Growatt SPF 6000T DVM

[jungblud59]

Any one have any experience with the Growatt SPF 6000T DVM, good or bad? I'm thinking of buying one for my cabin solar. So far I've got 24 100w panels, and plan on expanding to 36 or 48 panels for when I eventually move up there.

 

[Browse]

I was considering buying one of these but I came across some reviews that left the users frustrated. I needed one that could handle large HVAC surges, but this one doesn't appear to be able to meet it's published specs in all circumstances. Some of the issues could be BMS or battery related, but it's hard to know for sure. Everyone's setup is different. A few reported that the unit is pretty loud.

 

[jungblud59]

Thanx Browse, I'll be running a solar controller in a small home/cottage, just one 10k btu window A/C (13-15 amps), plus a 1 HP well pump, fridge, upright freezer, and electric water heater that will eventually be replaced with a tank less on demand, not much else worthy of mention. I'm just looking to get partially off grid, to lower electric bill.

 

[shot428]

I just bought one, not hooked up yet as things are still arriving and yes I saw the reviews that say it is loud

My choice was biased once I heard "only brand with parts available" since I am a retired electronics tech

Will post more once it is set up and running

 

[jungblud59]

I'm having a tough time locating info on this inverter,

I just bought one, not hooked up yet as things are still arriving and yes I saw the reviews that say it is loud

My choice was biased once I heard "only brand with parts available" since I am a retired electronics tech

Will post more once it is set up

 

[shot428]

Several members here have one, a forum search found several threads. There are also a bunch of vids on youtube

 

[shot428]

.

 

[jungblud59]

Several members here have one, a forum search found several threads. There are also a bunch of vids on youtube

View attachment 99372

I had a mild "stupid attack", I knew there were separate ports to connect to grid and battery bank. The vids I saw on YT weren't reviews, just telling me about what the unit does, just like the sales reps tell you. I'd like to see a vid where they actually show installation, and using the unit with unbiased, uncomped reviews before I spend my money. I'd like to hear about pros, cons, and nuances.

 

[Browse]

Thanx Browse, I'll be running a solar controller in a small home/cottage, just one 10k btu window A/C (13-15 amps), plus a 1 HP well pump, fridge, upright freezer, and electric water heater that will eventually be replaced with a tank less on demand, not much else worthy of mention. I'm just looking to get partially off grid, to lower electric bill.

You'll want to pay attention to balancing the loads, since this model will supply about 25A per leg continuous. If the well pump and water heater are both on at the same time and are both 240V, you're likely close to that level already. Turning on the window AC could put you over on one of the legs if it is a 120V unit.

 

[Habilis]

I had a mild "stupid attack", I knew there were separate ports to connect to grid and battery bank. The vids I saw on YT weren't reviews, just telling me about what the unit does, just like the sales reps tell you. I'd like to see a vid where they actually show installation, and using the unit with unbiased, uncomped reviews before I spend my money. I'd like to hear about pros, cons, and nuances.

Any one have any experience with the Growatt SPF 6000T DVM, good or bad? I'm thinking of buying one for my cabin solar. So far I've got 24 100w panels, and plan on expanding to 36 or 48 panels for when I eventually move up there.

I just set one up. I don’t have enough experience with it to address the load concerns you have but something that I didn’t anticipate was the noise factor. It’s really loud. I put it in a utility closet that happens to be above the master bedroom, I can hear it humming even when the fan is not on. I will be moving it to an out building! ?

 

[brucenolan]

Hello Jungblud59,
I just completed setup of SPF 6000T DVM MPV for a friend on 10 acre property for an irrigation system. loads are a 1.5 HP deep well, a 1.5 HP pressure, and a 1 HP pressure pumps. pressure pumps are controlled via irrigation timers to run separately, well pump is on timer to run only during day hours.
The system used two EG 4 100ah x 48v batteries and would not start 1.5 well pump as BMS went to overload, a third battery resolved that issue.

Now has been in operation for 5 weeks, at one point well timer was set wrong and 1.5 well pump was running at same time as 1.5 pressure pump, 6000T carried this load with an overload warning sent to me via the Shine WIFI device (more on that in a bit) so with adequate battery I think this unit is pretty powerful. However after 1 week I got error 61 and have not cleared that yet as my Win 10 laptop will not connect to inverter, has not affected inverter performance as it continues to run.

Does not handle unbalanced loads, as Browse mentions. when I tested it with 2 X 1500 watt heaters on one leg it shut down in 10 seconds at 110% load I had hoped as tranformer based unit it would do better than that.

Shine WIFI gives me constant data glitches ( showing 76 Kw from solar (only 4Kw on the roof) and 15 Kw imported from grid (40 amp breaker))

Overall this device is doing the job I expected from it as major loads are 240v with 120v loads incidental (lights and small tools maybe) However the software needs some work and it is rather noisy

hope that helps
good luck
Bruce

 

[aurfalien]

Does not handle unbalanced loads, as Browse mentions. when I tested it with 2 X 1500 watt heaters on one leg it shut down in 10 seconds at 110% load I had hoped as tranformer based unit it would do better than that.

In terms of unbalanced loads, what delta between hot legs would be an acceptable value?

For example, I've been sampling amps of my legs at the main panel (Growatt is not live yet) every 30 minutes and mostly see a 5 amp difference.

However I'd say about 20% of the time there's a 10 amp difference. I'm going to see which circuits/breakers are causing this unbalance and then see if it makes sense to move them.

But I was curious what unbalanced values should be of concern.

 

[Brett V]

I installed a Growatt 6000T about 10 months ago. Since I already had the majority of the house on a sub panel for generator operation, it was an easy install. I'm in the country with no public utilities other than electricity and my biggest challenge was getting water without the generator. So far the Growatt has been flawless and easily runs everything in the house except a few obvious power hogs like an electric range, washer and dryer, dish washer, and electric baseboard heat. I had installed a heat pump type water heater so I could run it on the generator and it's on the sub panel fed by the Growatt. My current battery is a 16s pack using EVE 230 amp cells and a Overkill 100 amp BMS. I'm in the process of upgrading to a second battery of identical specs for extended run time. With the single battery I run the whole house for 8-12 hours depending on loads but we have tested it to absurd levels and the Growatt had no problems. The wife and I both took showers, she had the tv on all day, including a sound bar. I worked all day in my home office with 2 computers and 3 monitors going. There were lights on, she heated her lunch in the microwave, and even vacuumed the carpets in the downstairs of the house. The whole time we were doing this, an 18,000 btu mini split heat pump was in AC mode and cooling the house. There was literally no way to tell the house was running off grid!

I installed a manual transfer switch in the AC input lead to the Growatt so I can run and charge on generator. I have a Smarter Tools 9500 watt peak 7500 watt continuous generator and although this generator is known to be dirty, the Growatt handled it. Going by the numbers on the BMS, the charging in the Growatt at 40 amps DC is around 3000 watts AC load. She was using a hair dryer when the well pump kicked in and there was a significant voltage sag which threw an under voltage alarm which made me nervous but the Growatt recovered. This again was an absurd test to see how far we could push it before things got wonky. Although I believe the generator would have been sufficient if I wanted to be careful about loads, I got a good deal on a used Harbor Freight 9500 watt inverter generator so we'll be running with that in the future.

Overall the Growatt 6000T has exceeded my expectations and I plan to but up a moderate size ground mount solar panel array. My original plan was to just use it as a backup and prep for a SHTF scenario but it works so well, I'm going to take as much of my power off grid as I can and let the power company buy the excess power from my roof mounted grid tie system.

 

[aurfalien]

My original plan was to just use it as a backup and prep for a SHTF scenario but it works so well, I'm going to take as much of my power off grid as I can and let the power company buy the excess power from my roof mounted grid tie system.

Yep that's mine too; SHTF etc... but who knows as I may go the route you have once I gain some confidence with it.

My question though is how you have the BMS to inverter comm set? I assume that you've set it to lithium as the default is AGM. However what are your submenu settings? For example are you using L01 and 51? And are you able to change the 51 to some other value?

 

[Brett V]

Battery is a DIY using EVE 230 amp cells and an Overkill Solar BMS. There's no communication with the Growatt. Settings are as follows:



Command Ac Output Source - Uti Priority
Charge Source - Pv&Uti
Ac Input Model - UPS
Ac Discharge Voltage - 240VAC
Ac Discharge Frequency - 60Hz
Overload Restart - Restart
Overtemp Restart - Restart
Buzzer - Off
Maximum Charge Current - 80 (0A-180A)
Charging Constant Voltage Point - 54.5 (10V-64V)
Float Voltage Point - 54.2 (10V-64V)
Maximum Ac Charge Current - 40 (0A-100A)
Battery Type - USE
Back Light - On
Remote Switch - On
Sci Loss Check - On
Output start time period - 0 (0H-23H)
Output end time period - 0 (0H-23H)
Charging start time period - 0 (0H-23H)
Charging end time period - 0 (0H-23H)
Battery to mains working point - 50.2 (10V-64V)
Lithium battery protocol type - 0 (1-99)
Battery under voltage cut-off point - 45.0 (9V-64V)

When I have the solar connected the Command AC output Source will be changed to Solar Priority

 

[Brett V]

Picture of the battery

 

[aurfalien]

Picture of the battery

Thank you Brett. Your values above are helpful as well.

Oddly, I've noticed in my Growatt manual (printed version that came with it) that on pages 8 and 9 it shows L1 05 for lithium and 51 for the protocol. So it appears that 36 is not available. I'll bring this up with Signature Solar as it may be a non concern. I did see that the inverter was reading the value correctly from the batteries.

I don't plan to charge the batteries directly using house power or even a large genie. My approach will be to use Signature Solar 18A charger in directly charging them. I can even power this charger with a small hand held duel fuel inverter/generator.

My view about charging batteries is to be moderate about them as fast charging can cause some issues. I don't know about LifePO4 but it's more of a best practice.

 

[Brett V]

The Growatt draws about 25 watts just sitting there in standby. Not a significant amount but it adds up. Take that in to consideration when planning how you intend to operate the thing.

 

[aurfalien]

The Growatt draws about 25 watts just sitting there in standby. Not a significant amount but it adds up. Take that in to consideration when planning how you intend to operate the thing.

Well, 25W is 600W/24 hours so it is an important number, thanks for that.

 

[aurfalien]

Does the inverter take 120 or 240 input? Based on its input terminals it looks like 120V however on page 19 of the Growatt manual, the input mode if set to APL is 154-272VAC and if set to UPS is 184-272VAC. So I'm fairly confused.

I'm also curious if the ground terminal connection of the inverter can be shared with both input and output?