Monitoring software for Growatt-MPP Solar inverters

[Joe BoyKey]

Does anyone have instructions on how to update the firmware on the 3000tl lvm's?
So the charge map for "USE" I have found does not work for Lithium Chem.. The bulk charge should fly past your desired float charge set point until it reaches your desired set bulk charge voltage and once reached, should be allowed to settle to float state. My settings "Absorb. 58v / Float 54.4v" how ever the charge will only ever reach 54.4v before shutting off charge. I have found on a youtube video specifically

that there is a firmware update. I'm wondering if this update will fix this issue and if someone has specific's on how to install it. The firmware update is over on Ian's page https://watts247.com/manuals/gw/ . Thanks

This guy on Facebook Growatt thread said this -

 

[Huck]

This guy on Facebook Growatt thread said this - View attachment 35874

Well that would only work if the inverter was attached to the internet via wifi dongle which I have, but the inverter is out in the garage where it will not reach the wifi. You would think for an expensive external unit where it's one purpose is to receive and transmit data they would have made it superior in everyway, but no.. the signal can't even go thru two walls and reach ten feet. I will give it this.. It does connect but it eventually drops out. I would not feel comfortable with it doing a firmware update under the above conditions. I even attached a length of usb cable to it and hung it in various places and that doesn't work either!

Ok so in the middle of writing this.. I happened to open the files I downloaded off Ian's page https://watts247.com/manuals/gw/Firmware/24 and 48P firmware/ you can then open the folders (once downloaded to your computer) and inside are the ISP tool to upgrade firmware, the firmware bin file, instructions and more are all in there. If you watch the video and read instructions it looks fairly straight forward. If anyone has upgraded firmware or software on a windows 98 or 2000 machine you can do this firmware upgrade on your inverter! Hope this helps others!

 

[Joe BoyKey]

Get a 25' usb extension cable with repeater???

 

[Dhowe003]

Hey, I wanted to give an update on my earlier question/situation. Before I was able to fix the communication problem, my inverter blew up. I got back in contact with Mark (overseas manager RJ Energy) and we did some troubleshooting. It turned out to be a few blown mosfets. I found a wire that was routed incorrectly and it looked like QC was sleeping that day. It happens to the best of them. Fortunately the support was amazing and Mark sent me brand new boards via DHL Express. After I replaced the faulty boards and properly routed all wires, it is working properly. Batteries are communicating with inverter and all input and output looks great. Also, the PVkeeper software is working without any issues. Thanks for all of the helpful input.

 

[Inverterwan]

I believe it is 123456 default password

Hey, thanks that saved me a minute or two.

 

[Electrodude9]

I have a growatt that just arrived last night that I will be installing. I have ICC reporting on my LV2424MSD and am hoping it will also work on this Growatt... will let you know when I have it hooked up.

© ICC Solar - ICC Software

iccsoftware.co.za

pbuck00, Do you have your LV2424-MSD being monitored and "reported on" by way of the USB cable plugged into the bottom of the LV2424 and run to your Windows computer? I have that physical setup, and I also have WatchPower but it's not keeping historic data - just showing me current realtime information.

I'd like to have historic data and charting/graphing so I can see how things go over time.

I went to the ICC site and they said that you can't use the MQTT monitoring sofware without Raspberry pi. How are you using your ICC on your LV2424? Thanks!

 

[Electrodude9]

Hey, I wanted to give an update on my earlier question/situation. Before I was able to fix the communication problem, my inverter blew up. I got back in contact with Mark (overseas manager RJ Energy) and we did some troubleshooting. It turned out to be a few blown mosfets. I found a wire that was routed incorrectly and it looked like QC was sleeping that day. It happens to the best of them. Fortunately the support was amazing and Mark sent me brand new boards via DHL Express. After I replaced the faulty boards and properly routed all wires, it is working properly. Batteries are communicating with inverter and all input and output looks great. Also, the PVkeeper software is working without any issues. View attachment 36288View attachment 36289View attachment 36292View attachment 36293 Thanks for all of the helpful input.View attachment 36294

This was on an MPP Solar unit? Or Growatt?

 

[Dhowe003]

This was on an MPP Solar unit? Or Growatt?

I got the setup from RJ Energy (CRJ Technology Limited). Straight from China and it's unbranded but the manual references Growatt so that's what brought me to this thread when I was trying to get coms with batteries. It's not a Growatt unit.

 

[Gaze]

Does anyone have instructions on how to update the firmware on the 3000tl lvm's?
So the charge map for "USE" I have found does not work for Lithium Chem.. The bulk charge should fly past your desired float charge set point until it reaches your desired set bulk charge voltage and once reached, should be allowed to settle to float state. My settings "Absorb. 58v / Float 54.4v" how ever the charge will only ever reach 54.4v before shutting off charge. I have found on a youtube video specifically

that there is a firmware update. I'm wondering if this update will fix this issue and if someone has specific's on how to install it. The firmware update is over on Ian's page https://watts247.com/manuals/gw/ . Thanks

Huck, were you ever able to get your Growatt to charge past 54.4v in your situation? If so, what worked and what was the problem?

 

[Huck]

Huck, were you ever able to get your Growatt to charge past 54.4v in your situation? If so, what worked and what was the problem?

The quick answer is NO. I recently purchased an additional 25kWh of used storage. I'm currently in the process of balancing, testing, and situating them as well as moving the whole setup to a new location. With that said I have had the unit off for a few weeks and haven't been using it. I also will be installing my second unit which I left in the box and it has the much older firmware on it. I may do some testing to see which inverter (that have different firmware) works best for me before I sync them for 240v use. I say this because, Prior to me installing the latest firmware on my first unit, I was having much better luck getting the unit to work how I wish it would work. But.. I will have to again spend an outrageous amount of time self monitoring and testing both units to figure out the outcome. However this time I will be able to use the software to track the data due to the units new location, time will tell.

What is your situation?
Are you coming up with the same conclusion?
Perhaps you are doing your due diligence..

Edit: I have to add.. This max 54.4v charge is not really a problem... so much as a annoyance factor. I want to be able to set the unit how 'I' want. 54.4v max is really more of a safety and will result in a healthy set of NEW cells/battery. In my case I do not have a healthy set of batteries and I have to adjust for that. With the latest firmware I am unable to do that and it is very frustrating. Not to mention the charge profile is not so much desirable either. I see some people are having the issue with the unit always being in float or not going BACK into float mode unless a substantial change in voltage occurs momentarily. I do not want to baby sit the unit, It should just work! Unfortunately I have yet been able to relax!

 

[Gaze]

The quick answer is NO. I recently purchased an additional 25kWh of used storage. I'm currently in the process of balancing, testing, and situating them as well as moving the whole setup to a new location. With that said I have had the unit off for a few weeks and haven't been using it. I also will be installing my second unit which I left in the box and it has the much older firmware on it. I may do some testing to see which inverter (that have different firmware) works best for me before I sync them for 240v use. I say this because, Prior to me installing the latest firmware on my first unit, I was having much better luck getting the unit to work how I wish it would work. But.. I will have to again spend an outrageous amount of time self monitoring and testing both units to figure out the outcome. However this time I will be able to use the software to track the data due to the units new location, time will tell.

What is your situation?
Are you coming up with the same conclusion?
Perhaps you are doing your due diligence..

Edit: I have to add.. This max 54.4v charge is not really a problem... so much as a annoyance factor. I want to be able to set the unit how 'I' want. 54.4v max is really more of a safety and will result in a healthy set of NEW cells/battery. In my case I do not have a healthy set of batteries and I have to adjust for that. With the latest firmware I am unable to do that and it is very frustrating. Not to mention the charge profile is not so much desirable either. I see some people are having the issue with the unit always being in float or not going BACK into float mode unless a substantial change in voltage occurs momentarily. I do not want to baby sit the unit, It should just work! Unfortunately I have yet been able to relax!

I feel your pain. Similar frustration here that this doesn't just work. I originally became concerned when the setting 15 was ignored by the unit and wouldn't even turn off the beeping. Set it to 'off' and the button presses still beep? c'mon

After that it's this (huge for me) problem where settings 13 and 19 are also ignored by the unit and it instead decides to lock at what it wants (~54v), which btw is the default for setting 13. So basically, it seems to ignore certain setting changes and locks on default?

Interestingly, I also did the firmware update to what Ian Watts247 has posted for .bin file on that site. I did the update attempting to fix the beep problem, which didn't work btw. I'm now thinking, same as you, the earlier firmware worked better regarding #13 "Setting voltage back to battery mode" per the manual. However, I'm not 100% sure about that in my case.

At this point, I would like to reflash the unit back to the earlier firmware, but I need to locate that earlier version .bin file. Please advise if you (or anyone reading this) knows where to get the earlier .bin file.

I am very curious whether your second unit (non-updated) will perform as advertised. In my case I only have the one unit and don't have that luxury to test it. Sounds like you're moving and it will be a while.

 

[Huck]

I feel your pain. Similar frustration here that this doesn't just work. I originally became concerned when the setting 15 was ignored by the unit and wouldn't even turn off the beeping. Set it to 'off' and the button presses still beep? c'mon

After that it's this (huge for me) problem where settings 13 and 19 are also ignored by the unit and it instead decides to lock at what it wants (~54v), which btw is the default for setting 13. So basically, it seems to ignore certain setting changes and locks on default?

Interestingly, I also did the firmware update to what Ian Watts247 has posted for .bin file on that site. I did the update attempting to fix the beep problem, which didn't work btw. I'm now thinking, same as you, the earlier firmware worked better regarding #13 "Setting voltage back to battery mode" per the manual. However, I'm not 100% sure about that in my case.

At this point, I would like to reflash the unit back to the earlier firmware, but I need to locate that earlier version .bin file. Please advise if you (or anyone reading this) knows where to get the earlier .bin file.

I am very curious whether your second unit (non-updated) will perform as advertised. In my case I only have the one unit and don't have that luxury to test it. Sounds like you're moving and it will be a while.

I'm not moving my address, just physically moving the setup to a new location.
If there is a way to extract the bin file from my second unit I will try and do so that way I have a copy and I can hand it out to people if they wish to try and use it against what they have. But honestly I think we should ask Ian if he can request that very early version.
I really only did the firmware because I thought it was a "upgrade" but that was not at all the case, just as you described, all the settings don't even work with one another like they use to.
At this point I was hoping that another new firmware version would be out by now to take care of this but even that doesn't look very hopeful at this point.. they seem to just be moving forward on building a bunch of new units. Which really sucks for those who have these! Now I have one unit that has maybe a total of six battery cycles on it only used AC input, no solar and barely functions properly... And a second unit that I haven't even cut the tape on to open it yet.

Anyways, I will update my findings when I get there. Shouldn't be too long.

 

[Gaze]

I'm not moving my address, just physically moving the setup to a new location.
If there is a way to extract the bin file from my second unit I will try and do so that way I have a copy and I can hand it out to people if they wish to try and use it against what they have. But honestly I think we should ask Ian if he can request that very early version.
I really only did the firmware because I thought it was a "upgrade" but that was not at all the case, just as you described, all the settings don't even work with one another like they use to.
At this point I was hoping that another new firmware version would be out by now to take care of this but even that doesn't look very hopeful at this point.. they seem to just be moving forward on building a bunch of new units. Which really sucks for those who have these! Now I have one unit that has maybe a total of six battery cycles on it only used AC input, no solar and barely functions properly... And a second unit that I haven't even cut the tape on to open it yet.

Anyways, I will update my findings when I get there. Shouldn't be too long.

Meanwhile I'll take a look at the flashing utility to see if the .bin file can be extracted from the unit.
In my latest attempt to figure this out, the unit won't charge the battery at all and just seems to ignore charge settings altogether. Sigh...
Huge loss of time.

 

[Gaze]

Ok finally some good news, for me at least.
I was able to downgrade the firmware to what I believe is the next earlier version. I've cycled the battery once so far and the Growatt did successfully charge past 54v and is now responding to my charge settings. Friday...time for a beer.

 

[Huck]

Ok finally some good news, for me at least.
I was able to downgrade the firmware to what I believe is the next earlier version. I've cycled the battery once so far and the Growatt did successfully charge past 54v and is now responding to my charge settings. Friday...time for a beer.

How?
You just use the other firmware that was on the Ian's page?
Please tell what file you used first and then the file you converted to. Thanks

 

[Joe BoyKey]

Are y'all using PV Keeper 2.0 from Ian @ watts247, it's much more stable, Joe.

 

[Gaze]

How?
You just use the other firmware that was on the Ian's page?
Please tell what file you used first and then the file you converted to. Thanks

As of about a month ago there were two .bin files in that firmware download at Ian's site. I downgraded from the one dated 2020 07 07 to the one with the earlier date 2020 03 16. The only thing that seemed to change, however, is now at least the unit did charge up past 54v, at least for one cycle. I've my doubts all is well, but will continue testing through more cycles and see if it successfully does the transfers from utility/solar/battery according to my settings (versus whatever it wants to do).

btw that software patching utility (ISP Tool) has been updated from v.4.16 to v.4.20, but also does not have a function that can extract the firmware from the unit as far as I could tell.

Update: I found a new firmware update on Ian's site dated 20210106 (i.e., Jan6 '21) and have loaded it. Currently testing it. It still does not fix the beep problem.

Joe, yeah I've been using PVKeeper2.0 the whole time for monitoring. Seems stable.

 

[Joe BoyKey]

@Gaze what are the firmware readouts on pv keeper before and after loads, post a pic if you can, my Growatt SPF-6000T-DVM is factory bought 9-1-20, thanks joe.

 

[Gaze]

@Gaze what are the firmware readouts on pv keeper before and after loads, post a pic if you can, my Growatt SPF-6000T-DVM is factory bought 9-1-20, thanks joe.
View attachment 41781

When you say "before and after loads", I assume you mean when a different firmware is loaded?

Can't take pic at the moment, but here are readings from before/after that I noted. On one of the updates I inadvertently did not write things down, so this is 2of3:

BEFORE
Model: MHP 3000-LV
Inverter CPU Version: 012.00
MPPT CPU Version: 002.00

AFTER (currently, as of writing this post)
Model: SPF 3000TL LVM <<notice that this changed
Inverter CPU Version: 502.08
MPPT CPU Version: 002.00

I noticed the firmware .bin files are numbered with version numbers, but they don't always seem consistent with what PVKeeper shows.
Version from 20200316: 502.05
Version from 20200707: 502.06
Version from 20210106: 502.08

 

[Davey]

I just tried the firmware update and it appears to have bricked my 3000TL. The font panel display is dark and the fan(s) are running at high speed. I followed the instructions as best I could and don't think that I made a mistake. The flashing software said that it had completed successfully.
There's a little blurb at the end of the instructions PDF that states that it might fail and to try to flash it again after a full power off but so far no dice.