I must say I'm getting disappointed with Growatt brand. Out of the blue one of my inverters just blew up. I was in the garage offloading some stuff from the car when I heard a loud bang and both inverters switched off with Alarm on my Pylons. The problem seems to be on the battery/DC side of the inverter because when I disconnected the battery cables from a faulty inverter, the second inverter can switch ON and the red Alarm on the Pylons goes away. Both inverters are connected to the same battery bank of four Pylontech US2000B batteries which rules out the batteries as being the cause of the inverter failing. I'll be taking the inverter back to the supplier and hope they don't come up with stories 

Any Idea what might have caused this? 

Now the supplier is closed until the 11th Jan 2021. Very disappointing ☹️☹️

Doesn't Growatt have any support line / contact that can assist?

On 2020/12/23 at 6:08 PM, YellowTapemeasure said:

Doesn't Growatt have any support line / contact that can assist?

Their support is terrible and in this case i need a new inverter because the damaged one was still under warranty. I was shocked to hear that the supply does not do the swap out. Instead, they only assist in getting Growatt to do the swap. They were happy to take my cash but now when there is a problem, I have to deal with the manufacturer. I wouldn't have an issue if I had bought directly from Growatt ☹️

Supplier is opening tomorrow, crossing fingers that they just replace my inverter without giving me a hustle 

Main board blown, but now they want to replace the board instead of supplying a new inverter ☹️

No information on why it blew or what may have caused the issue. So I just have to cross my fingers and hope the new board doesn't blow up too.

This is my biggest fear -> as the disruption is probably worth more than the few thousand saved .
is there any direct contact for growatt south africa (their website has been under construction for many months now)

 

On 2021/01/16 at 10:46 AM, ErwinK said:

This is my biggest fear -> as the disruption is probably worth more than the few thousand saved .
is there any direct contact for growatt south africa (their website has been under construction for many months now)

 

I don't think that there is Growatt SA, technical support is offered by the guys in china 

Late update, got the Main Board from China and had to do the swap out myself because the supplier was either too scared to do the job or they just didn't have a clue as to where to start. All is ok now and I have my two inverters up and running 

Just now, hoohloc said:

Late update, got the Main Board from China and had to do the swap out myself because the supplier was either too scared to do the job or they just didn't have a clue as to where to start. All is ok now and I have my two inverters up and running 

Even got to separate AC and DC wiring. Now Dc wires runs in a separate trunking but at one point they still cross. It is impossible to completely separate them. I have added more isolators so that if one inverters gets blown again, it can easily be isolated so that one that is still good can run the house. 

Thanks for posting, I've now invested in a third Growatt, same model as yours. Since then the system is doing weird things. Perfect sunshine outside but one of the 3 inverters are always eating battery or even worse, eskom. I just wish I could ask someone that knows these inverters so I can understand. I tried the [email protected] email address 3 times now, no response. I can't believe there's only this one guy in china that services all the growatts in the world.

2 hours ago, HeinDuPlessis said:

Thanks for posting, I've now invested in a third Growatt, same model as yours. Since then the system is doing weird things. Perfect sunshine outside but one of the 3 inverters are always eating battery or even worse, eskom. I just wish I could ask someone that knows these inverters so I can understand. I tried the [email protected] email address 3 times now, no response. I can't believe there's only this one guy in china that services all the growatts in the world.

Contact Amos, he is the one who has helped me with queries so far and he responds to emails. [email protected] 

22 hours ago, hoohloc said:

Contact Amos, he is the one who has helped me with queries so far and he responds to emails. [email protected] 

Thank you so much!

On 2021/03/28 at 2:40 PM, HeinDuPlessis said:

Thank you so much!

Hi Gents, I have a 2 weird issues with my Growatt inverters. Both are 5kw SPF.When I test them in standalone mode/ as a single device, the max charge current is 60A. But if I parallel them, my max charge current is 30A for each inverter. I should mention my lithium ion battery BMS is set to 60A per battery (I have 2). We recently upgraded the BMS & inverter firmware. 

My 2nd issue is I have 9kw solar panels but my maximum power is not more than 3kw per inverter for about 5minutes. If I test each string of solar panels before the inverter(s) I get 3kw per string. I probably should mention that I'm using a PV combination box before the inverters. Growatt initially said it was my angle, however they are about between 20 - 30 degrees. 

Can anyone please provide me with some thoughts, advice or help. 

I sent an email to Growatt who forwarded to Amos ([email protected]) but so far no response. 

The two inverters will draw current needed to charge your Lithium batteries and supply your load. I'm pretty sure that if you need 120A, you will get it. You have more than enough PV panels. Mine are set at 25A max charge current but I have seen 80A on one inverter at one point, so I don't worry about the max current that I see on the inverter settings anymore. BMS will request the current needed for your batteries to charge and you will still have enough to supply your other loads. 

Your second issue, it is also not an issue as such. In summer days you will be able to see a lot more than 6Kw.  Now in winter, production seems to be lower. In my case I'm down to 60% of my total installed PV power, which seems to be more or less the same as what you are getting. 

Hi Hoohloc

 

Would appreciate a chat with you iro installation of a SPF 5000 TL.   Please WhatsApp me when its convenient.. tx Dave 082 392 1034

On 2021/07/13 at 3:18 PM, hoohloc said:

The two inverters will draw current needed to charge your Lithium batteries and supply your load. I'm pretty sure that if you need 120A, you will get it. You have more than enough PV panels. Mine are set at 25A max charge current but I have seen 80A on one inverter at one point, so I don't worry about the max current that I see on the inverter settings anymore. BMS will request the current needed for your batteries to charge and you will still have enough to supply your other loads. 

Your second issue, it is also not an issue as such. In summer days you will be able to see a lot more than 6Kw.  Now in winter, production seems to be lower. In my case I'm down to 60% of my total installed PV power, which seems to be more or less the same as what you are getting. 

Hi Hoohloc, thank you. I really appreciate the help and information. 

Since then & leaving things to work, I have an error 09 (Bus soft start failed) on one of my inverters. Not sure what happened though Amos from Growatt is assisting with getting a replacement main board or MPPT board. Thankfully my system is still under warranty. 

I just hope the inverter did not cause any damage to my battery BMS. 

Has anyone ever tried to extend the warranty to 10 years on these inverters from SA? 

On 2021/10/27 at 1:14 AM, Nishantr said:

Hi Hoohloc, thank you. I really appreciate the help and information. 

Since then & leaving things to work, I have an error 09 (Bus soft start failed) on one of my inverters. Not sure what happened though Amos from Growatt is assisting with getting a replacement main board or MPPT board. Thankfully my system is still under warranty. 

I just hope the inverter did not cause any damage to my battery BMS. 

Has anyone ever tried to extend the warranty to 10 years on these inverters from SA? 

Glad your inverter is being sorted out. Good thing about Growatt support when it comes to warranty, they don't play games and cause unnecessary stress. As far as I know, the warranty is 5 years. Never heard of extension but 5 years is more than enough for the price we paid for the product. 😀

I would love to know how many people are experiencing problems with Growatt inverters and after sales service.

I am a small business owner and does installations. I have had the same problem, first the unit shut down overnight. Sent it in, was told the motherboard was damage due to a surge, even though all the safety items were in place, and still functioning.  Unit came back kept giving 0 output. Fitted a loan unit, which worked perfectly. The Growatt came back and still the same problem. Four times this unit was sent back. On re-installing the unit it made a load bang and obviously blew up, still with all the safety items in place and working. Re-installed the loan unit, runs with no problem.

During all this I managed to get hold of manufacturer via mail who referred me to their South Africa office and local engineer, whom I was to phone on re-installing, but obviously I did not get that far. I did speak to him afterwards, and was informed that he would contact the supplier technical and repair department, and then get back to me as the unit was faulty. This was last week Friday afternoon and I gave him until Monday. On Monday I contacted him via message and still have not received a reply.

This is seriously bad service, and in the meantime I have to try and keep my customer calm and waiting.

I will definitely not use or promote the Growatt product again. I now dread that the time will come for the other units, installed, to fail.

8 minutes ago, MLFourie said:

I would love to know how many people are experiencing problems with Growatt inverters and after sales service.

I am a small business owner and does installations. I have had the same problem, first the unit shut down overnight. Sent it in, was told the motherboard was damage due to a surge, even though all the safety items were in place, and still functioning.  Unit came back kept giving 0 output. Fitted a loan unit, which worked perfectly. The Growatt came back and still the same problem. Four times this unit was sent back. On re-installing the unit it made a load bang and obviously blew up, still with all the safety items in place and working. Re-installed the loan unit, runs with no problem.

During all this I managed to get hold of manufacturer via mail who referred me to their South Africa office and local engineer, whom I was to phone on re-installing, but obviously I did not get that far. I did speak to him afterwards, and was informed that he would contact the supplier technical and repair department, and then get back to me as the unit was faulty. This was last week Friday afternoon and I gave him until Monday. On Monday I contacted him via message and still have not received a reply.

This is seriously bad service, and in the meantime I have to try and keep my customer calm and waiting.

I will definitely not use or promote the Growatt product again. I now dread that the time will come for the other units, installed, to fail.

Sorry to hear about your ordeal, let me respond to your PM. I was assisted and a new Main board shipped to my house. I did the swap out myself as the supplier did not have the tools to carry out the job. 

Hi Guys, this is an old post, my inverter was fixed a year ago. The only issue was that I had to do the boards swap out myself and never got paid for doing someone's job as the supplier did not have the technical skill and tools to swap the boards. I was impressed with how Growatt in China took my case and assisted, no stories. They just asked for my inverter serial number to confirm warranty cover and then no questions after that. 

1 hour ago, hoohloc said:

Hi Guys, this is an old post, my inverter was fixed a year ago. The only issue was that I had to do the boards swap out myself and never got paid for doing someone's job as the supplier did not have the technical skill and tools to swap the boards. I was impressed with how Growatt in China took my case and assisted, no stories. They just asked for my inverter serial number to confirm warranty cover and then no questions after that. 

@hoohloc About three months ago both my SPF 5000 inverters were faulty, suspect it was a surge on the Eskom side, took then to elleyhill power, they checked the serial numbers, confirmed that were supplied by then, repaired both my inverters, loaded the latest software at no charge while I waited, took approximately 3 hours,   So personally I cannot complain, actually very happy with the service they provided.

@Antonio de Sa you are very lucky. I am however using a different supplier.

18 minutes ago, MLFourie said:

@Antonio de Sa you are very lucky. I am however using a different supplier.

It looks like the issue is the supplier and not Growatt. Please contact Amos and explain your issue, he will assist. He has always came through for me when I had issue. Tell him you are not having joy with the supplier where you bought your inverter  [email protected] 

I have him on whatsApp but he said not to give it out 🤣

He probably said not to hand out his number as the quantity of complaints will cause his phone to crash....🤐

Thank you. I'll will mail him.