Replacement for Growatt 5000 ES needed ** Too many issues **

[sunshine_eggo]

The other point on the overcharging is that this happens only when the PV is charging. I shut down the Grid source before leaving home this week. So this tells me the Charge controller is not working right. Only option to further explore is to calibrate the Voltage reading between the Batteries (No BMS) and the Inverter. Again no support. I do understand there is a way that can be done.

No. It may also mean your battery cells are imbalanced, and the BMS is triggering over-voltage protection causing the charger to overshoot the voltage. This is a very common problem, and is unrelated to the charge controller.

Set:

05: USE
19: 55.2
20: 54.0

If 19: 55.2 triggers the overcharging, try 19: 54.4V.

What are your settings 12 & 13?

 

[Olasitu]

No. It may also mean your battery cells are imbalanced, and the BMS is triggering over-voltage protection causing the charger to overshoot the voltage. This is a very common problem, and is unrelated to the charge controller.

Set:

05: USE
19: 55.2
20: 54.0

If 19: 55.2 triggers the overcharging, try 19: 54.4V.

What are your settings 12 & 13?

Not sure how to verify the battery cell readings. However I also notice a 1.5V difference in the Voltage reading on the Batteries vs what is showing up on Inverters. Inverters are reading higher voltage than the batteries. So, can this be calibrated or adjusted ? So when the Inverter is reading 55V the batteries are at 57V.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Not sure how to verify the battery cell readings. However I also notice a 1.5V difference in the Voltage reading on the Batteries vs what is showing up on Inverters. Inverters are reading higher voltage than the batteries. So, can this be calibrated or adjusted ? So when the Inverter is reading 55V the batteries are at 57V.

What does a separate voltmeter say? The cheap displays on most batteries aren't particularly accurate.

What are your settings for 12 and 13?

Did you make the changes?

 

[Vigo]

So when the Inverter is reading 55V the batteries are at 57V.

That strongly suggests that what sunshine_eggo was saying about bms disconnecting due to high voltage is likely what is occurring. Try his suggestions and you will likely correct the symptom, but as for the inverter and battery readings being so different (the cause), if that is at no/low current it would be a calibration issue and i have not looked into whether such an adjustment is possible on the Growatts..

If you say it is then im about to learn something and will do it to mine as well since they consistently read about 0.8v off from each other. It does not create meaningful issue for me at this point but i'd be perfectly happy to fix it if it were easy.

 

[timselectric]

Thank you @timselectric. I could most certainly use any help I can. Thank you for offering. Please let me know how to get in touch and a good time. I am currently in Barcelona but will return home over the weekend.

I'm in the forum daily. I look in whenever I have free time. Unless I'm asleep, I usually respond within a couple of hours, at the most.

 

[timselectric]

A difference in voltage readings between battery and inverter is normal. It's due to voltage drop in the conductors. It's more noticeable during high amp charging and discharging. Using a meter at the battery, adjust the charging voltage at the inverter. Until you get to the desired voltage at the battery.

 

[Vigo]

Voltage drops proportionally to current so if there is a voltage difference at zero or near-zero current, it is something internal to the devices you're reading voltage on, probably a calibration issue. Some things allow you to easily fix it, some don't. But voltage drop from wiring/connections cannot really be 2 or 3v at near-zero amps, without almost instantly escalating to low-voltage disconnect of the inverter as soon as serious amps flow, so wiring issues are probably not a major factor in this particular 2-volt discrepancy.

It may not be an exactly linear relationship in every case but, roughly speaking, voltage drops proportionally to current flow, which means that zero volts drop at zero current.

 

[Mattb4]

Thank you for your comments. This is my point. There is no support for the Inverters. Ordinarily there should be some form of guidance from the manufacturer, but this is not the case here. You are left with trial and error. Like you said it is about continuous fiddling. And that gets tiring. This forum is the only source of support !

You would need to step up in quality, and with a hefty price, to one of the Tier 1 type of units. There does not seem to be any middle choice with a moderate price and good support. Based on you location you likely will be looking at Victron. They do make AIO's for the European market (sadly none for the US).

 

[Rho]

Are you located in the US?
Then I would recommend Sol Ark.
Outside the US: Deye, same inverter factory in China. But this one works!
My Growatts literally exploded internally.
My Deyes just work and 10x better build quality.

My Growatt 5000es was working great one day. 2 days later smoking. Took out my bms.Grrr 2nd unit in a year. It is not connected to the grid. Wondering if transformer is functioning. Afraid to hook up battery again. Checked battery voltage put on new bms. Turned on showed battery correct . Then bam it as soon as load,system down and smoking.

 

[Alooma]

The other point on the overcharging is that this happens only when the PV is charging. I shut down the Grid source before leaving home this week. So this tells me the Charge controller is not working right. Only option to further explore is to calibrate the Voltage reading between the Batteries (No BMS) and the Inverter. Again no support. I do understand there is a way that can be done.

Also setting Float to 54 sets the SOC to 75%. Again, the issue with reading SOC off voltage. I can try the lower Voltage and just disregard the SOC %

Hi @Olasitu,

Have you resolved the overcharging issue?

 

[timselectric]

The other point on the overcharging is that this happens only when the PV is charging. I shut down the Grid source before leaving home this week. So this tells me the Charge controller is not working right. Only option to further explore is to calibrate the Voltage reading between the Batteries (No BMS) and the Inverter. Again no support. I do understand there is a way that can be done.

Also setting Float to 54 sets the SOC to 75%. Again, the issue with reading SOC off voltage. I can try the lower Voltage and just disregard the SOC %

I hooked up two more units, temporarily. The battery cables are not the same length. But I wasn't concerned about it. Because they were not connected in parallel. They were just being used as individual chargers.
Later, ignoring the previous facts. I decided to parallel them, to see how they would work together.
I started getting the overcharging issue.
What I think was happening was that the master was seeing a lower voltage than the slave. And telling the slave to continue charging. (Could have been the other way around, with my memory)
The solution was to switch which one was the master.
No more overcharging.
Not sure if this is related to your issue. But hopefully it helps someone.