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Can I Automatically Charge the Battery? Growatt SPF5000

tomjay

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Jul 3, 2022
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I have 2x Lithium ion battery (10kw each) and running whole day and night with SBU mode. I want to start grid charging at 1 O’ clock and should stop at 5 O’ clock.

Every night 1 O’clock I wake up and manually switch back to uti mode to charge my battery. Is there any way to charge battery without changing the SBU mode?

Currently my settings on my SPF 5000ES are:
001-SBU
005-US2
012-46.0v
013-54.0v
014-SNU
019-56.4v
020-54.0v
021-43.0v
049-01-05
 
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I don't know about Growatts but both my LVX-6048 and my sol-ark 15k have a scheduled charging option.
 
Yes you can. It took me a while to figure it out but I only recently got it working by using a protocol called Modbus over RS485.

Essentially each setting on the inverter maps to a register which can be programmatically set by a computer or a device such as a Raspberry Pi or ESP32.

I have a script which I have finally gotten to work reliably every night. It's a bit of a mess so I'll tidy it up and publish to GitHub later (with comments!)

One of the problems was getting the inverter to recognise the battery needed charging. I found it wasn't possible to set a usable range of voltages so I used @uksa007 ESP32 script which implements a proper BMS protocol and gives accurate SoC information (as a percentage) to the inverter. This allows me to set ranges in percentages instead of raw voltages.

So I now have two devices plugged into the inverter, one in the CAN port for BMS communication and one in the RS485 port for configuring the inverter each night to force a battery charge. Not a simple solution but it does work!
 
Short answer is no.
You can't charge from the grid in SBU mode.
The simplest option is to use a timer and a separate AC charger.
 
Short answer is no.
You can't charge from the grid in SBU mode.
The simplest option is to use a timer and a separate AC charger.
I have done it though. Just need to know the correct Modbus commands. Granted it's not obvious though but I have figured it out.

Surely if the inverter can charge the battery from AC at up to 90A then this is preferable to buying more equipment?

Thanks to AC charging at night my electricity import costs are 80% less so I can see why a lot of people are wanting to do this kind of thing and it's a shame the SPF 5000 doesn't support it out of the box.
 
I have done it though. Just need to know the correct Modbus commands. Granted it's not obvious though but I have figured it out.

Surely if the inverter can charge the battery from AC at up to 90A then this is preferable to buying more equipment?

Thanks to AC charging at night my electricity import costs are 80% less so I can see why a lot of people are wanting to do this kind of thing and it's a shame the SPF 5000 doesn't support it out of the box.
Not while in SBU mode.
 
Short answer is no.
You can't charge from the grid in SBU mode.
The simplest option is to use a timer and a separate AC charger.

This is not correct. You CAN charge from the grid in SBU mode. I did it for 6 months.
Just set the charger option from Solar only to the Solar and grid charge option, don't remember the menu number.
 
This is not correct. You CAN charge from the grid in SBU mode. I did it for 6 months.
Just set the charger option from Solar only to the Solar and grid charge option, don't remember the menu number.
If you select SBU mode.
It only charges from the grid when it switches to bypass mode.
It will NOT charge from the grid, while running on battery.
 
When it charges from the grid it auto switches to the bypass mode, then back again when the timer for the charge is done - menu 49 or something as I remember. I put mine on net charge during winter from 01 to 07:00 due to clouds.
 
When it charges from the grid it auto switches to the bypass mode, then back again when the timer for the charge is done - menu 49 or something as I remember. I put mine on net charge during winter from 01 to 07:00 due to clouds.
Yup
That's the TOU settings.
Which would work for the OP. Because they are manually switching to utility. So, they don't mind running loads from the grid, also.
 
Lorsqu'il se charge à partir du réseau, il passe automatiquement en mode bypass, puis revient lorsque la minuterie de charge est terminée - menu 49 ou quelque chose dont je me souviens. Je mets le mien en charge nette pendant l'hiver de 01h00 à 07h00 à cause des nuages.

Bonjour,



Je souhaiterais également recharger automatiquement la nuit de 22h à 5h du matin mon lifepo4 avec le spf5000es.

Je dois aussi forcer en mode UTI, pour forcer l'onduleur d'un chargeur jusqu'à 100%.



Je comprends que vous avez trouvé une solution automatique.

pourriez-vous écrire vos valeurs de paramètres ou faire une vidéo s'il vous plaît?




Bonjour,

Je voudrais également charger automatiquement la nuit de 22h00 à 5h00 mes lifepo4 avec le spf5000es.
je suis aussi obligé de forcer en mode UTI, pour forcer l'onduleur d'un chargeur jusqu'à 100%.

Je comprends que vous avez trouvé une solution automatique.
pourriez-vous écrire vos valeurs de paramètres ou faire une vidéo s'il vous plait ?

Jérôme
 
change mode from sbu to sub. use a timer with a well suited contactor for your setup to switch the AC in. you can additionally use the dry contact to have a second option to switch the conractor in case battery limits are reached.
 
changeur de mode de sbu à sub. utilisez une minuterie avec un contacteur bien adapté à votre configuration pour activer le courant alternatif. vous pouvez également utiliser le contact sec pour avoir une deuxième option pour commuter l'entrepreneur au cas où les limites de la batterie hello, merci beaucoup


Bonjour, et merci beaucoup, je vais faire ça !
 
Hi guys, it seems, that not all Growatt's inverters has "TOU settings".
n case of this conversation about model SPF5000es and eventualy SPF3000es there is no such option in menu, and the only way how to setup STOP charging at certain SOC% is by voltage setup in menu #19 and #20.
But these two settings are available for change only in case of #05 - USE is set as battery type.
Than there is another problem, that battery SOC is not correctly reported by Growatt inverter. Because it's not anymore communicating by CAN connection with battery's BMS.
Means, inverter has full control, when to charge and when to stop charge based on battery total voltage.
Anyway, battery is still protected by his BMS from overcharge/discharge, overheat, etc.. but it's not anymore reporting cells precised SOC% to inverter software. Therefore in the web and app UI, battery SOC is displayed a bit chaotically and only in quarters of full charge. (means 25-50-75-100%). This is my experience with Pylontech US5000 battery, which is not a standard 48V battery with 16 cell in series. It has only 15 S cells, so that is why growatt is so confused from voltage. It looks like this - see picture below.
 

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If you select SBU mode.
It only charges from the grid when it switches to bypass mode.
It will NOT charge from the grid, while running on battery.
So I have just had my inverters running for the first night and found this issue. SPF5000.

I've set charging time to 0004 and AC output to 0000 and my batteries didn't charge (they did the previous night when no load connected).

Surely, if I keep charge at 0004 and AC output at 0523 it will will go into bypass at 23:59, start charging at 00:00, stop charging at 04:59, supply load at 05:00.

Or will it not charge while in bypass either?
 
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I don't know anything about TOU settings.
But yes, it should charge from grid in bypass mode. As long as the settings allow it.
 
The settings seem to allow it. The charge/bypass settings will cut a minute before the other is due to come on, and vice versa.

I'll see how it works tonight and update. Currently in line mode after reaching low voltage, hopefully charges tonight and back on in the morning.
 

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I know that the settings will allow it.
What I meant was that it will charge from the grid, if you have set the settings to allow it.
Sorry for the confusion.
 
Apologies, I didn't explain my situation. I don't have PV, at all. I have a battery storage system that I want to charge at night at a greatly reduced rate which can then power my house.

In short, what I tried didn't work last night either. So it seems like the inverters can only do one thing with the AC input. Either charge the batteries, or supply load. It can't do both which is what I was trying to do.
 
It can and does do both.
If you set it to do so.
What do you have settings #2 and #11 at?
 
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