Hi Yes, it did come with the cable. I have not tried connecting it to my laptop though, just been lazy. Is the Watchpower software free to download?

What are you guys using to protect the invertor from power surges?

I was talking to my electrician and he said that I could install a surge protector on the invertor DB but said that even though surge protector would blow it will not break the power. This sounds strange to me as I would assume the surge protector is like a fuse that would blow first and protect everything connected to it.

Would appreciate any thoughts on this please.