diy solar

diy solar

Growatt 48V SPF 5000 US 120/240volt for North America

B

Brian.canuck

New Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2021
Messages
2
Good afternoon from Canada
Solar is expensive in Canada Ordering from Alibaba

Questions:
1) I am ordering a Growatt 48V SPF 5000 ES from China.
They have 120/240V Growatt 48V SPF 5000 US for the North American market. No split transformer needed!!!
Have you heard of it and if so do you know the pro's and con's???????
 
I haven't heard of a split-phase model of a Growatt SPF 5000 before. Do they have a product page, flier, specs, info or anything they can give you? Are you sure it is authentic Growatt, and not a copycat? (...since China vendors have been known to fake products by making them look exactly like originals)

You could always ping Signature Solar and ask them to check with Growatt and see if they make a real one in split-phase, or know of one coming down the line soon... Or you could just try and ping Growatt directly yourself and ask them.
 
Last edited:
Why screw with China and take the risk. Go to Signature Solar. they are in Texas I believe. and you can ask them all the questions to your heart continent.
 
Growatt has several US versions coming out, giving them the UL approval for residential installs. Here is one
They also have a 3000 watt US version, but not here yet, but not split phase 120 volt version
 
MIke oglesby said:
Growatt has several US versions coming out, giving them the UL approval for residential installs. Here is one
They also have a 3000 watt US version, but not here yet, but not split phase 120 volt version
Click to expand...

Are those not, just a rebranded model of Sigineer inverter (with a few minor aesthetic case differences)?

www.sigineer.com

Solar Power Inverter For Home 12000 Watt 48V to 120V 240V w/ 120A MPPT Controller ETL Listed

12000 Watt Solar Power Inverter For Home |120A solar charger Pure Sine Wave 48V dc to ac 12KW 120/240Vac, off grid, emergency backup power
www.sigineer.com www.sigineer.com

www.treelinepowersystems.com

12kW Inverter/Solar Charge Controller/ATS/Charger

www.treelinepowersystems.com

Do they support stacking?

Not saying everyone cares about stacking, but enough brands/models out there do support stacking nowadays, to where I would only buy stackable, in case I ever faced the situation of running out of capacity I could add more later if I needed to so would want to make sure.

Someone else here also mentioned this style may have higher idle draw than some other models so I might check on Growatt specs and confirm. I don't see it listed there in these specs (provided in the above link). Perhaps there is a better datasheet somewhere showing idle draw...
 
Is an MPP Solar LVX6048 too much to break your budget? They are split-phase, stackable, low idle draw, and price is good I think, I ordered some MPP LV6548s before straight from their factory and the DHL shipping was very fast (1 week for them to complete the bench setup and testing, and another week to air ship item to my doorstep)...

MPP Solar Inc » SPLIT PHASE LVX SERIES – LVX6048

www.mppsolar.com www.mppsolar.com
 
Tony Scott said:

What you need is a Mid point Transformer. Signature solar sells them
Click to expand...

Yes sir, they do sell it in the bundle with both inverter and auto-transformer at this URL:

www.signaturesolar.com

GROWATT 5kW 5000ES (USA Model) OFF GRID INVERTER & Growatt Transformer Kit

5000W LVM- ES Off-Grid 240V GROWATT Inverter with Solar Charge Controller + integrated GROWATT Split Phase Transformer for true 120V/240V Split Phase Electricity! The GROWATT SPF 5000W LVM-ES is the all-in-one inverter/charger you need to take control of your energy bill. The 5000ES can work...
www.signaturesolar.com
 
Samsonite801 said:
Is an MPP Solar LVX6048 too much to break your budget? They are split-phase, stackable, low idle draw, and price is good I think, I ordered some MPP LV6548s before straight from their factory and the DHL shipping was very fast (1 week for them to complete the bench setup and testing, and another week to air ship item to my doorstep)...

MPP Solar Inc » SPLIT PHASE LVX SERIES – LVX6048

www.mppsolar.com www.mppsolar.com
Click to expand...

Samsonite801 said:
Yes sir, they do sell it in the bundle with both inverter and auto-transformer at this URL:

www.signaturesolar.com

GROWATT 5kW 5000ES (USA Model) OFF GRID INVERTER & Growatt Transformer Kit

5000W LVM- ES Off-Grid 240V GROWATT Inverter with Solar Charge Controller + integrated GROWATT Split Phase Transformer for true 120V/240V Split Phase Electricity! The GROWATT SPF 5000W LVM-ES is the all-in-one inverter/charger you need to take control of your energy bill. The 5000ES can work...
www.signaturesolar.com
Click to expand...
You can buy it separately, just call them on Monday they are closed weekends
 
Last edited:
Samsonite801 said:
Are those not, just a rebranded model of Sigineer inverter (with a few minor aesthetic case differences)?

www.sigineer.com

Solar Power Inverter For Home 12000 Watt 48V to 120V 240V w/ 120A MPPT Controller ETL Listed

12000 Watt Solar Power Inverter For Home |120A solar charger Pure Sine Wave 48V dc to ac 12KW 120/240Vac, off grid, emergency backup power
www.sigineer.com www.sigineer.com

www.treelinepowersystems.com

12kW Inverter/Solar Charge Controller/ATS/Charger

www.treelinepowersystems.com

Do they support stacking?

Not saying everyone cares about stacking, but enough brands/models out there do support stacking nowadays, to where I would only buy stackable, in case I ever faced the situation of running out of capacity I could add more later if I needed to so would want to make sure.

Someone else here also mentioned this style may have higher idle draw than some other models so I might check on Growatt specs and confirm. I don't see it listed there in these specs (provided in the above link). Perhaps there is a better datasheet somewhere showing idle draw...
Click to expand...
They do support stacking and the UL approval is getting to be more important if installing for other people in the cities. I don't know about Growatt being marketed by a manufacturer under different names. They do look similar though.
 
Samsonite801 said:
I haven't heard of a split-phase model of a Growatt SPF 5000 before. Do they have a product page, flier, specs, info or anything they can give you? Are you sure it is authentic Growatt, and not a copycat? (...since China vendors have been known to fake products by making them look exactly like originals)

You could always ping Signature Solar and ask them to check with Growatt and see if they make a real one in split-phase, or know of one coming down the line soon... Or you could just try and ping Growatt directly yourself and ask them.
Click to expand...
I contacted Signature Solar. They just got back to me BUT have never heard of it so I will continue my investigation.
Will post my finding's.
Thanks for your response.
 
Samsonite801 said:
Is an MPP Solar LVX6048 too much to break your budget? They are split-phase, stackable, low idle draw, and price is good I think, I ordered some MPP LV6548s before straight from their factory and the DHL shipping was very fast (1 week for them to complete the bench setup and testing, and another week to air ship item to my doorstep)...

MPP Solar Inc » SPLIT PHASE LVX SERIES – LVX6048

www.mppsolar.com www.mppsolar.com
Click to expand...
What is the difference between the LV6048 and LVX6048? Not immediate obvious from their site and searching around. Considering going this route over the Growatt considering the complexity of getting split phase out of the Growatt.
 
craigcabrey said:
What is the difference between the LV6048 and LVX6048? Not immediate obvious from their site and searching around. Considering going this route over the Growatt considering the complexity of getting split phase out of the Growatt.
Click to expand...

I'm seeing first thing, the color hehe.
-LV6048 is white, LVX6048 is yellow.
-LV6048 stackable up to 3 units, LVX6048 stackable up to 9 units.
-LV6048 max PV input 145v, LVX6048 max PV input 450v.
-LV6048 max PV charging current 160a, LVX6048 max PV charging current 100a.
-LV6048 max PV watts 8000w, LVX6048 max PV watts 6000w
-LV6048 208v 3-phase possible with 3 inverters, LVX6048 ? (Doesn't look like it, would need to read manual to be sure)
-LV6048 batteryless not advertised as possible, LVX6048 batteryless possible in single inverter topology only.
-LV6048 BMS communication not advertised, LVX6048 BMS communication supported with Pylontech, Soltaro, WECO BMS...
-LV6048 Up to 60a utility charging, LVX6048 Up to 100a utility charging.

May be some other items as well. I just spent a couple minutes comparing real quick to see what I could find looking at the product pages and the brochure PDFs without attempting to read the install manuals on both.

I don't own either one of those, I have LV6548s (which require minimum 2 inverters to offer split-phase.

Hope this helps..
 
Samsonite801 said:
I'm seeing first thing, the color hehe.
-LV6048 is white, LVX6048 is yellow.
-LV6048 stackable up to 3 units, LVX6048 stackable up to 9 units.
-LV6048 max PV input 145v, LVX6048 max PV input 450v.
-LV6048 max PV charging current 160a, LVX6048 max PV charging current 100a.
-LV6048 max PV watts 8000w, LVX6048 max PV watts 6000w
-LV6048 208v 3-phase possible with 3 inverters, LVX6048 ? (Doesn't look like it, would need to read manual to be sure)
-LV6048 batteryless not advertised as possible, LVX6048 batteryless possible in single inverter topology only.
-LV6048 BMS communication not advertised, LVX6048 BMS communication supported with Pylontech, Soltaro, WECO BMS...
-LV6048 Up to 60a utility charging, LVX6048 Up to 100a utility charging.

May be some other items as well. I just spent a couple minutes comparing real quick to see what I could find looking at the product pages and the brochure PDFs without attempting to read the install manuals on both.

I don't own either one of those, I have LV6548s (which require minimum 2 inverters to offer split-phase.

Hope this helps..
Click to expand...
I must be blind! Thanks.

I guess it's the LVX6048 vs the Growatt with AT then. Growatt route feels more risky for a newbie like me.
 
Samsonite801 said:
Yes sir, they do sell it in the bundle with both inverter and auto-transformer at this URL:

www.signaturesolar.com

GROWATT 5kW 5000ES (USA Model) OFF GRID INVERTER & Growatt Transformer Kit

5000W LVM- ES Off-Grid 240V GROWATT Inverter with Solar Charge Controller + integrated GROWATT Split Phase Transformer for true 120V/240V Split Phase Electricity! The GROWATT SPF 5000W LVM-ES is the all-in-one inverter/charger you need to take control of your energy bill. The 5000ES can work...
www.signaturesolar.com
Click to expand...
Samsonite, I have two of these SPF 5000 ES inverters and, just in case one goes down, I have 2 of the Solaredge autotransformers. Just mounted those 4 components as of a couple of days ago, but since then I'm hearing of a somewhat concerning issue with these inverters. Apparently, the output leads N and GND are shorted inside the unit, by design which seems to me to result in the energizing of the GND terminal in whatever subpanel you're using. I wonder if you've heard of this? After hearing about this I rewatched the video linked above and noticed that their example of how to wire and use the inverter and autotransformer shows that they only use L1 and L2 (marked as N) and not the GND. Any thoughts?
 
Skysthelimit said:
Samsonite, I have two of these SPF 5000 ES inverters and, just in case one goes down, I have 2 of the Solaredge autotransformers. Just mounted those 4 components as of a couple of days ago, but since then I'm hearing of a somewhat concerning issue with these inverters. Apparently, the output leads N and GND are shorted inside the unit, by design which seems to me to result in the energizing of the GND terminal in whatever subpanel you're using. I wonder if you've heard of this? After hearing about this I rewatched the video linked above and noticed that their example of how to wire and use the inverter and autotransformer shows that they only use L1 and L2 (marked as N) and not the GND. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Where did you buy the unit from?
Did you check the resistance (not connected to power of course, just a stand alone unit not connected to anything) between the N and Ground to see if it shows <1 Ohm (typical meter probe wires resistance)?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
Growatt SPF 5000 ES-US AC Voltage on PV input
Replies
8
Views
515
RCinFLA
RCinFLA
V
Growatt 5000 SPF ES - Back to grid for no reason?
Replies
7
Views
487
kirkdis
kirkdis
B
SPF 6000 ES plus. 120 vac Neutral to ground voltage on output load panel fed from solar edge auto transformer
2
Replies
20
Views
752
Bigbadben
B
J
GROWATT SPF 5000 ES hybrid-grid connection
Replies
5
Views
597
marbella
marbella
cjdell
Growatt SPF 5000 ES short circuit and replacement inverter suggestions (UK)
Replies
9
Views
614
cjdell
cjdell
Back
Top