Hi 

I have got installed a Growatt spf5000es on July 4th 2022 and two night ago (18 days after installation) it stopped in the middle of the night and started to spark as trying to auto restart. 

Today the technician came and took the whole inverter back to his atelier for repair as the MPPT has a fried chip and this whole part needs to be replaced. I asked the reason it could have happened and he said maybe an overload.

Now at the moment it stopped, they were only 600watts load on the inverter, my bedroom AC at night. Also looking at the stats since I have the inverter, the it rarely went over 3000 watts load for long period and had a one time spike at 4200 watts.

I'm curious to know if anyone else had a fried MPPT and what happened after the repair. I'm still a Growatt enthusiast but this event makes me want to know if there are downsides to this inverter. 

Edited July 23, 20223 yr by WilliamP
Incomplete sentence

Looking at your graphs, all look well inside the specs. This is probably just a premature failure of a component. Hopefully they'll repair it under guarantee. My only gripe with Growatt is their applied algorithm which always uses the battery to power the inverter. You will see it only when the batteries are fully charged. Even if surplus PV is available, once it hits 100% charge, it starts discharging the battery at around 1 Amp until it reaches 94,9%, then it charges the batteries again. There is no float charge as such to keep the batteries at 100%. This is evident when using the Lithium Protocols. Whether it behaves different in USE mode I don't know.
Am otherwise mostly satisfied so far with mine. (Had it since Aug last year)

Edited July 23, 20223 yr by zsde

9 hours ago, zsde said:

Looking at your graphs, all look well inside the specs. This is probably just a premature failure of a component. Hopefully they'll repair it under guarantee. My only gripe with Growatt is their applied algorithm which always uses the battery to power the inverter. You will see it only when the batteries are fully charged. Even if surplus PV is available, once it hits 100% charge, it starts discharging the battery at around 1 Amp until it reaches 94,9%, then it charges the batteries again. There is no float charge as such to keep the batteries at 100%. This is evident when using the Lithium Protocols. Whether it behaves different in USE mode I don't know.
Am otherwise mostly satisfied so far with mine. (Had it since Aug last year)

Thanks for your input on this. Yes I think everything will be repaired under warranty as I declared this problem in a Whatsapp group with my installer, the local Growatt importer and 2 managers at Growatt in China 😉.

 

I also notice the battery being used without need. And sometimes a little load going on the grid even if there is plenty available on solar and being in solar first mode.

My biggest concern beside this incident is that my firmware number does not look like anyone posting here. I hope I will be able to benefit from firmware improvements in the future and also being able to parallel another Growatt inverter to my system.

1 hour ago, WilliamP said:

Thanks for your input on this. Yes I think everything will be repaired under warranty as I declared this problem in a Whatsapp group with my installer, the local Growatt importer and 2 managers at Growatt in China 😉.

 

I also notice the battery being used without need. And sometimes a little load going on the grid even if there is plenty available on solar and being in solar first mode.

My biggest concern beside this incident is that my firmware number does not look like anyone posting here. I hope I will be able to benefit from firmware improvements in the future and also being able to parallel another Growatt inverter to my system.

Growatt in their wisdom decided to change the MCU chip on the latest versions of their Inverter. Still the same model number but the new Versions cannot be paralleled with the older versions unless the comms boards are changed.
This from their best Chinese-English documentation.
The new firmwares are 067.XXX / 068.XXX  our older ones are all 040.XXX / 041.XXX

 

High Frequency Inverter

• SPF 5000ES /SPF 5000TL HVM WPV ( WPV model is almost same with ES, so firmwares are totally same.)

SPF 5000ES Newest Firmware Download

• Newest SPF 5000ES ( MCU chip on control board has changed in new version, and control board is different from old version)

How to differentiat old version SPF 5000ES and new version SPF 5000ES

Newest SPF 5000ES has different firmware name from old version. You can distinguish them based on this. Old version SPF 5000ES firmware begins with 40.**/ 41.**.

I suggest you get some professional electricians to check your cabling as well... We had 2 inverters motherboards get fried for seemingly no reason, ended up being a cut cable, when wet it would spike suddenly. 

Wasn't malfunctioning under normal circumstances even.

Our normal electrician didn't have the equipment nor know how to diagnose. 

Called in another electrician, they used something called "thumping" to locate a cut cable outside underground. 

Most likely you had a component early drop out. That's what the guarantee is for. But also make sure that the PV output to the MPPT is within specs.

In my knowledge Growatt is manufactured by Voltronic. I run 2 Axpert/Synerjy MKS 5k (off grid) in parallel for 2 years. The only problem was a faulty parallel board in the beginning. Was replaced in guarantee. Otherwise no problem. The instructions call for both parallel units to run exactly the same firmware.

6 minutes ago, Beat said:

Most likely you had a component early drop out. That's what the guarantee is for. But also make sure that the PV output to the MPPT is within specs.

In my knowledge Growatt is manufactured by Voltronic. I run 2 Axpert/Synerjy MKS 5k (off grid) in parallel for 2 years. The only problem was a faulty parallel board in the beginning. Was replaced in guarantee. Otherwise no problem. The instructions call for both parallel units to run exactly the same firmware.

I communicated with Growatt. The problem is more than just the same firmware. In their wisdom they changed the comms board design and chips. In my mind they should have changed the model numbering to prevent consumers buying another exact model number only to find out that it will not be able to parallel with their older Inverter.
So they now have two identical named Inverters with identical specs that cannot be paired unless the comms boards are changed on one of them. Rather a bad go to market strategy. Call it Version 2 or Neo or give it a distinct model name.
Nothing on the Inverter box or in the manual even states these facts. The surprise comes when you install it and it cannot parallel. 

23 minutes ago, Beat said:

In my knowledge Growatt is manufactured by Voltronic

Growatt is an independent company not affiliated with Voltronic.
https://www.cyanergy.com.au/growatt-inverters-review/

 

19 minutes ago, zsde said:

Growatt is an independent company not affiliated with Voltronic.
https://www.cyanergy.com.au/growatt-inverters-review/

Well that might be good news. However in the videos from USA discussing inverters the Growatt Inverters shown looked exactly like my Axperts, also in technical respect. Clones? Perhaps they developed their own in the mean time.

4 minutes ago, Beat said:

Well that might be good news. However in the videos from USA discussing inverters the Growatt Inverters shown looked exactly like my Axperts, also in technical respect. Clones? Perhaps they developed their own in the mean time.

My suspicion is that they started off initially with "clones" perhaps under some sort of licensing agreement before venturing down the road of inhouse development.

 

4 hours ago, Hansa said:

I suggest you get some professional electricians to check your cabling as well... We had 2 inverters motherboards get fried for seemingly no reason, ended up being a cut cable, when wet it would spike suddenly. 

Wasn't malfunctioning under normal circumstances even.

Our normal electrician didn't have the equipment nor know how to diagnose. 

Called in another electrician, they used something called "thumping" to locate a cut cable outside underground. 

Thanks Hansa.

We have got the whole system professionally installed by a local solar company here in Sri Lanka. But will definitely consider getting a electrician coming if we observe any additional uncommon behaviors.

I consider getting a soft starter on the water heater also just to make sure it does not spike on start.

2 hours ago, zsde said:

I communicated with Growatt. The problem is more than just the same firmware. In their wisdom they changed the comms board design and chips. In my mind they should have changed the model numbering to prevent consumers buying another exact model number only to find out that it will not be able to parallel with their older Inverter.
So they now have two identical named Inverters with identical specs that cannot be paired unless the comms boards are changed on one of them. Rather a bad go to market strategy. Call it Version 2 or Neo or give it a distinct model name.
Nothing on the Inverter box or in the manual even states these facts. The surprise comes when you install it and it cannot parallel. 

Yes they should definitely have changed the model naming to make this clear. A lot of people are buying this model because of its scalability. This is our case and we are thinking to have electric vehicule in the future. Not knowing this point could have ended in us buying an incompatible Growatt spf5000es thinking they all can be paralleled..

8 hours ago, Hansa said:

I suggest you get some professional electricians to check your cabling as well... We had 2 inverters motherboards get fried for seemingly no reason, ended up being a cut cable, when wet it would spike suddenly. 

Wasn't malfunctioning under normal circumstances even.

Our normal electrician didn't have the equipment nor know how to diagnose. 

Called in another electrician, they used something called "thumping" to locate a cut cable outside underground. 

Cable thumpers are expensive kit, and not necessary for LV lines, did they not possibly use a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer) to locate the fault?

I have one for communication cables, and it is often helpful. 👍

On 2022/07/24 at 5:49 PM, WilliamP said:

Thanks Hansa.

We have got the whole system professionally installed by a local solar company here in Sri Lanka. But will definitely consider getting a electrician coming if we observe any additional uncommon behaviors.

I consider getting a soft starter on the water heater also just to make sure it does not spike on start.

 

Hi William,

I too recently had a Growatt 500es installed in Sri Lanka, and had it mysteriously get fried just as you said - 3 am, load of around 600w. Have had a replacement, but no answer as to why this happened. I've also just noticed this morning (around 2am) that my new inverter showed a freak spike of around 1600w. Stranger still, there is no corresponding draw from the grid or the battery.

Have you experienced anything similar? 

5 hours ago, Arc said:

Stranger still, there is no corresponding draw from the grid or the battery.

With short spikes and relatively slow monitoring software (because the serial command interface is so slow), you often don't see a short spike (less than about one second) appear in the other measurements, because by the time you make those other measurements, it's already over.

You know what? Mine fried a second time at the end of August. I have been told that Sri Lanka have received a bad batch and are fighting with warranty.

 

Anyway, I also noticed that my installation had no SPD on the AC side, only on the DC side. So I have gotten the AC side fused. Since then the breaker has jumped twice on CEB spikes which I like to believe saved my board from frying. I also got a breaker installed between my batteries and the inverter to be able to completely shut off the inverter in case of emergency. I think those should be part of any installation but learning is still in progress for the providers.

12 hours ago, WilliamP said:

You know what? Mine fried a second time at the end of August. I have been told that Sri Lanka have received a bad batch and are fighting with warranty.

 

Anyway, I also noticed that my installation had no SPD on the AC side, only on the DC side. So I have gotten the AC side fused. Since then the breaker has jumped twice on CEB spikes which I like to believe saved my board from frying. I also got a breaker installed between my batteries and the inverter to be able to completely shut off the inverter in case of emergency. I think those should be part of any installation but learning is still in progress for the providers.

oh dear, that's concerning. 

My installation has breakers on both the AC and DC sides, but neither were tripped during the initial incident. Come to think of it, they've never tripped at all. 

On 2022/07/23 at 9:12 PM, zsde said:

Looking at your graphs, all look well inside the specs. This is probably just a premature failure of a component. Hopefully they'll repair it under guarantee. My only gripe with Growatt is their applied algorithm which always uses the battery to power the inverter. You will see it only when the batteries are fully charged. Even if surplus PV is available, once it hits 100% charge, it starts discharging the battery at around 1 Amp until it reaches 94,9%, then it charges the batteries again. There is no float charge as such to keep the batteries at 100%. This is evident when using the Lithium Protocols. Whether it behaves different in USE mode I don't know.
Am otherwise mostly satisfied so far with mine. (Had it since Aug last year)

In User 2 mode voltage based setup it stops charging once the bulk voltage is reached, no constant voltage charge, then restarts charging multiple times throughout the day and once solar output is low enough not to reach the bulk voltage remain charging until the end of the day.

On 2022/09/29 at 12:08 PM, Arc said:

oh dear, that's concerning. 

My installation has breakers on both the AC and DC sides, but neither were tripped during the initial incident. Come to think of it, they've never tripped at all. 

Not only breakers, Surge protectors which is not the same. My breaker jumps only since there is an AC surge protector.

Edited October 1, 20223 yr by WilliamP

Well believe it or not. My Growatt board fried for a third time last night. Now I have lost all my faith in this inverter brand... not sure what to do next.

2 minutes ago, WilliamP said:

Well believe it or not. My Growatt board fried for a third time last night. Now I have lost all my faith in this inverter brand... not sure what to do next.

Abandon the brand. Having experienced something similar that's exactly what I did. I wouldn't touch Growatt again if I was paid to use it - deathly fear of it catching alight and burning the house down. 

Edited October 13, 20223 yr by LumexClipsal

40 minutes ago, WilliamP said:

Well believe it or not. My Growatt board fried for a third time last night. Now I have lost all my faith in this inverter brand... not sure what to do next.

That is just ludicrous. I would not touch them again if that happened to me.
Yes, I still have mine which had to be repaired after 12 months due to failing MOSFETS. All done under guarantee. I shall use it for as long as the guarantee lasts and if it then fails after that, it will be time to move on.
Seems like the "new" batches are prone to even more problems judging by your experience. 
Suspect that your unit may actually have another problem somewhere that causes this failure to re-occur. Analytical repairers that could trace it are hard to find. 

34 minutes ago, zsde said:

That is just ludicrous. I would not touch them again if that happened to me.
Yes, I still have mine which had to be repaired after 12 months due to failing MOSFETS. All done under guarantee. I shall use it for as long as the guarantee lasts and if it then fails after that, it will be time to move on.
Seems like the "new" batches are prone to even more problems judging by your experience. 
Suspect that your unit may actually have another problem somewhere that causes this failure to re-occur. Analytical repairers that could trace it are hard to find. 

@zsde I have two of them in parallel since July 2021 and touch wood so far so good. I started with one first and I had a failure within a week, it was the installer's fault he recommended 12 panels @ 49 V that exceed the Max PV array voltage of 450 V. Now with two inverters I have 6 panels per inverter 49V X 6 = 250 V and the system has been running like a dream since. Maybe @LumexClipsalshould look at is PV max voltage maybe the problem could be something similar. 

Edited October 13, 20223 yr by Antonio de Sa

39 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

have two of them in parallel since July 2021 and touch wood so far so good

Barring the failure mine has been giving good service too. And yes, my installer also messed up and blew it in the first week, for different reasons though.
So it has been in for repair twice in 14 months. Holding thumbs that it will last for a while.
Always better to have two in parallel, at least when there is a failure one isn't shut down completely

1 hour ago, Antonio de Sa said:

@zsde I have two of them in parallel since July 2021 and touch wood so far so good. I started with one first and I had a failure within a week, it was the installer's fault he recommended 12 panels @ 49 V that exceed the Max PV array voltage of 450 V. Now with two inverters I have 6 panels per inverter 49V X 6 = 250 V and the system has been running like a dream since. Maybe @LumexClipsalshould look at is PV max voltage maybe the problem could be something similar. 

Wish my issues were related to something so easy but often overlooked. My config ran for months sans issue and then literally sh*t itself out the blue without warnings or even load at the time it died. Luck of the draw perhaps, but trawling other forums and this one too, the brand is clearly notorious for just not being reliable or in fact safe. Perhaps, like most things I guess, it's not a matter of if but rather when it fails. All I know is I'm left with zero trust and confidence in anything Growatt based on my opinion formed by my bad experience.