diy solar

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Growatt SPF5000 ES questions

@timselectric, yes I know that the dongle doesn't give me more functionality. I need it to have quicker info on what's going on. By the way, I took a look at Solar Assistant and that looks very impressive too. If I'm not satisfied with the Growatt dongle, I will order Solar Assistant. Thank for the tip ;-)

You say "Both SUB and SBU put solar production to the loads first.". But that's not what I am seeing here. What I see is that Solar goes to the batteries first. And what's left goes to the loads. Am I missing something here???
 
MikeMynis said:
@timselectric, yes I know that the dongle doesn't give me more functionality. I need it to have quicker info on what's going on. By the way, I took a look at Solar Assistant and that looks very impressive too. If I'm not satisfied with the Growatt dongle, I will order Solar Assistant. Thank for the tip ;-)

You say "Both SUB and SBU put solar production to the loads first.". But that's not what I am seeing here. What I see is that Solar goes to the batteries first. And what's left goes to the loads. Am I missing something here???
Click to expand...
It's got to be something in your settings. But I can't think of what it would be, off the top of my head.
I have been running these AIO's for almost a year. And they operate as I have described.
Maybe you can post your settings and I can see what it might be.
 
Awesome, thanks. Yes, I will collect all the settings and post them here asap...
 
I just hooked up to the grid (haven't been for several months) to verify nothing has changed. And I switched to SUB mode. It's working as I described.
Screenshot_20230121-135611_Chrome.jpg
Luckily the sun popped out. It's been cloudy days here.
 
Here's the list of my settings:

1 : SBU
2 : 30A
3 : APL
4 : DIS
5 : AGM
6 : ENA
7 : DIS
8 : 230
9 : 50
10 : 4
11 : 16
12 : 48.4
13 : 50.9
14 : OSO
15 : OFF
16 : ON
17 : ON
18 : DIS
19 : 56.4
20 : 54
21 : 42.0
23 : NOT AVAILABLE
28 : 1
37 : 2023
38 : 01
39 : 21
40 : 20
41 : 18
42 : 55
43 : DIS
44 : 58.4
45 : 60
46 : 120
47 : 30
48 : OFF
49 : 0001
50 : 0000
 
I don't see anything wrong with your settings.
Are you sure that it's functioning the way you have described?
What are your readings?
Solar production
Load
Grid
Battery
 
Yes, I'm sure. When the sun is up (can't show it now, because it's night time here in Spain), I see for example 2500 Watts coming from solar.
Then 2kW is going to the batteries. The house needs 1kW. So 500 Watts from solar goes to the house AND 500 watts is taken from the grid.

That's just an example, but this is how it goes.

What I expect is: 2500 Watts coming from solar. 1kW is going to the house, and the rest, 1.5kW, goes the batteries.

I think we'll have sunny weather tomorrow, I'll make a picture or video of the screen.

Don't know my exact readings yet. I don't have a history recorded. Have to setup the dongle first.
 
I have taken a picture that explains the unwanted situation. I hope it's clear.Growatt Display.png
 
Solar is generating enough power for the house. The house needs 473 Watts and solar is generating 1689 Watts.
But still the 473 watts for the house is taken from the grid. (see AC BYPASS mode)
I also notice that BAT. FIRST is showing. Don't know where that comes from. Shouldn't this be "LOADS FIRST"?
 
You are currently in SBU mode. And in grid bypass mode. (Controlled by setting #12 and #13) the grid will power all loads until battery has reached setting #13.
 
Your screen is showing that you have all of solar charging the battery because your AIO is in bypass. It does not run the inverter making AC in that mode of operation. Likely your battery had low enough voltage to be below the battery to utility setpoint. Your PV/battery will not be used to supply loads until the DC voltage rises above the Utility to battery transfer voltage.

Unless a AIO has grid tie (parallel) it does not share loads between grid and inverter. It is one or the other.
 
Mattb4 said:
Your screen is showing that you have all of solar charging the battery because your AIO is in bypass. It does not run the inverter making AC in that mode of operation. Likely your battery had low enough voltage to be below the battery to utility setpoint. Your PV/battery will not be used to supply loads until the DC voltage rises above the Utility to battery transfer voltage.

Unless a AIO has grid tie (parallel) it does not share loads between grid and inverter. It is one or the other.
Click to expand...
Again
This AIO does have that functionality.
SUB mode
 
Okay guys, I have changed SBU to SUB and I have reset the values in program 12 and 13 to their default values.
This is what I see now... I think we're getting somewhere :) Let's see how it goes....
 
In SUB mode. Settings #12 and #13 don't do anything. They only control the bypass function. Which is permanently connected in SUB mode.
 
In SUB mode. You will never draw from the battery. Unless the grid goes down.
 
It now looks like your screen is showing both grid and inverter in operation. For these models the DC bus is where they parallel. I do not know if you have settings for how much DC from grid can be combined with DC from PV/batt in this model. Perhaps someone with the same model can give you their settings and you can try them out.
 
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