Growatt ignoring solar input

[Sam Bellamy]

My growatt 6000 is ignoring my solar input. I'm getting the panel display appearing during the day but no communication with the inverter or batteries.
Recently got replacement batteries. I am getting 46V from solar and there is a bit of snow on the panels. I am disregarding the remaining snow as I have 2 x 400W panels completely free and 2 days ago I had communication. I lost solar once the system shut down and I had to reboot/recharge from my generator.

 

[Kornbread]

46v from the pv panels is awfully low. Need more information about the system to have an idea what is going on.

 

[Zwy]

My growatt 6000 is ignoring my solar input. I'm getting the panel display appearing during the day but no communication with the inverter or batteries.

Increase complexity by introducing comms between batteries and inverter can be troublesome as more failure points are introduced.

I'm not familiar with the AXE batteries, however I would forget comms until you sort things out. Manually configure, this will simplify troubleshooting. Unless the battery won't allow operation without comms, but I would never buy such a battery.

Recently got replacement batteries. I am getting 46V from solar and there is a bit of snow on the panels. I am disregarding the remaining snow as I have 2 x 400W panels completely free and 2 days ago I had communication.

We have no idea if the 2 panels are on a separate string, in series or parallel. The SCC will require a minimum voltage to operate and wake up. When the SCC wakes up and places a load on the pv, the voltage has to stay up or the SCC will shut down. My truck camper will cycle endlessly if I park it in the shop with the pv turned on and overhead doors open. Enough light will be present to create a high enough voltage, but as soon as the SCC powers up off the battery and places a load on the pv, it will disconnect and shut down.

Panel tilt in winter will affect pv output. This in itself can cause the SCC to not see enough voltage, or when there is enough voltage, there isn't any current because voltage drops once a load is present on the pv.

I lost solar once the system shut down and I had to reboot/recharge from my generator.

 

[DThames]

My growatt 6000 is ignoring my solar input. I'm getting the panel display appearing during the day but no communication with the inverter or batteries.
Recently got replacement batteries. I am getting 46V from solar and there is a bit of snow on the panels. I am disregarding the remaining snow as I have 2 x 400W panels completely free and 2 days ago I had communication. I lost solar once the system shut down and I had to reboot/recharge from my generator.

If you have panels in series, you should work to clean off all in a single series string before you expect results.

 

[Sam Bellamy]

If you have panels in series, you should work to clean off all in a single series string before you expect results.

What baffles me is 2 days ago, right after the new batteries were installed I had solar communication and charging and I had even more snow on the panels (right after a storm) Now I've got many panels free of snow, more sunlight and since my system shut down under code 4 - did a reboot and generator charge and no solar since then. I'm baffled totally with how unreliable this is! Just about everyone I speak to is having toyota like reliability and worry free operation. (except me - and probably alot of people here hahaha!)

 

[timselectric]

I keep seeing these issues lately. And these axe batteries are always in the mix. I don't know anything about them, other than they seem to be affiliated with the same issues.

 

[timselectric]

What is this "solar communications" ?

 

[Kornbread]

Even more baffling is an utter lack of the components and connections in the system so we might make an even more educated guess as to what is going on.

Can a 48v SCC even charge a 48v battery bank with only 46v from the pv array???

 

[Sam Bellamy]

Solar communications I guess is just my way of saying that my display shows panels are present but they are not providing any energy to the system or batteries. Typically the growatt display shows a dotted line indicating a connection. Right now I'Ve got this.

 

[Kornbread]

Solar communications I guess is just my way of saying that my display shows panels are present but they are not providing any energy to the system or batteries. Typically the growatt display shows a dotted line indicating a connection. Right now I'Ve got this.

The inverter is supplying loads from the battery.

What pv panels? How are they connected?

 

[Sam Bellamy]

I've got 8 x 400W panels. I think they are connected in 2 series but I honestly don't know. Installed professionally and have worked fine, until the batteries began being a problem. They would die at 40% and drop to 1%. I had them replaced, worked ok for 1 day. I had a shutdown on low voltage, rebooted and since then....no solar.

 

[timselectric]

Even more baffling is an utter lack of the components and connections in the system so we might make an even more educated guess as to what is going on.

Can a 48v SCC even charge a 48v battery bank with only 46v from the pv array???

That's a big no.

 

[timselectric]

I've got 8 x 400W panels. I think they are connected in 2 series but I honestly don't know. Installed professionally and have worked fine, until the batteries began being a problem. They would die at 40% and drop to 1%. I had them replaced, worked ok for 1 day. I had a shutdown on low voltage, rebooted and since then....no solar.

Sounds like you aren't getting enough solar to charge the batteries. Production is greatly reduced in winter, even without snow.

 

[Mattb4]

There can be a few reasons that you have solar indicated but no charge going on (line between panel and battery charger icon). Some faults will cause charging to cease until you disconnect all inputs to the inverter and than reconnect. There are also settings for Fully charged recovery wherein after the AIO has fully charged the battery the voltage must drop below the set level before charging can begin again (you will have the display indicate the solar icon but no line to the charger). Might want to read through your manual and double check everything.

If the voltage from the panels is too low you should not have the PV icon display. If you have not turned off the system alarm beeps you should get a beep anytime the PV voltage reaches operating level and when it drops below operating voltage.

 

[Kornbread]

Sounds like you aren't getting enough solar to charge the batteries. Production is greatly reduced in winter, even without snow.

 

[Sam Bellamy]

Sounds like you aren't getting enough solar to charge the batteries. Production is greatly reduced in winter, even without snow.

I would agree except I had solar power right after the storm with all panels loaded. I was producing a minimal amount of solar, my connection line was lit between solar and inverter and balance of power for loads was provided by the batteries like it used to do during rainy/cloudy days in the summer. Now I've got a lot less snow on panels and nothing coming except about 46V on the PV. All this only started when it shut down. Growatt and these lithium Axe batteries, what a mess in terms of reliability.

 

[Kornbread]

deleted

 

[Sam Bellamy]

I dunno about other inverter/batterie manufacturers, I've got little good to say about Growatt + Axe Lithium. Batteries already replaced after 2 months, inverter ignores utility/gen half the time and don't get me started on the whole WIFI shinephone application connection to monitor. What an absolute mess. Sadly I hear other posts talking about firmware upgrades and other stuff? wow!!! I thought this was plug and play, toyota ish reliable and easy. Any reliable system manufacturers to recommend?

 

[Kornbread]

In 40yrs of driving, the only vehicle I've ever had with a catastrophic failure, was a Toyota.

But yeah, IIRC, the axe and growatt are plug and play ready, just connect the comms cable, select L1, then the battery and SCC should talk to one another.

As alluded to earlier, I wonder if the axe batteries have sufficient time above their balancing threshold to properly balance their cells. This can lead to cells running away from the pack and causing both low/high alarms and diminished capacity.

Things needing addressed are the 46v from pv array, something is fishy. 46v is to low to charge +48v battery pack. Try putting the genny under a load, to stabilize freq, before trying to charge the batteries with the SCC.

Shineapp sux and Voltronic Power's severely lacking owner manuals suk even more.

 

[timselectric]

You don't want me to recommend anything.
I'm very pleased with my Growatt system.