I recently installed a Growatt SPF5000 ES with two Dyness Lithium Batteries. Since the installation of the system, the cooling fan of the inverter was running non-stop. The person that did the installation claimed it should be the case, but I cannot see any logic in it. That fan will not last if it doesn't stop running when the system is cold. BTW, the system is running cold all the time. When touching the case, it doesn't feel warm at all. I then decided to approach another agent for Growatt to add four Solar Panels to my installation, and also to see what is wrong with the system. He did the installation and couldn't get the fan to stop either. He mentioned that he thinks there might be something wrong with the inverter.

Anybody with the same experience on a Growatt inverter? Or anyone that can give me advice on the settings. I played around with different settings to see if it stops, but no response. It is currently set for "UTI". 

 

Any response will be appreciated.

 

25 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

I recently installed a Growatt SPF5000 ES with two Dyness Lithium Batteries. Since the installation of the system, the cooling fan of the inverter was running non-stop. The person that did the installation claimed it should be the case, but I cannot see any logic in it. That fan will not last if it doesn't stop running when the system is cold. BTW, the system is running cold all the time. When touching the case, it doesn't feel warm at all. I then decided to approach another agent for Growatt to add four Solar Panels to my installation, and also to see what is wrong with the system. He did the installation and couldn't get the fan to stop either. He mentioned that he thinks there might be something wrong with the inverter.

Anybody with the same experience on a Growatt inverter? Or anyone that can give me advice on the settings. I played around with different settings to see if it stops, but no response. It is currently set for "UTI". 

 

Any response will be appreciated.

 

What is the current SOC of the batteries installed. Not all fans are triggered by actual heat. Some can be triggered by actual current before heat develops. At times it could take time the build up heat for the thermal mass of the inverter.

I have come across inverters where the description would say fans are triggered by temp when in fact they got triggered by current. You can state anything on paper 😊

20 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

I recently installed a Growatt SPF5000 ES with two Dyness Lithium Batteries. Since the installation of the system, the cooling fan of the inverter was running non-stop. The person that did the installation claimed it should be the case, but I cannot see any logic in it. That fan will not last if it doesn't stop running when the system is cold. BTW, the system is running cold all the time. When touching the case, it doesn't feel warm at all. I then decided to approach another agent for Growatt to add four Solar Panels to my installation, and also to see what is wrong with the system. He did the installation and couldn't get the fan to stop either. He mentioned that he thinks there might be something wrong with the inverter.

Anybody with the same experience on a Growatt inverter? Or anyone that can give me advice on the settings. I played around with different settings to see if it stops, but no response. It is currently set for "UTI". 

 

Any response will be appreciated.

 

You better get used to that noisy fans, They run continuously, I have two of them, they are very noisy indeed. Why are you running on UTI ? like that you will not be making use of your PV power. you have four options.

1. UTI = will always use grid power.
2. SUB = will use solar first if solar not enough to power your load it will merge whatever it needs with grid power if no grid power will use power from the battery.
3. SBU = will use solar first, if no solar will use battery, if no battery power will then use grid power.
4. SOL = Will use solar as first priority.

Also read the 2nd post

 

The fans are on permanently. From my observation the fan speed is load dependent and not temp dependent. 
Even now in winter when the Inverter temp is between 10 and 20C, as soon as I put a load of 3kW or more on it, the fans will ramp up to what is probably full speed.
Glad my Inverter is located in the Garage.

 
 

2 minutes ago, zsde said:

The fans are on permanently. From my observation the fan speed is load dependent and not temp dependent. 
Even now in winter when the Inverter temp is between 10 and 20C, as soon as I put a load of 3kW or more on it, the fans will ramp up to what is probably full speed.
Glad my Inverter is located in the Garage.

 
 

@zsde you are 100% right, the fan are load dependent. however, looking at your set up you are a bit high on the power side, Growatt 5000 ES max PV array power is 6000 W.

7 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

@zsde you are 100% right, the fan are load dependent. however, looking at your set up you are a bit high on the power side, Growatt 5000 ES max PV array power is 6000 W.

It clips at 22A and my VOC is way below the max, i.e. theoretical 300V max with 6 in series. Most I have seen is 290 but never under load. Under load the PV voltage drops to between 200 to 250V depending on the load.
The highest I have ever achieved is around 5400W. With the voltage drop under load it's impossible to get more than around 5500W unless I were to extend the series string with more panels to up the PV voltage. No intentions of doing that.
With the two strings it provides me with good yields on cloudy days whilst it can never get close to the max PV voltage of the MPPT.
 

31 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

What is the current SOC of the batteries installed. Not all fans are triggered by actual heat. Some can be triggered by actual current before heat develops. At times it could take time the build up heat for the thermal mass of the inverter.

I have come across inverters where the description would say fans are triggered by temp when in fact they got triggered by current. You can state anything on paper 😊

Thanks for the response. At the moment the solar supplies 69W and the Network 3258W. 

32 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

You better get used to that noisy fans, They run continuously, I have two of them, they are very noisy indeed. Why are you running on UTI ? like that you will not be making use of your PV power. you have four options.

1. UTI = will always use grid power.
2. SUB = will use solar first if solar not enough to power your load it will merge whatever it needs with grid power if no grid power will use power from the battery.
3. SBU = will use solar first, if no solar will use battery, if no battery power will then use grid power.
4. SOL = Will use solar as first priority.

I tried several options. I suppose I don't understand the system yet, because on some of the settings, the inverter tripped, even with ESKOM power on and available. That bogged my mind. Then I found that UTI works the best. It seems that I don't really save much on solar then. See me previous response wrt my current usage.

2 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

Thanks for the response. At the moment the solar supplies 69W and the Network 3258W. 

How many panels have you installed ? 69 W looks to little. 

5 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

Thanks for the response. At the moment the solar supplies 69W and the Network 3258W. 

Doesn't seem right. What time was your 69W reading?

6 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

I tried several options. I suppose I don't understand the system yet, because on some of the settings, the inverter tripped, even with ESKOM power on and available. That bogged my mind. Then I found that UTI works the best. It seems that I don't really save much on solar then. See me previous response wrt my current usage.

Question ? what was the error code when it tripped? maybe you are trying to pull more power then what the inverter can supply, remember you can only pull a 5 KW load from the inverter.

19 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

Thanks for the response. At the moment the solar supplies 69W and the Network 3258W. 

You are not saving anything at all the --- 69 W that you see is the no load power consumption of the inverter. It takes that from the battery.

Perhaps you can post your inverter settings from Program code 1 through to 23.

 

5 minutes ago, zsde said:

Perhaps you can post your inverter settings from Program code 1 through to 23.

 

I agree, that way we may be able to help.

45 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

How many panels have you installed ? 69 W looks to little. 

I agree it doesn't look right. I have four 545W panels. 

 

22 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

I agree, that way we may be able to help.

OK. Sounds like a plan. I'm not home a the moment. Can do that later in the evening.

1 hour ago, zsde said:

Doesn't seem right. What time was your 69W reading?

 

Just now, JacquesBrittz said:

 

This is my status at the moment as per my phone App.

27 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

This is my status at the moment as per my phone App.

@JacquesBrittz I don't see any solar production on your dashboard, something is very wrong, you said you have 4 X 540 W panels, at 10 Am you should be getting close to 1500 W of PV power.

6 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

@JacquesBrittz I don't see any solar production on your dashboard, something is very wrong, you said you have 4 X 540 W panels, at 10 Am you should be getting close to 1500 W of PV power.

Yes, I agree. I think I should get the guy out again that installed the system. 

1 hour ago, Antonio de Sa said:

Question ? what was the error code when it tripped? maybe you are trying to pull more power then what the inverter can supply, remember you can only pull a 5 KW load from the inverter.

Code 07...

35 minutes ago, JacquesBrittz said:

This is my status at the moment as per my phone App.

Once you post your settings, we could maybe see if it is settings related. Looking at your data, you have had solar production in the past. 
The values you see here are 0,3kW for today and then the 68,3 is the total production to date.

1 minute ago, JacquesBrittz said:

Code 07...

That is an overload of the system.

Just now, zsde said:

That is an overload of the system.

Yes, I noticed. Saw it in the manual.