Hi all,

New to the forum so please go easy .  I'll try to be detailed enough and hopefully this thread assists many others with the same intention.

Setup:

• 2 x Growatt 5KW inverters (5000TL),
• 1 x Shoto 4.8 Kwh lithium battery (SDA10-48100),
• 12 x 330W Prime Solar panels.

Home power setup and usage:

• No geysers / ovens connected to the inverter system. 
• General average power usage on the inverters during the day at any given time is under 1000W (probably 500w average), except for when the microwave/toaster/iron/aircon is being utilised.

What do I want to achieve? - using as little as possible of Eskom power.

The problem? - When the sun starts setting, it depletes the battery until there is no more sunlight and then a large amount of Eskom power is required to recharge the battery.

The setup seems to be singing along nicely however I would like to tune it to be more efficient in terms of battery charge/discharge.

 

The main aim of making the system more efficient is that when the sun starts setting, the battery starts draining.  At a point where there is no sun available (i.e. PV power production = 0W), the inverter switches to utility power (Eskom) which uses a considerable amount of utility power to replenish the battery back to 100%.  This of course reduces my net gain from the day's solar power production 😕

Is anyone able to assist \ have experience with making the system more efficient?

I've potentially found the settings "hidden" within the wifi data logger module's web interface (accessible via the mobile app too) which will potentially solve the issue but I'm afraid to make the change! 😂  See green highlighted section below.  (I haven't received much assistance from Growatt hence turning to this forum for assistance).

I would like to avoid charging the battery using Eskom, which would require me to switch over to utility at approximately 6pm at the moment (Cape Town) and ideally at that point, I don't want the battery to charge anymore (especially from Eskom).  Once the sun starts to rise (after 5am currently), I would like it to switch over to PV power. 

Any advice on how to achieve this and would I need to configure both inverters via their respective wifi data loggers? (screenshots of current settings listed below)

 

For anyone interested in the setup, Setsolar kindly provides the settings for various batteries (https://www.setsolar-shop.com/product-page/3kva-24v-bi-directional-inverter-with-built-in-25a-mppt-price-excluding-vat)

 

 

Thanks!

---O0o---o0O---

Edited December 29, 20205 yr by naids

I'm in a similar situation(only have 4.8kwh battery) and I have accepted that I don't have enough batteries to be completely offgrid( it looks like 400amphour battery is required to  be comfortably offgrid)( I can't afford that). 

Currently only using the battery as back up for loadshedding which is often enough.

 To save from eskom spending I set my battery to only charge from solar(solar only in charging source)

The inverter powers itself from the battery overnight but quickly charges up when the sun comes up.

 

Since one of your batteries is 100amphours , 4 in parallel  would get you to the following morning.

Edited December 29, 20205 yr by Buyeye

Neat @Buyeye. I want to achieve something like that too but at the same time, I don't want my battery to be dead at sunset which is the conundrum. This is why I thought that a setting which allows a switchover to eskom at around 6pm would be great.

In that case you just need to change the "battery to mains working point" to a higher voltage like 49 volts? which should leave enough to power the inverter overnight.

Edited December 29, 20205 yr by Buyeye

Thanks @Buyeye, let me see what that does.

I desparately need to access these settings in my SPH5k model to overcome Bat. voltage high issue,

please guide me to these settings you show by 4 clips please ASAP.

Really appreciated.

 

On 2020/12/30 at 8:24 AM, naids said:

Thanks @Buyeye, let me see what that does.

Hi did you come right? i have a similar issue but I have a 3kw growatt off grid inverter with a svolt 2.71 kw battery & 3 x 410w solar panels

11 hours ago, shahzaz said:

Hi did you come right? i have a similar issue but I have a 3kw growatt off grid inverter with a svolt 2.71 kw battery & 3 x 410w solar panels

Just confirm the model of the inverter or post the sticker on the side of the inverter. 

On 2024/05/29 at 8:14 PM, Scorp007 said:

Just confirm the model of the inverter or post the sticker on the side of the inverter. 

Please see attached, - which setting to ensure that the only time the battery is used to supply loads is when there's no municipal supply... currently the PV supply power during the day to charge the battery & excess power to supply essential loads circuit connected to inverter...

Edited June 5, 20242 yr by shahzaz
update

Hi All 

Is there any one that I can call for assistance on my Gorwatt system, or is there any ware that I can get training on the setting up of the two invertors running together? One is currently running charging the lithium batteries x 3. They are boteh connected I just need to setup the one. 

Model

SPF 5000TL HVM-WPV-P

Max PV input 450dc

 

On 2020/12/29 at 2:05 PM, naids said:

Hi all,

New to the forum so please go easy .  I'll try to be detailed enough and hopefully this thread assists many others with the same intention.

Setup:

• 2 x Growatt 5KW inverters (5000TL),

• 1 x Shoto 4.8 Kwh lithium battery (SDA10-48100),

• 12 x 330W Prime Solar panels.

Home power setup and usage:

• No geysers / ovens connected to the inverter system. 

• General average power usage on the inverters during the day at any given time is under 1000W (probably 500w average), except for when the microwave/toaster/iron/aircon is being utilised.

What do I want to achieve? - using as little as possible of Eskom power.

The problem? - When the sun starts setting, it depletes the battery until there is no more sunlight and then a large amount of Eskom power is required to recharge the battery.

The setup seems to be singing along nicely however I would like to tune it to be more efficient in terms of battery charge/discharge.

 

The main aim of making the system more efficient is that when the sun starts setting, the battery starts draining.  At a point where there is no sun available (i.e. PV power production = 0W), the inverter switches to utility power (Eskom) which uses a considerable amount of utility power to replenish the battery back to 100%.  This of course reduces my net gain from the day's solar power production 😕

Is anyone able to assist \ have experience with making the system more efficient?

I've potentially found the settings "hidden" within the wifi data logger module's web interface (accessible via the mobile app too) which will potentially solve the issue but I'm afraid to make the change! 😂  See green highlighted section below.  (I haven't received much assistance from Growatt hence turning to this forum for assistance).

I would like to avoid charging the battery using Eskom, which would require me to switch over to utility at approximately 6pm at the moment (Cape Town) and ideally at that point, I don't want the battery to charge anymore (especially from Eskom).  Once the sun starts to rise (after 5am currently), I would like it to switch over to PV power. 

Any advice on how to achieve this and would I need to configure both inverters via their respective wifi data loggers? (screenshots of current settings listed below)

 

For anyone interested in the setup, Setsolar kindly provides the settings for various batteries (https://www.setsolar-shop.com/product-page/3kva-24v-bi-directional-inverter-with-built-in-25a-mppt-price-excluding-vat)

 

 

Thanks!

---O0o---o0O---

Hello everyone!

I'm bumping the question and asking at the same time if anyone has managed to find the perfect parameters to use as little city power as possible :-)