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Growatt Maximum Charge Current setting...

jsl10

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Jan 26, 2022
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I fired up my new DIY solar system which uses the Growatt 12kW Inverter + Five EG4 48V batteries + 16 440W panels (7kW maximum). Yesterday the solar power draw appeared to be being capped (full sun day). Thanks to my previous post here, I checked the inverter's Max Charge Current and I saw that sure enough it was set to 50A which translated to almost exactly how much was being drawn from solar. But with battery type of Li, I can't change that setting (it has a valid range from 0 to 180A). Today, I powered everything off including batteries and let the inverter capacitor slowly drain. After all five batteries (one at a time slowly) were back on, I turned the inverter back on (using a surge resistor) and fired up a large load to check the solar draw. It was way less than yesterday and the Max Charge Current is now set to 12A!!! I understand that the inverter is supposed to manage the Max Charge Current when set to Li but it doesn't seem to be doing that properly. I'm wondering if the inverter isn't talking to the batteries properly and is setting it lower than it should be. At least that's my guess. I'm waiting to hear back from S.S. but of course it's the weekend now. Anyway, I'm re-asking to get folks w/Growatt experience of what might be going on?
 
I had a similar issue with my inverter, set to "Li"(
50amp limited). This has been discussed around the forum. You can change to "use defined" and the limit will be gone. If you want to run your system in the "Li" communication mode, without the limit you will need S.S. to give you the firmware update. That fixed mine. It has no limit, that I am aware of, I've seen 71amps and I think that is solar max on my system.
 
I had a similar issue with my inverter, set to "Li"(
50amp limited). This has been discussed around the forum. You can change to "use defined" and the limit will be gone. If you want to run your system in the "Li" communication mode, without the limit you will need S.S. to give you the firmware update. That fixed mine. It has no limit, that I am aware of, I've seen 71amps and I think that is solar max on my system.
Thanks for your reply! You're pretty much confirming what I thought was going on. I'm also wondering if for some reason the inverter thinks I only have ONE battery (not the FIVE that I have) and it is properly keeping the Max Charge Current at 50A (which is reasonable for a single battery). I've double checked all dip switches and I think they are ok. One thing... I'm using supplied cables to go battery to battery but using a standard Ethernet cable to run from the Master battery to the inverter. Is this ok? I also set the Li protocol mode to 1. I hope with tomorrow being Monday, I'll get feedback from S.S. Do you know how I can check the version of the firmware that I've got?
 
Not sure why it limits at 50amp, but that seems to be the consciences. I don't think it is confused, because a single battery can be charged about 100amps or 1 c rate. I don't get the whole c rate thing
Haha so don't quote me there.
As for what firmware you currently have, I don't know, except it must be the old one. ?
 
I'll pass on what S.S. says. Here is today's solar power draw when charging a car. As you can see, the load is higher than the solar. And the solar power looks very controlled. Each time it stepped up it ran flat like it ran into a controlled limit. No natural variations, etc. as the day went by. Just stuck capped at about 2700W. Which is almost exactly 53V * 50A = 2650W. Solar Energy Chart 02.JPG
 
Yep, looks like the 50amp limit to me.
I don't know about you, but I can't afford to loose out on a really nice days. Your graft would frustrate me.
I even went away from communications for weeks waiting for my update. But, you can use more of your batteries (at least the bottom) using coms.
 
I agree it would be nice to stay at Li setting. A S.S. how to video even says to use that setting. If updating the firmware is suggested, is it hard? Or is it like updating a Windows BIOS... you take a chance of bricking your system if something goes wrong! This has to be very common combination (Growatt + eg4) they should address this right up front on the web site on what to do! So when you were using USE battery type setting, what did you set other battery parameters (19, 20, 21) to?
 
Agree with all. I have bricked a camera on a firmware update.
I wont lie, I'm in my fifties and not great with computers but it was not too bad. You have to load, create new file transfer and unzip. Agree to turms, click click.. done. ( I just felt like i was speaking a different language. ) it is worth it though.
I have learned that with updates, you also get updated errors. Haha with mine there was one. Not a big deal to me. You won't have a problem because you have the 12000
 
Should not brick either, most of the time it is caused by a interruption during reprogramming. Like loss of power or batteries going dead. The firmware loads in like 10 min.
 
Oh settings,
19 = 58v
20 = 56.5v
21 = 46v
These are S.S. suggested. I adjusted a little from there. I think Will uses similar voltages. I don't have them handy, right now.
 
Ok, thanks for the info. Good to know. Now just waiting to hear from S.S. to know which direction to go... update firmware or switch to USE battery type.
 
S.S. said I should be able to use Li battery type. Had me try some different battery dip switch settings. Didn't change anything. So got a firmware update and did that. Again, didn't change anything. After firmware update, I just left everything on. Do you need to power down batteries and let inverter shutdown after updating firmware? So I'm still stuck trying to figure out what's going on. I did try disconnecting the BMS communication cable (normal Ethernet cable) from the Master battery to the inverter. Got error 20 as expected. Re-connected and the error went away. Then tried disconnecting the short communication cable that goes from the Master battery to battery 2 (and all subsequent batteries of course). Nothing happens at all! If the inverter was really talking with all the batteries, wouldn't I get an error? Anyway, waiting till morning to see what S.S. thinks to try next.
 
I don't know, I did power down and restart the inverter. Seems odd. I can't wait to hear what they say, as well.
When you say "power down" after updating firmware do you mean you just turned the inverter to OFF with it's switch? I know when off it's still kinda alive just not producing A/C. Or do you mean you literally powered down the batteries and let the inverter completely shut down?
 
Powered down everything. Waited about one minute, then did a full start up. Sometimes with electronics this is necessary. Although I don't know why. BUt, it's worth a try.
I will check, if I can find the update number, just to see
 
Thanks, I'll try powering down everything again post firmware update. You never know. The firmware file name for mine was: TMS320F28035_GW511.03_202107121519.bin Know idea what the actual version number is in all that!
 
Thanks for checking your version! The only difference is you power cycled the inverter and I just went on testing after the firmware was updated. So I'll try that. Once batteries are turned off, do I need to bleed the inverter cap. to REALLY shut it down? Then turn everything back on? Or just turn off the inverter+batteries, wait a few minutes, then turn batteries+inverter back on? Sorry for the dump questions!
 
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