diy solar

diy solar

Signature Solar EG4 48v 100ah Batteries Alarming Out

Do you have a grid connection to the growatt? And are you in the usa?
 
Sorry, I do not. The best thing to do would be to use a combination of an RS485 listener (so you can see the packets being emitted by the battery BMSs) in combination with the PC software provided by EG4. This should allow you to reverse engineer things. Also, if you're trying to sort out Inverter<->BMS communications, you probably want to use the address 1 protocol, which I understand is specific to allowing the inverters to communicate with the battery. @RichardfromEG4 might be able to help further. It should not require reverse engineering line protocols and writing a custom adapter. There are others with Growatt inverters that I believe have gotten comms to work correctly.
Thanks. I have have reverse engineered 95% of the the protocol using a sniffer. Only a handful of bits elude me including Protection Status and CMOS/DMOS state. Those conditions are hard to force or fault and I don't want to generate faults on purpose. I plan to use an M5Stack ESP32 to poll the batteries and upload the data in JSON to a web server. I did the same thing with my weather station so most of the code is already created.
 
@mrall Solar Assistant is able to read from the 48V LiFePower4 batteries over the RS485 port using the "Narada" protocol. Maybe you'll have some luck finding it?

I would also point out that there is some inconsistency in the DIP switch address settings and it's particularly important that you get address #1 correct since that is supposedly used to communicate with inverters. See this thread:


The protocols are apparently different if using address #1 vs. any of the other addresses according to Solar Assistant (https://solar-assistant.io/help/battery/eg4). On my LiFePower4 batteries (no LCD), if I use the manual's setting for address 1, I actually get address 7. The best thing to do is hook up the BMS software and plug into your #1 battery (the one that interfaces with the inverter) and scan all addresses to see what "PACK ID" is showing up. If it's not #1 then the battery is trying to talk to the inverter using a different protocol and that could explain why it's not working.

There are also reports that some DIP switches work correctly with the manual's table, while others do not. None of my batteries worked according to the manual's table but all worked correctly using the table I posted in the thread above. I checked all addresses from 0-15. Hope you're able to solve this and hope it doesn't require reverse engineering the protocol and writing an adapter (!).
I have 2 48V LifePower4 batteries (no display) purchased in May 2022. With dip switches on battery 1 set to Up-Down-Down-Down, I can access it from BMS_Test_V1.0 at device address 1 and the same for battery 2 set to Down-Up-Down-Down using device address 2. Both are speaking the Narada Protocol. I have yet to get them to communicate with my SPF3000TL LVM...
 
Thanks. I have have reverse engineered 95% of the the protocol using a sniffer. Only a handful of bits elude me including Protection Status and CMOS/DMOS state. Those conditions are hard to force or fault and I don't want to generate faults on purpose. I plan to use an M5Stack ESP32 to poll the batteries and upload the data in JSON to a web server. I did the same thing with my weather station so most of the code is already created.
Get this working yet?
 
Can you check the individual cell voltages? 56.5V is pretty high for a pack that isn't very closely balanced. The (non-eg4) pack I received a couple months ago would hit single cell OVP at about 54.5V.
 
Hey Everyone,

I hope I can get some advice on my current situation.

Equipment:
Growatt 3000w 48 All-in-One Inverter Charger (Rounded corner model)
2x EG4 48v 100ah Lithium Batteries (non LCD version)
3,300w Solar Array

Problem:
Batteries go into Alarm state and disconnect power to inverter. Usually only one will fault out at a time, sometimes both together. Seems to happen most often when the batteries reach 100% SOC.

-Batteries are currently not setup to communicate with inverter
-Batteries are not connected with ethernet cable to eachother
-Growatt set to USER2 defined battery type. Setup per Signature Solar's phone instructions.


So just installed these two batteries replacing a single 100ah server rack lithium. This is on my fathers camper down here in AZ. I'm hitting the road of Friday and need this sorted out before I go. Much of this is a bit more than he wants to deal with, so a properly functioning system is critical. When I swapped the batteries out I had the inverter in User1 mode (used on last lithium w/o any comm options). I kept the inverter in User1 and adjusted the charging parameters per the spec sheet on signatures solar's website. I also did connect the included ethernet cable from one battery to the next, thinking maybe they should talk to each other ?‍♂️.

Then came the first alarm. Both batteries had the red alarm light lit and were no longer supplying power to the inverter. Rebooted the system and they worked again for awhile. Then alarmed again.

Next day I get ahold of Signature Solar's tech support. Very friendly fella helped me out. Under his instructions I changed the battery mode to User2, and adjusted the Charge/Float voltage to 56.5v. Also was told there was no need to connect the ethernet cable to the batteries unless they were also connecting to the inverter. So I disconnected that. Also as I was waiting to get in touch with tech support i adjusted the dip switches so the batteries had different addresses (were set the same at first). But not an issue since i'm not using it. After the changes the batteries seemed to be working fine. So great.

Next morning, the battery(s) faulted and alarmed again. I think just one at a time now. (So many alarm lights I can't remember). It was saturday, so spent the weekend checking on batteries and resetting them as necessary to clear the alarm light.

Yesterday I called up signature solar tech support again. "Peyton" was the fella helping me out. I had noticed a peculiar situation with the voltage reading on the inverter, as the batteries reached 100% SOC. The voltage to the batteries would fluctuate, 53.something, 56.5, 54.2, back up to 56.8, all over the place. Which I assumed was the inverter sending charging pulses? lol. To top off the batteries. But I did also notice that the voltage would jump up well over the 56.5v set point in the inverter. 57.5v, 58.0v. This got me thinking. Well I'm pretty sure the BMS kicks out at 60v, so maybe the voltage was jumping up high enough to trip the alarm? Not sure, so I suggested to Peyton that maybe we needed to decrease the 56.5v set point the previous tech has instructed me to use. He said no, and to keep it at 56.5. The spec sheet recommends 56v. But they are the experts so ok. Peyton has me do a complete shut down and restart of the system. Of which one of the batteries alarms again. He asks me to take a picture of the batteries, under load, with a voltmeter and send it to him over email. I sent it over, no response. I called again yesterday afternoon, talked to the operator, she said she would let him know to call me. Nothing yet this morning.

So I take a look again this morning because one of the batteries faults out again, reset, faults again, reset, stays on this time. So without input from Signature Solar I decided to adjust the charge voltage down to 56v. Thinking maybe that will help. Once again I keep an eye on the Growatt screen at the battery voltage. Same thing, reach 100% SOC and the input voltage ranges up and down over and over. This time though, while i'm watching I see the voltage reading hit 60.1v! So I adjust the voltage down another .5v to 55.5v. Hoping the spikes in voltage from the inverter will be less. But just as i'm feeling pretty good about myself, one of the batteries trips again (while i'm not watching).

So I think the issues lies with the Growatt inverter pushing too high of a voltage to the batteries when at 100% SOC. Thus causing the batteries to alarm out. But I do not see a way to keep the inverter from going wild and pushing 60v at the batteries when I only want it to charge at 56.v.

Any thoughts? Thanks!
Josh

Hey Everyone,

I hope I can get some advice on my current situation.

Equipment:
Growatt 3000w 48 All-in-One Inverter Charger (Rounded corner model)
2x EG4 48v 100ah Lithium Batteries (non LCD version)
3,300w Solar Array

Problem:
Batteries go into Alarm state and disconnect power to inverter. Usually only one will fault out at a time, sometimes both together. Seems to happen most often when the batteries reach 100% SOC.

-Batteries are currently not setup to communicate with inverter
-Batteries are not connected with ethernet cable to eachother
-Growatt set to USER2 defined battery type. Setup per Signature Solar's phone instructions.


So just installed these two batteries replacing a single 100ah server rack lithium. This is on my fathers camper down here in AZ. I'm hitting the road of Friday and need this sorted out before I go. Much of this is a bit more than he wants to deal with, so a properly functioning system is critical. When I swapped the batteries out I had the inverter in User1 mode (used on last lithium w/o any comm options). I kept the inverter in User1 and adjusted the charging parameters per the spec sheet on signatures solar's website. I also did connect the included ethernet cable from one battery to the next, thinking maybe they should talk to each other ?‍♂️.

Then came the first alarm. Both batteries had the red alarm light lit and were no longer supplying power to the inverter. Rebooted the system and they worked again for awhile. Then alarmed again.

Next day I get ahold of Signature Solar's tech support. Very friendly fella helped me out. Under his instructions I changed the battery mode to User2, and adjusted the Charge/Float voltage to 56.5v. Also was told there was no need to connect the ethernet cable to the batteries unless they were also connecting to the inverter. So I disconnected that. Also as I was waiting to get in touch with tech support i adjusted the dip switches so the batteries had different addresses (were set the same at first). But not an issue since i'm not using it. After the changes the batteries seemed to be working fine. So great.

Next morning, the battery(s) faulted and alarmed again. I think just one at a time now. (So many alarm lights I can't remember). It was saturday, so spent the weekend checking on batteries and resetting them as necessary to clear the alarm light.

Yesterday I called up signature solar tech support again. "Peyton" was the fella helping me out. I had noticed a peculiar situation with the voltage reading on the inverter, as the batteries reached 100% SOC. The voltage to the batteries would fluctuate, 53.something, 56.5, 54.2, back up to 56.8, all over the place. Which I assumed was the inverter sending charging pulses? lol. To top off the batteries. But I did also notice that the voltage would jump up well over the 56.5v set point in the inverter. 57.5v, 58.0v. This got me thinking. Well I'm pretty sure the BMS kicks out at 60v, so maybe the voltage was jumping up high enough to trip the alarm? Not sure, so I suggested to Peyton that maybe we needed to decrease the 56.5v set point the previous tech has instructed me to use. He said no, and to keep it at 56.5. The spec sheet recommends 56v. But they are the experts so ok. Peyton has me do a complete shut down and restart of the system. Of which one of the batteries alarms again. He asks me to take a picture of the batteries, under load, with a voltmeter and send it to him over email. I sent it over, no response. I called again yesterday afternoon, talked to the operator, she said she would let him know to call me. Nothing yet this morning.

So I take a look again this morning because one of the batteries faults out again, reset, faults again, reset, stays on this time. So without input from Signature Solar I decided to adjust the charge voltage down to 56v. Thinking maybe that will help. Once again I keep an eye on the Growatt screen at the battery voltage. Same thing, reach 100% SOC and the input voltage ranges up and down over and over. This time though, while i'm watching I see the voltage reading hit 60.1v! So I adjust the voltage down another .5v to 55.5v. Hoping the spikes in voltage from the inverter will be less. But just as i'm feeling pretty good about myself, one of the batteries trips again (while i'm not watching).

So I think the issues lies with the Growatt inverter pushing too high of a voltage to the batteries when at 100% SOC. Thus causing the batteries to alarm out. But I do not see a way to keep the inverter from going wild and pushing 60v at the batteries when I only want it to charge at 56.v.

Any thoughts? Thanks!
Josh
Exact same experience with 2 different sets of batteries
and 3 different SPF3000 inverters.

Totally reproducible.

Do not use Signature Solar's voltages.

Working great now %100 SOC.
 
Needs more work. It may not work if batteries are connected to inverter.
I guess if enough people are interested...

It can post data to a server and it's also a webserver that serves up the data in HTML or JSON data:
{"bms":[{"timestamp":1178700,"cells":[{"v":3.561,"bal":true},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.546,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.552,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.56,"bal":false},{"v":3.545,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.55,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.559,"bal":false},{"v":3.549,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false}],"mncv":3.545,"mxcv":3.561,"dcv":0.016,"st":0,"cyc":48,"t":[36.0,36.0,36.0,35.0],"mt":39.0,"et":40.0,"fbc":100.0,"v":56.860001,"c":-0.0,"p":-0.0,"soc":100.0,"soh":100.0},{"timestamp":1179934,"cells":[{"v":3.557,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.558,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.559,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.557,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.558,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.537,"bal":false},{"v":3.56,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.558,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false}],"mncv":3.537,"mxcv":3.56,"dcv":0.023,"st":0,"cyc":50,"t":[34.0,34.0,33.0,33.0],"mt":37.0,"et":38.0,"fbc":100.0,"v":56.880001,"c":-0.0,"p":-0.0,"soc":100.0,"soh":100.0}]}
 
Needs more work. It may not work if batteries are connected to inverter.
I guess if enough people are interested...

It can post data to a server and it's also a webserver that serves up the data in HTML or JSON data:
{"bms":[{"timestamp":1178700,"cells":[{"v":3.561,"bal":true},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.546,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.552,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.56,"bal":false},{"v":3.545,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.55,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.559,"bal":false},{"v":3.549,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false}],"mncv":3.545,"mxcv":3.561,"dcv":0.016,"st":0,"cyc":48,"t":[36.0,36.0,36.0,35.0],"mt":39.0,"et":40.0,"fbc":100.0,"v":56.860001,"c":-0.0,"p":-0.0,"soc":100.0,"soh":100.0},{"timestamp":1179934,"cells":[{"v":3.557,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.558,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.559,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.557,"bal":false},{"v":3.554,"bal":false},{"v":3.558,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false},{"v":3.537,"bal":false},{"v":3.56,"bal":false},{"v":3.555,"bal":false},{"v":3.558,"bal":false},{"v":3.556,"bal":false}],"mncv":3.537,"mxcv":3.56,"dcv":0.023,"st":0,"cyc":50,"t":[34.0,34.0,33.0,33.0],"mt":37.0,"et":38.0,"fbc":100.0,"v":56.880001,"c":-0.0,"p":-0.0,"soc":100.0,"soh":100.0}]}
I can get the hardware ready and even help with development if you have some quick guide on getting the m5 stack set up.
 
Hey Everyone,

I hope I can get some advice on my current situation.

Equipment:
Growatt 3000w 48 All-in-One Inverter Charger (Rounded corner model)
2x EG4 48v 100ah Lithium Batteries (non LCD version)
3,300w Solar Array

Problem:
Batteries go into Alarm state and disconnect power to inverter. Usually only one will fault out at a time, sometimes both together. Seems to happen most often when the batteries reach 100% SOC.

-Batteries are currently not setup to communicate with inverter
-Batteries are not connected with ethernet cable to eachother
-Growatt set to USER2 defined battery type. Setup per Signature Solar's phone instructions.


So just installed these two batteries replacing a single 100ah server rack lithium. This is on my fathers camper down here in AZ. I'm hitting the road of Friday and need this sorted out before I go. Much of this is a bit more than he wants to deal with, so a properly functioning system is critical. When I swapped the batteries out I had the inverter in User1 mode (used on last lithium w/o any comm options). I kept the inverter in User1 and adjusted the charging parameters per the spec sheet on signatures solar's website. I also did connect the included ethernet cable from one battery to the next, thinking maybe they should talk to each other ?‍♂️.

Then came the first alarm. Both batteries had the red alarm light lit and were no longer supplying power to the inverter. Rebooted the system and they worked again for awhile. Then alarmed again.

Next day I get ahold of Signature Solar's tech support. Very friendly fella helped me out. Under his instructions I changed the battery mode to User2, and adjusted the Charge/Float voltage to 56.5v. Also was told there was no need to connect the ethernet cable to the batteries unless they were also connecting to the inverter. So I disconnected that. Also as I was waiting to get in touch with tech support i adjusted the dip switches so the batteries had different addresses (were set the same at first). But not an issue since i'm not using it. After the changes the batteries seemed to be working fine. So great.

Next morning, the battery(s) faulted and alarmed again. I think just one at a time now. (So many alarm lights I can't remember). It was saturday, so spent the weekend checking on batteries and resetting them as necessary to clear the alarm light.

Yesterday I called up signature solar tech support again. "Peyton" was the fella helping me out. I had noticed a peculiar situation with the voltage reading on the inverter, as the batteries reached 100% SOC. The voltage to the batteries would fluctuate, 53.something, 56.5, 54.2, back up to 56.8, all over the place. Which I assumed was the inverter sending charging pulses? lol. To top off the batteries. But I did also notice that the voltage would jump up well over the 56.5v set point in the inverter. 57.5v, 58.0v. This got me thinking. Well I'm pretty sure the BMS kicks out at 60v, so maybe the voltage was jumping up high enough to trip the alarm? Not sure, so I suggested to Peyton that maybe we needed to decrease the 56.5v set point the previous tech has instructed me to use. He said no, and to keep it at 56.5. The spec sheet recommends 56v. But they are the experts so ok. Peyton has me do a complete shut down and restart of the system. Of which one of the batteries alarms again. He asks me to take a picture of the batteries, under load, with a voltmeter and send it to him over email. I sent it over, no response. I called again yesterday afternoon, talked to the operator, she said she would let him know to call me. Nothing yet this morning.

So I take a look again this morning because one of the batteries faults out again, reset, faults again, reset, stays on this time. So without input from Signature Solar I decided to adjust the charge voltage down to 56v. Thinking maybe that will help. Once again I keep an eye on the Growatt screen at the battery voltage. Same thing, reach 100% SOC and the input voltage ranges up and down over and over. This time though, while i'm watching I see the voltage reading hit 60.1v! So I adjust the voltage down another .5v to 55.5v. Hoping the spikes in voltage from the inverter will be less. But just as i'm feeling pretty good about myself, one of the batteries trips again (while i'm not watching).

So I think the issues lies with the Growatt inverter pushing too high of a voltage to the batteries when at 100% SOC. Thus causing the batteries to alarm out. But I do not see a way to keep the inverter from going wild and pushing 60v at the batteries when I only want it to charge at 56.v.

Any thoughts? Thanks!
Josh
Did you get this working?
 
@mrall any chance in releasing some details on getting readings from the eg4 batteries? I’d like to play around with the m5 stack. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
I experienced the EXACT same problem with the same hardware and the same route with Peyton and firmware.

Also went back and forth trying to get communications working between Inverter and batteries.

Bottom line (I think) lower your voltage and they work just fine. Use the voltages provided by
Signature Solar and you will destroy your batteries.

Peyton has been very patient and professional but I've spent dozens of hours troubleshooting with little results.

$3400 for batteries, $700 for inverter, 35hours @ $60.10/h = $2100 troubleshooting.
So... ~ $6,000 for an installation that won't communicate, won't integrate but certainly irritates...

I'm working on a protocol converter that will allow devices to talk but I can't find any
docs on the LifePower 48V (no display) BMS protocol.

I can't believe that the protocol isn't readily available to the public.

Does anyone have protocol information?
I don't even know what the protocol is called.
Packets start with 0x7e and end with 0x0d.

Example:
[28/05/2022 08:32:42] Written data (COM12)
7e 01 33 00 fe 0d ~.3.þ.
[28/05/2022 08:32:42] Read data (COM12)
7e 01 33 15 51 54 2d 59 53 30 30 2d 31 36 53 56 ~.3.QT-YS00-16SV
31 30 30 41 2d 56 33 2e 37 ba 0d 100A-V3.7º.
[28/05/2022 08:32:43] Written data (COM12)
7e 01 01 00 fe 0d ~...þ.
[28/05/2022 08:32:43] Read data (COM12)
7e 01 01 58 01 10 0c ff 0d 01 0d 02 0d 03 0d 00 ~..X...ÿ........
0c ff 0c fe 0c ff 0d 01 0c ff 0d 00 0d 02 0d 00 .ÿ.þ.ÿ...ÿ......
0d 03 0c ff 0d 00 02 01 72 cc 03 01 19 46 04 01 ...ÿ....rÌ...F..
27 10 05 06 00 44 00 44 00 44 00 44 80 42 20 42 '....D.D.D.D€B B
06 05 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 07 01 00 05 ................
08 01 14 cd 09 01 27 10 0a 01 00 00 84 0d ...Í..'.....„.
Boy, I'd love to know this as well!!!
 
I was able to verify faults thrown at the moment the pack reached 100%.
Signature solar gave me 3 different voltage settings that were significantly
higher than the documentation.

I systematically reduced the voltage in small increments until the error went
away.

Soon after, the state of charge difference of the 2 batteries grew to 15-20%.

Replaced batteries. Happened again.
Replaced inverter. Same.
Replaced inverter again. Same.

Connected 2 inverters and 2 batteries to Signature Solar's
terrible expensive Comm Hub and fried something in both
batteries that prevents the PC software from communicating.

Yes. I did extensive troubleshooting.

Finally hooked the equipment up without the hub using CAN bus
and everything appears to work

EXCEPT... When batteries hit 100% the solar cuts out and doesn't
come back on until the batteries drain to 95%.

I've wasted thousands of dollars...
I used all of my vacation time for the year troubleshooting.

Signature Solar guys were nice but they say "do this" and
then it takes days to report results and get a call back.

It's very disturbing that the batteries are labeled with voltage
settings but the manual says something else and three different
tech support guys gave three different voltage settings.
 
BTW. I am a Software Engineer that at one time wrote firmware for solar inverters.
I have 40 years of coding and troubleshooting experience.

I like the products including the Growatt inverters
but they just don't work and Signature Solar knows
it.

I don't have much faith that they will ever have a tech
support that can adequately support these KNOWN
REPRODUCIBLE PROBLEMS.

YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!

For example:
I bought a Growatt inverter on amazon
and batteries from SS.

SS didn't want to support inverter so
I bought another (same model) from SS.
The 2 had very different circuit boards.

I though maybe my first inverter was outdated
so I purchased another inverter from SS only
a week later

The third inverter had circuit boards like the first.
When I asked SS which was the more current version,
they said they didn't know that there were more
than 1 version.

I gave up.

If I can't fix it and SS can't, who can? Growatt says "call SS"...
 
Back
Top