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A Signature Solar Customer Service Success Story - Replaced Growatt 12k

MrM1

I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
2,421
Location
N. Central FL
OK ... So I waited until this issue was fully resolved to give me thoughts. And now it is ...

Most People do not share their success stories, so I wanted to give a thumbs up to Signature Solar for this resolution

We purchased a Growatt 12kW SPF 12000T DVM MPV 250voc from Signature Solar back in the Fall of 2021. It took us until the Fall of 2022 to get started on the build, and we completed the install and initialization in Jan of 2023. The Off Grid Farm was fully operational. Until ...

Thursday Feb 23rd, the Growatt 12k stopped working. It had been operational in the testing phase since Oct in testing and at the farm since Jan, but on Feb 23rd ... one minute it was working and the next everything was dark. Testing revealed the inverter had shorted internally. Long story short, I reached out to tech support, got no response within a few days, so I reached out to @BenFromSignatureSolar here on the forum who promptly got support to call us.

We had to follow all the step, and documented the issues. Took the required photos, and in the end everything got resolved. We ordered a replacement Growatt 12k and had it shipped as a new order as suggested by SS because we need the power immediately and could not wait for the warranty process. It arrived and has been running flawlessly ever since (now 2 months). SS worked on the warranty claim and in a reasonable amount of time and "good enough" communication, approved the warranty within a week (we waited to order and pay for the replacement until the warranty claim was approved). Once approved, it was just time and the correct steps to get the original unit shipped back.

The new Growatt 12k arrived, we installed it and crated up the old unit. SS issued a freight pick up and handled all shipping. The unit was returned and a credit was issued for the Replacement purchase.

Overall ... the process worked. Sure it was no Amazon Return. But I did not expect it to be due to the nature of the item, and DIY installation of electrical gear. I fully understand why SS has the process and steps they require the customer to go through. (how do they know it was not installed out side in the rain with 12 gauge wire).

In the end, the process worked. The New Growatt is exceeding expectations. And SS handles all our issues.

I have since purchased more items from SS including 3 EG4 mini splits I plan to install in the next few weeks. So far SS has been a good experience for me. But I do not demand a lot of hand holding, so YMMV.

So Thanks Signature Solar
Mike
 
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Glad to hear you got taken care of. You have been more than helpful around here, including helping me with my lifepower battery issues. Glad some good karma came your way bud! Hopefully it will provide years of trouble free service!
 
We’re you able to determine the cause of the DC short?
Never did ... it definitely seemed to be internal in the Growatt 12k. And since we installed the replacement, it has worked flawlessly, with no problems.

We just finished our first large event on the off grid property burning up over 5000 watts continuous per hour for 7 hours and never had an issue
 
I installed a SPF12KWHMV with 4740w 126V to mppt 1 and the same again to mppt 2, based on the understanding overpaneling is fine as long as the VOC limits are not exceeded. I also took into consideration the thermal coefficient factor.

We are fully off grid without utility supply.

All working fine after the weekend install to return the following weekend to find the inverter blown - dead short on dc battery terminals.

Battery appeared fine (LiFeP04 16 x 3.2v 280ah eve cells with Daly 250A BMS), breaker tripped between inverter and battery.

Consulted the Growatt seller, the electrician that assisted with commissioning the install, Growatt themselves, and all suggested the inverter was faulty and Growatt provided a replacement.

We replaced the unit, double checked the install and all worked fine …. For about 4 days and the same failure occurred again. This time my wife was in attendance so we know the failure occurred in the middle of a summers day.

I am about to do another replacement but my research on this forum suggests the 7000w PV is a ‘hard limit’ and must be observed.

I was wondering if you might have any insight to the problem I am experiencing?
 
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Can you bypass a single solar panel in each string to drop the power and voltage and see how it goes then.
 
Can you bypass a single solar panel in each string to drop the power and voltage and see how it goes then.
I can easily pull some PV fuses (3S4P per mppt) and get under the 3500w per mppt, but I want to continue researching the possible cause before I fry a 3rd inverter, so I’m scouring this forum for clues.

I may start a post for help
 
That’s quite a bit of panel overpaneled for it. Over 2000w. @kromc5 i believe was below the VOC threshold as well but overpaneled with bad results if I’m not mistaken.
I try to read every Growatt 12k thread as well so I don’t have any first hand experience just what I’ve read.
Reason as it’s in my short list, but my intent was only overpanel, if at all, by having 3600w into each PV input due to these same concerns of frying the inverter
 
I installed a SPF12KWHMV with 4740w 126V to mppt 1 and the same again to mppt 2, based on the understanding overpaneling is fine as long as the VOC limits are not exceeded. I also took into consideration the thermal coefficient factor.

We are fully off grid without utility supply.

All working fine after the weekend install to return the following weekend to find the inverter blown - dead short on dc battery terminals.

Battery appeared fine (LiFeP04 16 x 3.2v 280ah eve cells with Daly 250A BMS), breaker tripped between inverter and battery.

Consulted the Growatt seller, the electrician that assisted with commissioning the install, Growatt themselves, and all suggested the inverter was faulty and Growatt provided a replacement.

We replaced the unit, double checked the install and all worked fine …. For about 4 days and the same failure occurred again. This time my wife was in attendance so we know the failure occurred in the middle of a summers day.

I am about to do another replacement but my research on this forum suggests the 7000w PV is a ‘hard limit’ and must be observed.

I was wondering if you might have any insight to the problem I am experiencing?
i would put a class T fuse of about 150 to 400 amps between the battery and the inverter. Fuses are faster and more reliable the breakers.
 
That’s quite a bit of panel overpaneled for it. Over 2000w. @kromc5 i believe was below the VOC threshold as well but overpaneled with bad results if I’m not mistaken.
I try to read every Growatt 12k thread as well so I don’t have any first hand experience just what I’ve read.
Reason as it’s in my short list, but my intent was only overpanel, if at all, by having 3600w into each PV input due to these same concerns of frying the inverter
I am still scouring the forum for information so I will try to find kromc5 post
 
How overpaneled are you on each MPPT? I probably would not go much over 20% on each MPPT
1240w each MPPT it looks like if he’s really at 4740 per
 
We were using 32 360w panels in strings of 4. I decided before I ever turned it on for the first time that I would not run that much into just the 2 MPPTs in the Growat 12k. I purchased an external MPPT and ran 2 parallel groups into the Growatt 12k and 2 parallel groups into the External MPPT. This meant no single MPPT could get more than 2880 watts
 
My Build Thread

 
Here is the planned setup. It was only partially commissioned with PV array 1 & 2, Growatt 12kw inverter, and 1 x battery.
 

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We were using 32 360w panels in strings of 4. I decided before I ever turned it on for the first time that I would not run that much into just the 2 MPPTs in the Growat 12k. I purchased an external MPPT and ran 2 parallel groups into the Growatt 12k and 2 parallel groups into the External MPPT. This meant no single MPPT could get more than 2880 watts
I’ve posted my setup. I will also be using 3 x SCC48120
 
My Build Thread

Thanks, I have read through most of this and will continue reading your other threads
 
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