Growatt SPF 5000ES, Phantom/Extra Load in AC Bypass Mode?

[LifeWAT]

I've been using my Growatt SPF 5000ES for a few months now off battery, and it's been working great. The AC in from the grid is connected, but I rarely need it.

Due to cloudy weather, my battery did run out at 2AM last night (when all the loads were steady and consistent), and the inverter switched over to grid (AC bypass mode). When this happened, between 450W - 500W of load was added to the system! This makes no sense to me, and would welcome any input including @SignatureSolarTech @SignatureSolarJames .

My understanding is that AC bypass mode "bypasses" the inverter and simply pushes the power through to my electrical breaker panel that powers the house. It does not seem like it should be requiring more power to power the load - nowhere near 400W - 500W more.

This image shows my load of 584W (measured from the lowest point) before AC bypass mode was activated



This image shows my load of 1050W (measured from the lowest point) after AC bypass mode was activated

This image shows my inverter switching off AC bypass mode, back to battery mode at 9:17AM today. Notice the immediate load drop.



Here is the chart of only the load, showing the load jump up and down when AC Bypass mode was on.



I've only run out of battery one other time, but the same thing (extra load added) happened then as well.

 

[Saw2645]

Did you ever find an answer? I am seeing the same issue on my system. I have two of the Sungold Power 5000 watt 48 volt inverters.

 

[Donahmad]

Hello, im having the same issue. Did you find a solution?

 

[byalkm]

Hello, im having the same issue. Did you find a solution?

 

[AshleyL]

Voltronic OEM inverter will charge the battery when the grid bypass mode is activated. It will charge the battery up to the voltage/percentage value defined at Program 13 "AC2b".

The amount of amperage that being charged to the battery depend on the amperage/current value defined at Program 11 "ACI", eg battery voltage x amp = power from utility. P = I * V. Eg, if the battery voltage is 48v and Program 11 is set to 2A, then 48 x 2 = 96 watts will be drawn from utility to charge up the battery in addition to extra house load. The default value for Program 11 is 30A........so 48V x 30A = 1440 watt.

Please note grid bypass mode WILL USE UTILITY TO CHARGE even though user configure Program 14 "CGPR" to use "OSO" 'Only Solar'. Utility charging will only STOP once the value at program 13 is reached.

Do understand that the inverter itself requires around 55watt to 60watt for operation and it get this power from BATTERY ONLY. (With batteryless mode, it obtain the power from solar or utility)

Therefore, user with high tariff might want to set Program 11 to 1Amp to prevent excessive charging from utility.