Growatt 12k unboxing
- Thread starter Jgb3
- Start date
Heck yeah making power not to bad since I only have 6 of 24 panels out and it’s raining
I probably need to put a Hall effect sensor on my panels so I know what I make the victron shunt doesnt tell me really as you can see by the difference in watts
Bossrox
Solar tinkerer
You must be in my region. Craiglist has thousands of those same q cells at the same cost near Greenville.
Yup I saw his add on Facebook but I am north of Greenville
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
@Jgb3 How's those bms units working out? I'm about to start the exact project for an off grid home.
Biggest issue is the BMS units I wanted to use from overkill solar. I want to use 32 280 cells 16s, each 16s group with its own bms. Then parallel the 2 packs.
But the BMS from overkill are only 100amp x 2 and 48vdc x 200amp = 9600 watts. So I would shut down at 9600w ... Unless I build a 3rd 16s bank with a third bms, which I may do.
Biggest issue is the BMS units I wanted to use from overkill solar. I want to use 32 280 cells 16s, each 16s group with its own bms. Then parallel the 2 packs.
But the BMS from overkill are only 100amp x 2 and 48vdc x 200amp = 9600 watts. So I would shut down at 9600w ... Unless I build a 3rd 16s bank with a third bms, which I may do.
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
stienman
Mostly Harmless
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2021
- Messages
- 476
The 200A daly's aren't expensive:
Daly Lifepo4 Battery Protection Board Bms 16s 48v 200a Bms Lifepo4 With Balanced - Buy 16s 48v Bms,16s 48v 200a Bms,16s 48v 200a Bms Lifepo4 Product on Alibaba.com
Daly Lifepo4 Battery Protection Board Bms 16s 48v 200a Bms Lifepo4 With Balanced - Buy 16s 48v Bms,16s 48v 200a Bms,16s 48v 200a Bms Lifepo4 Product on Alibaba.com
dalyelec.en.alibaba.com
If you get a third pack, get it for capacity and redundancy, but not because your BMS is limiting you. You will rarely pull full capacity, so most of the time you'll still be under 0.25C (about 6.7kW) with two packs. Rather than spending $1,800 on another pack, just spend $300 on the higher power BMS units. Even if you do pull the full 200A (19kW) it'll still be well under 1C discharge for those cells.
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
I'll probably go with the JK Heltec 200a or something with a contactor
Been awhile since I’ve been on here but the Daly bms’s I got sucked one was junk and Daly made me ship it to them and pay for return shipping so they could fix it even though they sent me a junk bms. I’ve purchased a jbd bms 300amp but haven’t had a chance to install it yet
Well the growatt has 2 inputs so I went with 3s4p x 2 so 24 335 watt panels 8040 watts
Also over paneling is only on the watts side don’t go over on the volts. They have calculators to factor in temperature. I haven’t looked but I’m sure you have to be close or over with that set up you don’t want to have a cold sunny day and fry your controller
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
BMcL
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2021
- Messages
- 834
Any updates on how you're system is running ?
The Growatt 12000T will stand a surge of up to 15KW for starting current. You are confusing input with output. All inverters quote output and surge power.
The input is as stated 7000 watt solar, and they can be over paneled without harm. The over paneled watts will be wasted in summer and desperately needed in winter. Growatt has 2 solar input circuits and handles 120 amps maximum in two strings of 60 amps on each solar input. I recall the voltage on mine is 146 volts PV input and if they raised that it would be a good thing.
I would advise you to call Ian at watts247.com for more info, he is a good man to deal with.
EDIT: The Growatt is the 3rd largest selling inverter worldwide, I am told. It does not have the approval of the bureaucrats so no UL or CSA stickers. This does not matter to most of the DIY crowd, but adhering to recognized good wiring practices and wire sizes is important.
Last edited:
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
OverPaneling
This from Signature Solar as an email to me As to OverPaneling the Growatt SPF 12kW DVM MPV 250VDC and how the two PV inputs work for the MPPT SCC (PV1 and PV2).
(Me) Page 10 of the Manual - Indicates There are 2 PV input connections for the 12k version, but there is very little or no explanation of why or how they are used. I assume this has to do with MPPT tracking? Are there MPPT settings in the charge controller section of the control parameters? Not finding much about this or Array arrangement.
These models are essentially 2 6kw units combined into one. Each MPPT controller can handle 7000W from the array and the settings will be determined by total input.
(Me) We want to over panel the setup, but the manual in the specs only lists the inverter is rated for a 7000w array. Why is this a limitation? If we keep the array input under 250vdc wouldn't any over current just simply not be used? We would like to over panel because we have seen about a 15% drop off in rated power from an array on average here in FL on other off grid systems. Would like to build out a 8000w or 10,000w array for cloudy days, and to maximize power harvest in the mornings and afternoons.
As long as you do not exceed the VOC/VDC you can have more than 7000W of power generated from your panels, however it will not be inverted so it will be wasted.
This from Signature Solar as an email to me As to OverPaneling the Growatt SPF 12kW DVM MPV 250VDC and how the two PV inputs work for the MPPT SCC (PV1 and PV2).
(Me) Page 10 of the Manual - Indicates There are 2 PV input connections for the 12k version, but there is very little or no explanation of why or how they are used. I assume this has to do with MPPT tracking? Are there MPPT settings in the charge controller section of the control parameters? Not finding much about this or Array arrangement.
These models are essentially 2 6kw units combined into one. Each MPPT controller can handle 7000W from the array and the settings will be determined by total input.
(Me) We want to over panel the setup, but the manual in the specs only lists the inverter is rated for a 7000w array. Why is this a limitation? If we keep the array input under 250vdc wouldn't any over current just simply not be used? We would like to over panel because we have seen about a 15% drop off in rated power from an array on average here in FL on other off grid systems. Would like to build out a 8000w or 10,000w array for cloudy days, and to maximize power harvest in the mornings and afternoons.
As long as you do not exceed the VOC/VDC you can have more than 7000W of power generated from your panels, however it will not be inverted so it will be wasted.
AlbaCORPS
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2021
- Messages
- 16
So from the responses you got, you can in essence run up to 14kW as long as its 7kW per array input ?
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
That would be my understanding from that response. But from the larger body of info I have been gathering from multiple discussions on the forum, emails and from midnight solar indicates it really does not seem to matter how big the array is as long as it does not exceed the input VOC of the SCC . The extra will not be dissipated as heat, the SCC just simply will not use it. So it's up to the individual to decide how much Overpaneling waste they want to design in
In our case we plan to design in such a way that we will have 2 arrays and if we find our need for charing is greater than our waste, we'll simply add a second SCC and break the 2 arrays into 3.
My understanding of the Growatt 12K inverter is that it is only going to produce 60 amps of charge current per PV input. So anything more than that will be waste. But the idea of waste is somewhat of a subjective concept. It's not wasted if it produces near full capacity on a partially cloudy day or in the morning or early afternoon. In my opinion.
