Hi guys, as you know a few months back we purchased a defective Growatt SPH3600 from someone who installed wrong batteries to it ... seems he installed HV batteries and all the capacitors on the battery side went bye bye ...

We purchased this unit in the idea of trying to fix it and use it as test unit or secondary inverter or something like that.
Inverter is 7-8 months old and would be a waste to throw it out.

So since then we have been trying to get a hold on the schematics or purchase a board from Growatt.
We contacted Growatt and requested a price for the boards or schematics. Of course we let them know it is burned because of an installation error so we would pay for the boards but we've hit a wall with Growatt.

I think we had at least 7 emails forth and back with them and the final answer was :

"

Here is the after sale technical support.
Based on your information, I can not offer the mainboard and information to you for this case.
It is not means the inverter is not repaired.

"

So ... to be a lesson for others , if you damage the inverter by mistake .... your are F**ED ... forget anything about the right to repair about paying for parts or trying to source the parts..
There is no such thing as Customer Service at Growatt.

We are also thinking to try and take legal action against them as they have an European office in Netherlands but to be honest not sure if it worth the effort..

My experience has been that generally with broken electronics, you'd need to find someone who could assist and do the repair themselves - seldom will the manufacturer assist. Is there a part number for that board? Perhaps you could find a used one online somewhere? I think that will be the best as good luck trying to get the schematics.

 

The big caps are easy enough to remove and buy replacements for, although the SMD caps will be a problem as you won't know their value and then checking to see what other components might need replacing could become a bit tricky.

 

Maybe reach out to this person and see if they have or can get boards for a SPH3600: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234804725887

There is also this place I found with a quick google search: https://watts247.com/product-category/spare-parts/growatt-spare-parts/

 

Purchase from the above links at your own risk though. I see you are based in EU, so different to us here in SA although I am not sure it would be worth going the legal route.

 

You can also try reaching out to Amos as per the below thread:

 

16 hours ago, Jaxone said:

seems he installed HV batteries and all the capacitors on the battery side went bye bye ...

How high voltage was the HV battery?

If it's 48 V battery to a 24 V inverter that's one thing, but if it was a 400 V battery to a 24 or 48 V inverter, then there will likely be a lot more damage than just capacitors.

But true HV batteries are still pretty rare.

19 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

My experience has been that generally with broken electronics, you'd need to find someone who could assist and do the repair themselves - seldom will the manufacturer assist. Is there a part number for that board? Perhaps you could find a used one online somewhere? I think that will be the best as good luck trying to get the schematics.

 

The big caps are easy enough to remove and buy replacements for, although the SMD caps will be a problem as you won't know their value and then checking to see what other components might need replacing could become a bit tricky.

 

Maybe reach out to this person and see if they have or can get boards for a SPH3600: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234804725887

There is also this place I found with a quick google search: https://watts247.com/product-category/spare-parts/growatt-spare-parts/

 

Purchase from the above links at your own risk though. I see you are based in EU, so different to us here in SA although I am not sure it would be worth going the legal route.

 

You can also try reaching out to Amos as per the below thread:

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I am in negotiations with the eBay guy , but those boards are not for SPH3600 ... if we come to an agreement with shipping then I will just upgrade to SPH6000TL in the SPH3600 cabinet

I can change the big capacitors myself , that is not a problem , but as you say , I do not know the values of the small ones and that is the main problem.

I did contact Atmos and saw his blog also , but he did not reply I will try again.

Edited August 4, 20232 yr by Jaxone

3 hours ago, Coulomb said:

How high voltage was the HV battery?

If it's 48 V battery to a 24 V inverter that's one thing, but if it was a 400 V battery to a 24 or 48 V inverter, then there will likely be a lot more damage than just capacitors.

But true HV batteries are still pretty rare.

Not sure how high voltage ... it was an installer that got it from an enduser and got it for free as is .. so I did not ask to many questions as we bought it very very cheap.