Need help with growatt spf 6000 dvm

Marvintinyhomes · Jul 21, 2022

Hi. I have a Growatt SPF 6000T DVM all in one inverter in an off grid tiny house. It is connected to 12 200W renogy panels (due to limited roof space), a Westinghouse iGen4500 (to AC in & dry contacts). I have 4 SOK 206Ah batteries, and the AC out on the growatt is feeding a 30amp RV panel.
My issue is the dry contact isn’t turning on the generator. I have tested it out by touching the 2 leads together, the generator starts. But when I have it plugged into the NO & C contacts on the growatt, the generator will not start and the low battery alarm will sound at 5am.
Has anyone had any experience with this problem that can help?

Thanks!

the_uglydog · Sep 5, 2022

Check and see if there are dipswitch settings that could be causing that, also there may be settings for it in the inverter settings instructions. I seem to be remembering something like that when I was planning my generator setup as well. Also, some Growatt inverters need to have the software updated if they are doing strange things. I posted a link for that on the thread, Growatt 12k inverter no output. the dog

BentleyJ · Sep 5, 2022

According to the Growatt manual the dry contact closes at Low DC Cut-Off voltage +2V or Low DC Cut-Off SoC +5% depending on the setting in menu 05. Since you are using SOK, you most likely have chosen "Li" which is only suitable when communicating with a compatible BMS. Is your BMS sending accurate SoC data? If not, there is no SoC value coming from the BMS to compare to the setting in menu 21 which would be in %.

If you are using some other type of battery setting in menu 05 then the dry contact should close at 2V above the Cut-Off value set in menu 21.

Marvintinyhomes · Sep 6, 2022

Thanks for the replies. I’ve been in contact with another solar installer and we’ve troubleshot some of the issues. First of all, after extensive research, the growatt is not suitable for what we’re using it for. We build tiny homes on trailers in North America and our clients will mainly have access to 30amp 120VAC shore power. The growatt needs 240VAC input to charge the batteries. In fact, there’s a video talking about the dangers of using a growatt inverter in North America.

On the settings, I had the batteries on user2 setting. The dry contacts were not working because the generator needed a momentary close contact, while the growatt can only send a permanent close/open contact signal.
Our next step now is to redesign the solar system with different equipment, looking at Victron. Probably will be sticking with Renogy panels as they are small and we can get more of them on the roof of the tiny home.

BentleyJ · Sep 6, 2022

Speaking of Tiny Homes. I was considering building an ADU in our back yard with solar but I just don't have the 4' side setback. Would hate to invest the money in such a venture and have the building dept make us tear it down or move it.

BentleyJ · Sep 6, 2022

You mentioned needing a momentary close contact to start the gen but then what do you need to shut it down? Don't know if this is helpful but I may be able to design a super simple PCB with a microrelay and a timing capacitor to provide the momentary function you need. Feel free to send me a Private Message if I can help.

the_uglydog · Sep 7, 2022

BentleyJ said:
Speaking of Tiny Homes. I was considering building an ADU in our back yard with solar but I just don't have the 4' side setback. Would hate to invest the money in such a venture and have the building dept make us tear it down or move it.

Check with you building inspector. We had the same problem, we wanted a shed but it needed a permit. We bought a large cargo trailer, registered it one year then not again, it didn't need any permit. You may be able to do that too. Build it on a open trailer and beat the building permits, since it will still be a trailer.

lucariffer · Sep 8, 2022

Marvintinyhomes said:
Thanks for the replies. I’ve been in contact with another solar installer and we’ve troubleshot some of the issues. First of all, after extensive research, the growatt is not suitable for what we’re using it for. We build tiny homes on trailers in North America and our clients will mainly have access to 30amp 120VAC shore power. The growatt needs 240VAC input to charge the batteries. In fact, there’s a video talking about the dangers of using a growatt inverter in North America.

On the settings, I had the batteries on user2 setting. The dry contacts were not working because the generator needed a momentary close contact, while the growatt can only send a permanent close/open contact signal.
Our next step now is to redesign the solar system with different equipment, looking at Victron. Probably will be sticking with Renogy panels as they are small and we can get more of them on the roof of the tiny home.

If you standardize your tiny home system on 120Vac, stick with Growatt all-in-one but change your model from SPF6000T-DVM to SPF3000TL-LVM . . it charges battery using 120V shore power

Need help with growatt spf 6000 dvm

Marvintinyhomes

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the_uglydog

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