Shine Phone App For Growatt

[B-Mod]

Is anyone having issues with the Shine phone app in the past few days? I try to log in, and when I enter name and password, it just keeps repeating. Can't get past this. Has worked good before this. This is an android phone, I deleted and reinstalled the app, same result.

 

[B-Mod]

After a few days of not working, today it just started working again

 

[Pierre]

I suggest that you dump the Shine Phone app and get Solar Assistant.

 

[automatikdonn]

I suggest that you dump the Shine Phone app and get Solar Assistant.

This ^^^^^^^^^

 

[magnet creek]

I have not yet been able to communicate and connect any of my 3 Growatt inverters via the Shine App. Very frustrating software that just keeps going around in circles. If only they made products that were user friendly....
I'm going to try one last time but this Solar Assistant is definitely a good alternative option.
But this idea got me thinking. Is it also possible to monitor and configure the inverter via a PC and a USB connection?

 

[B-Mod]

I suggest that you dump the Shine Phone app and get Solar Assistant.

I have solar assistant,but it has issues every day, sometimes more often. And I can not get it to work with one of my inverters at all. So I use the shine app to see all 6 inverters. And I like data, so more data is always good, lol.

 

[B-Mod]

I have not yet been able to communicate and connect any of my 3 Growatt inverters via the Shine App. Very frustrating software that just keeps going around in circles. If only they made products that were user friendly....
I'm going to try one last time but this Solar Assistant is definitely a good alternative option.
But this idea got me thinking. Is it also possible to monitor and configure the inverter via a PC and a USB connection?

Not sure on the pc to usb, but the key to hooking up the inverters online is to use a pc to configure them, there are videos of this on youtube, it is actually very easy on a pc, and then when setup you can use the shine app, or use their website to view on a pc. If you need help on the youtube video let me know I probably have it saved.

 

[42OhmsPA]

I have solar assistant,but it has issues every day, sometimes more often. And I can not get it to work with one of my inverters at all. So I use the shine app to see all 6 inverters. And I like data, so more data is always good, lol.

Elaborate, please.
Solar Assistant is rock solid, you should reach out to their support, it's excellent.
It seems like this could be an issue on your end seeing you are having issues with 2 separate items.
I messed with watchpower for months, wasted hours, bought SA license and never looked back.

 

[B-Mod]

Elaborate, please.
Solar Assistant is rock solid, you should reach out to their support, it's excellent.
It seems like this could be an issue on your end seeing you are having issues with 2 separate items.
I messed with watchpower for months, wasted hours, bought SA license and never looked back.

I worked with SA for months trying to get it to work, have there recomended hubs, cables, usb power blockers, ect. If you go to their site, and look at the section for SPF inverters, you will see a disclaimer there how they do not always work good with SA. That was not there when I got SA, they added that after all the issues I have had that they can't fix. Ian knows of this issue also from watts24/7. Glad yours works.

 

[Brett V]

I’ve used both. You connect the Growatt to the raspberry pi with a usb cable and you’re done.

 

[42OhmsPA]

I worked with SA for months trying to get it to work, have there recomended hubs, cables, usb power blockers, ect. If you go to their site, and look at the section for SPF inverters, you will see a disclaimer there how they do not always work good with SA. That was not there when I got SA, they added that after all the issues I have had that they can't fix. Ian knows of this issue also from watts24/7. Glad yours works.

Wow, sorry to hear you weren't able to get it fixed. Hopefully someday they figure it out.

 

[Brett V]

What SPF model Growatt do you have? How is it connected? I have a spf 6000t and a 12000t. Both play well with SA. Maybe your usb cable is squirrelly

 

[B-Mod]

What SPF model Growatt do you have? How is it connected? I have a spf 6000t and a 12000t. Both play well with SA. Maybe your usb cable is squirrelly

5000ES. I have tried many cables, and I have ones with ferrite coils on them, no improvement.

 

[B-Mod]

Troubleshooting - Unreliable connection​

Over the years a massive amount of Growatt SPF inverters have been produced. Some were produced with good quality communication components while others are unable to establish reliable communication. What some users have reported is that communication works but drops out every few days. Unfortunately the Growatt SPF doesn't have any other monitoring port other than the USB port. Most users have reported the best results with shorter shielded USB cables that have ferrite beads.

This is the disclaimer they now have in the SPF growatt section.

 

[Brett V]

5000ES. I have tried many cables, and I have ones with ferrite coils on them, no improvement.

Ok, I went to the SA website and looked it up. It appears the problem might be an issue with the Growatt comms board. So you connect to the shine server with the Growatt Wi-Fi dongle? When I was using that, the Wi-Fi seemed to be picky about interference. Maybe try changing your Wi-Fi channel.

 

[B-Mod]

I have no issues with wifi to the inverters the web viewing works great, just 5 minutes slow, lol. The issue I was having is the app on android. It works today, but is still flaky sometimes. It must be a new version that does not play well. Ever since they added the place to agree to their permissions that has been a pain. You should not have to check that box everytime you check your system. Just a china quirk.

 

[B-Mod]

I have all new comm boards I bought from Ian at watts. 24/7, but have not had time to install. I decided to grow my system by more than double from last year. It is a lot of work for me to do 56kw of ground mount solar with 10 inverters, and getting close to 200 kwh of diy battery. I have a full time job, side business building electrical control panels, and a bad side hobby of solar addiction, lol. My daughter and I have done all the work, and I only get her help every few months as she lives across the country from me since last summer.

 

[Brett V]

I don’t have a single android device, all iOS. Apple creeps on your personal info as much as google but they’re more sneaky about it so you feel better…LoL. I’d really like to see you get SA working, it’s so much better than the Shine app.

 

[B-Mod]

I don’t have a single android device, all iOS. Apple creeps on your personal info as much as google but they’re more sneaky about it so you feel better…LoL. I’d really like to see you get SA working, it’s so much better than the Shine app.

I do have it working, I just need to reboot it once or twice a day when it f's up. I just disconnects from the inverters. Bad part is the total data is messed up, but I really like the instant data, not 5 minutes too late data.

 

[Brett V]

I do have it working, I just need to reboot it once or twice a day when it f's up. I just disconnects from the inverters. Bad part is the total data is messed up, but I really like the instant data, not 5 minutes too late data.

Which raspberry device are you using? I have it running on a Pi 3B+ and 4B. Both have been stable. Do you ever get any voltage sag warning? I was having some problems with the 3B which turned out to be the micro USB cable. The 4B uses USB C and is more robust. I never had any SD card problems but loaded the app to a Sandisk High Endurance SD card for good measure.