GroWatt battery on ‘reserved mode’ at night

[Rebus Stone]

We’ve just had a new GroWatt inverter and 6kw battery installed.
It’s set to “load first” and during the day can see everything working as it should i.e. using battery when PV not generating - although there’s often mismatch between what the app says is being used/imported and what our smart meter says.
But the main thing is that in early evening the battery switches to something called ‘reserve mode” on the app, the battery stays at 100% all night. So we don’t get to use the stored power in the battery which is what we want to do.
Also frustratingly on the app when I try to change any settings my password is not accepted (have tried the one I set the app up with and also some our installers suggested but none work!) so the only changes I can make are on LCD screen on the inverter. I’ve emailed GroWatt several times but no reply.
Any ideas?

 

[DThames]

My experience with changing Growatt settings via the web page portal is that you need a special "key", text string to make the update write back to the Growatt. Better off using the LCD screen, I think.

 

[Rebus Stone]

My experience with changing Growatt settings via the web page portal is that you need a special "key", text string to make the update write back to the Growatt. Better off using the LCD screen, I think.

Thanks, that’s helpful!
Any experience on what/how to change ‘reserved mode’ to ensure battery used overnight?

 

[DThames]

Thanks, that’s helpful!
Any experience on what/how to change ‘reserved mode’ to ensure battery used overnight?

No, I would have to study the manual. It is most likely set to switch from battery once the battery hits some percent SOC left. It that number was set to 90% for example, it would use almost nothing before putting the battery power to reserve.

 

[Northernchateau]

Do yourself a favor and check the battery voltage not the Growatt SOC.
I am running a 3kw Growatt all in one w/LifePO4 batteries the SOC number is out to lunch.
I called Growatt about it and was told the SOC is based on Lead Acid even if you select another battery type.

 

[Sunshine1]

It’s your smartmeter that controls discharging of the battery. If the smartmeter is mounted up side down then the battery won’t discharge. Or it maybe something with the time settings if ac charging is disabled.

 

[Sunshine1]

Try to chance the inverter to battery first and set a short time span for ac charging (fx 02:00 to 02:15). In that time span the battery will not discharge. Set ac charging to disable if you dont want to charge from the grid.

 

[Sunshine1]

SOC should be set to 100%.

 

[mikech]

password on the app (or the website for that matter is a combination of:
"growatt" string without quotes
+ date in the following format YYYYMMDD - so at time of writing that would be "growatt20221023". again without the quotes.

 

[Rebus Stone]

It’s your smartmeter that controls discharging of the battery. If the smartmeter is mounted up side down then the battery won’t discharge. Or it maybe something with the time settings if ac charging is disabled.

Thanks - not sure I understand though, do you mean the smart meter that the electricity company installed? How do I change it if it’s been mounted upside down? Thank you.

 

[Sunshine1]

There should be a diagram showing how it must be installed. I believe that you have the same plant as I do (SPH3600 with a 6kWh lithium battery) and either a Chint or Eastrom smart meter. The smart meter must be mounted directly after the meter from the electricity company. With the Chint the grid is connected to the bottom and with the Eastrom grid is connected to the top. The inverter is then connected after the smart meter. But dont touch this yourself, only a skilled electrician should do that. And in your case it is probably the inverter settings that causes problems. Try battery first as I discribed above.

 

[Rebus Stone]

Thankyou . That’s very helpful, I’ll get in contact with the electrician who installed it.

 

[Sunshine1]

I wrote in #8 that SOC should be set to 100%. That is not optimal as it gives the battery a very sluggish response to sudden large power demands. I have set SOC to 20%, and now the battery deliver almost immediately.