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Growatt Inverter + Pylontech Batteries : BMS Comms Guide


SiliconKid

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On 2020/05/26 at 2:39 PM, jykenmynie said:

Will do. I just don't want to touch anything at this point, because the technician will be coming back to see if he can sort it out. I'd rather want to be able to say that I didn't pull out any cables since he last left the system.

On 2020/05/26 at 2:05 PM, willietes said:

true story.... Take a pic and post if you can ? Let me see if it is correct.

Hi Willietes

I checked the communication cable between the RS458 port on the inverter and the BMS port on the Growatt inverter. It is a straight (no funky wiring). The technician was here yesterday and updated the firmware of the Inverter to 500.07/002.00. It now has a US2 setting, which, if set on that, does show a Li battery indicator (albeit flashing) on the Inverter's display. However, still no luck on getting the BMS to manage the charge and set SoC levels on the inverter instead of voltages.

At the moment, the battery charges up to 52V (the voltage set as the bulk/floating point - you can't have those two at different values in the US2 program, my suspicion), discharges to 51V (probably because the inverter is drawing from the battery and not utility), rinse and repeat. I have setting 12 and 13 set to 48V and 50V respectively, but these don't seem to influence anything. No setting on the inverter is set to 51V, so no idea why 51V triggers a recharge. This happens basically every few minutes, but when it charges from this point, it charges at a very low wattage (10 - 80W).

Currently, I don't have solar panels yet, still deciding exactly on the setup for that, so the system is effectively a UPS (set to UTI in program 1) for the house at this point.

Don't know if you have any advice? The technician wants to try the RS232 port to the BMS port next, we are just trying to source a cable to do the job.

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2 hours ago, francois said:

Hi @Tsa,

Are you still experiencing trips?

A colleague and his son-in-law both had Growatt systems installed and are experiencing trips late in the afternoon.

Hi @francois

I was experiencing these trips, but have since just moved to USE mode. Apparently the issue has been resolved in a new firmware update which is being tested and should be released in the next few weeks. I would suggest them to upgrade to the firmware listed in this thread (v500.07) as a start and see if it helps. The new firmware to be released was specific to Growatt and Dyness batteries. 

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11 minutes ago, Tsa said:

Hi @francois

I was experiencing these trips, but have since just moved to USE mode. Apparently the issue has been resolved in a new firmware update which is being tested and should be released in the next few weeks. I would suggest them to upgrade to the firmware listed in this thread (v500.07) as a start and see if it helps. The new firmware to be released was specific to Growatt and Dyness batteries. 

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback.

I think they use different lithium batteries, not sure of the make, so the firmware update might not help them.

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Just now, francois said:

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback.

I think they use different lithium batteries, not sure of the make, so the firmware update might not help them.

Just check again, the V500.07 which is mentioned in this topic is for Growatt in general and will help with BMS issues. The firmware which is still being developed was specific to issues with Dyness compatibility. So would again suggest they start with v500.07 as a minimum. 

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On 2020/05/23 at 4:48 PM, Landé said:

Hi

Have the same issue

Our system
2 Growatt 5kva inverters
15 solar panels 340w
3 batteries pylontech
2 US3000
1 US2000

The firmware was uploaded to the inverters . Now the maximum solar charging current (pragram 2 on the inverter is at 16 and can't be change) this is to low to charge the batteries full. The maximum charge stop the panel charge and supply at 800w.

If the batteries charge from the grid it go up to 1600w.

Is there a way to increase the maximum charging current?

Thank you
Lande

20200523_134953.jpg

To overcome the low charging rate with the Pylontech BMS and wasting valuable available sun power I have switched back to Use Lo5 setting.  I have received the following recommendations by Pylontech from an installer when using user mode:

Program 02: Set to N*25A, N=number of batteries
Program 05: Set to USE
Program 12: Set to 48V
Program 13: Set to 51V (I use 49V which means the grid supply will switch off sooner in the morning as soon as the battery reaches 49V from Solar charging)
Program 19: Set to 53.2V
Program 21: Set to 47.5V

I am still trying to get an answer why the BMS limits the solar input to charge 4 batteries only at 25A when abundance of solar energy available, the BMS software seems lacking in this respect and it doesn't make sense.

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On 2020/05/29 at 11:25 AM, jykenmynie said:

Hi Willietes

I checked the communication cable between the RS458 port on the inverter and the BMS port on the Growatt inverter. It is a straight (no funky wiring). The technician was here yesterday and updated the firmware of the Inverter to 500.07/002.00. It now has a US2 setting, which, if set on that, does show a Li battery indicator (albeit flashing) on the Inverter's display. However, still no luck on getting the BMS to manage the charge and set SoC levels on the inverter instead of voltages.

At the moment, the battery charges up to 52V (the voltage set as the bulk/floating point - you can't have those two at different values in the US2 program, my suspicion), discharges to 51V (probably because the inverter is drawing from the battery and not utility), rinse and repeat. I have setting 12 and 13 set to 48V and 50V respectively, but these don't seem to influence anything. No setting on the inverter is set to 51V, so no idea why 51V triggers a recharge. This happens basically every few minutes, but when it charges from this point, it charges at a very low wattage (10 - 80W).

Currently, I don't have solar panels yet, still deciding exactly on the setup for that, so the system is effectively a UPS (set to UTI in program 1) for the house at this point.

Don't know if you have any advice? The technician wants to try the RS232 port to the BMS port next, we are just trying to source a cable to do the job.

I have a Growatt 2x5kva inverter with 2x4.8kwh Shoto batteries and 12x330w panels . I get about 5kw out of the 2 batteries using voltage as a parameter from the inverters. Please update us once you get the cables to correctly read the SOC on the Shotos.  I’ve had no help from Growatt and poor service from Shoto(my installer  had no joy from the South African supplier). Why do they even sell these battery-inverter combinations if there’s no proper way to manage them?

Edited by Anish
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Good day

I have 2x growatt inverters in parallel with 4x polytech baterries. During the morning whilst the system is still working on batteries it switches off supply to the load. It does not switch to AC like it is supposed to. I have noticed that this is the time when the batteries are weak. I do not have a hub to link the comm cable to both inverters. I only have the communication from the CAN of the master battery to the BMS of the master inverter. All my batteries are on 0000 dipp setting. Can someone advise how do I solve this problem of the system not switching over to AC in the mornings?

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On 2020/06/07 at 10:24 AM, Amendra said:

Good day

I have 2x growatt inverters in parallel with 4x polytech baterries. During the morning whilst the system is still working on batteries it switches off supply to the load. It does not switch to AC like it is supposed to. I have noticed that this is the time when the batteries are weak. I do not have a hub to link the comm cable to both inverters. I only have the communication from the CAN of the master battery to the BMS of the master inverter. All my batteries are on 0000 dipp setting. Can someone advise how do I solve this problem of the system not switching over to AC in the mornings?

The master battery dip switch must be 1000, the rest you can leave on 0000. Not sure if this will make a difference.
Also check setting 12 to be 48V, if too low the battery BMS may switch the battery stack off and the inverter will also switch off.


 

Edited by j5_immortal
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@SiliconKid i have the issue where batter capacity remains at 100%. (Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM-P & 2x Pylontech US3000). 
 

The Li next to the battery is solid however batt remains 100% ( i know this is not right cause i used utilized battery last night).

my firmware is 500.06/002.00/

Please share the firmware you have.

thanks.

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On 2020/02/20 at 8:12 AM, SiliconKid said:

Growatt SPF 5000TL HVM 5kVA/5kW Hybrid Inverter

So far, so good.

Now that I've got BMS comms working properly I'm pretty impressed with it, but I'm waiting for more load shedding to kick in so that I can monitor the performance properly.

I'm also hooking up a Raspberry Pi this week so that I can monitor both the inverter and batteries more effectively, and then I'll probably report back to these forums with more detailed info on performance and efficiencies.

 

Hi, Which Inverter do you select on the PI, as it does not have the GroWatt on the list?

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On ‎2020‎/‎02‎/‎17 at 10:54 PM, SiliconKid said:

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

Can you possibly email me the latest firmware for the SPF 5000 TL Growatt inverter? I have done as you indicated but I do not see the LI symbol next to the battery icon. Setting 5 is on LI. The readings on setting 21 is in voltage and not percentage. I suspect that the firmware needs updating. My email is [email protected]

Also confirm when doing the firmware update, should I turn the swich on the inverter to the off position whilst the batteries are only connected and the utiliy and load disconnected?

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3 minutes ago, Amendra said:

Hi

Can you possibly email me the latest firmware for the SPF 5000 TL Growatt inverter? I have done as you indicated but I do not see the LI symbol next to the battery icon. Setting 5 is on LI. The readings on setting 21 is in voltage and not percentage. I suspect that the firmware needs updating. My email is [email protected]

Also confirm when doing the firmware update, should I turn the swich on the inverter to the off position whilst the batteries are only connected and the utiliy and load disconnected?

Is the Li symbol on the LCD screen flashing? Also, do you also have Pylontech batteries or a different brand?

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Thanks SilikonKid. I also had my system installed in Feb, But only read this article today. Just followed all the steps, swapped cables and wholla, I am on Li. BMS working nice now. Also a 5kW Growatt inverter. Just want to know what is your percentage settings on stetting 12(default was 50% after changing to Li, but made mine 10%) and changed setting 21 down to 10%(default was 20%). I only have one Pylontech US3000 battery. So does 90%DOD means 10% left(setting21?) Quinten Espach,  [email protected]

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Hi 

I have started using the Growatt 5000TL HVM-WPV-P 450 VDC. 

Has anyone had experience with these? 

Bms seems to work with pylontech batteries. 

Voltage seems to drop at times and solar power lost, then returns. 

I have 2 in parallel. 

Any  ideas? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, PlumbSolar , something strange is happening today.

BMS works and communicates,  but at SOC around 89-90% I can see that the voltage goes above 54V then all of a sudden drops and the charge stops/ solar input to battery stops.

Similar to what you are having?

I have mine set to SBU and SOL charge only

Perhaps SiliconKid could assist he was very quick to send the firmware updates, mine was working fine before the updates but decided to apply them anyway (only the one completed) but nothing change. BMS is communicating fine.

I have one US3000, settings 2 and 11 are set at 32A, cant change it,also setting 19 reads 54.0V, cant change it.

 

Battery dont want to go above 90% even with the BTU set at 95%, tried al; the charge priorities.

5th Light on the battery also flashing then stops at off same time the voltage drops and charging stops,

Edited by epnaude
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Seems another reset did the trick. The system now floats between 95-100% during daylight and consumes battery for a little while longer after the sun sets (on Solar first mode).

During the night when running from Eskom my battery does have some discharge despite being on Eskom... You can see it between midnight and around 7am. During this time there was no load on the battery. A friend of mine with an Axpert observes the same. Perhaps the inverter itself uses Battery power? any idea?

Screenshot_20200722-195023.thumb.png.aeac98faf6fdedf9692fbcf43b7370e8.png

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1 minute ago, epnaude said:

A friend of mine with an Axpert observes the same. Perhaps the inverter itself uses Battery power? any idea?

Indeed. The inverter requires DC power like most electronics. It uses the battery as a power supply. It should consume about 30W-50W constantly.

It is irritating, but has to be factored in.

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As for the cycling between 100 and 95 when there is enough solar and the load is constant eg 300W, whey less than the potential solar (3000W) is this normal as well?

I set the charge priority at solar first but as soon as the battery is full, it uses the battery instead of solar until 95% and then back to solar again.

Cant think it to be my settings as by lower value is set at 50% and back to battery at 55%,

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13 hours ago, epnaude said:

As for the cycling between 100 and 95 when there is enough solar and the load is constant eg 300W, whey less than the potential solar (3000W) is this normal as well?

I set the charge priority at solar first but as soon as the battery is full, it uses the battery instead of solar until 95% and then back to solar again.

Cant think it to be my settings as by lower value is set at 50% and back to battery at 55%,

According to Growatt this is a automatic safety feature to keep the batteries from being overcharged and remaining on 100%. So as soon as the batteries get to 100% it will start this cycle of switching all the load to the batteries and discharging to about 95%. Still trying to figure out if this is an inverter feature or if this is the battery BMS telling it to do so. I would think that the BMS would just lower charge to the batteries instead of this total switchover which is a pain sometimes. 

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On 2020/07/23 at 6:38 PM, epnaude said:

Its good to know, I think it's the BMS seeing that the BMS overwrites just about every setting on the inverter. below from today, can clearly see the cycling between charge/discharge

I would then have hoped that the BMS just lowers the charging current or something instead of throwing all the load to the batteries, but maybe not the way things should work.

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