Solar assistant stopped working - Growatt USB timeout issue
- Thread starter x98myers7
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B-Mod
Solar Enthusiast
I ordered in February of 2022 and they sent me this (Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2).
To date this is their recommendations.......
What you will need
- Minimum: Raspberry Pi Zero W
- Recommended: Orange Pi 3 LTS, Raspberry Pi 3B or Raspberry Pi 4B
- 16GB or larger SD card
meetyg
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2021
- Messages
- 1,093
What do you have connected to it? Just an inverter or batteries too?
Just the inverter.
B-Mod
Solar Enthusiast
The problem here is according to SA the Growatt's usb comm port to usb on Pi.
spikebetrayer
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2021
- Messages
- 42
Orange PI 3LTS is the latest SA recommends that why I bought one. USB cables fixed me right up .before that I couldn't connect for than 5 seconds.
meetyg
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2021
- Messages
- 1,093
I think I solved my USB issues with SA:
1. I noticed that my 24v to 5v USB converter was putting out 5.1v open circuit, but when connected to the PI4, the voltage would drop to around 4.88v.
So I changed that crappy converter and used my trusty QSKJ 4 port USB converter, which outputs 5.2v open circuit, and above 5.1v when connected to the PI:
www.electrodragon.com
(Not suitable for 48v systems, as input voltage is up to 35v).
This alone didn't solve the problems I was having, but I thought was a good measure, as the PI4 needs stable 5v supply.
2. I noticed that one of my USB extension cables, going from the RS485 adapter of one battery to the PI, didn't have that little bulge (ferrite coil?) at the end. The other battery had this on the extension cable. So I replaced the one that was missing that coil/magnet. Now my system has been running for almost 48h without issues.
So now I have 2 JKBMSs, and one MUST inverter connected to the PI4. The inverter is connected via a simple USB cable, but I will replace that with an RS485 connection via an adapter, just for better isolation.
Not sure if this helps the OP, but maybe will help others.
1. I noticed that my 24v to 5v USB converter was putting out 5.1v open circuit, but when connected to the PI4, the voltage would drop to around 4.88v.
So I changed that crappy converter and used my trusty QSKJ 4 port USB converter, which outputs 5.2v open circuit, and above 5.1v when connected to the PI:
DC-DC Buck 4 USB Charger Module 8A - ElectroDragon
The 4-channel independent dedicated charging management IC can effectively support the maximum current charging of various mobile phones, and the charging speed is fast, safe and reliable. The charging recognition IC is compatible with Apple’s full range of products (backside recognize IC), and...
www.electrodragon.com
This alone didn't solve the problems I was having, but I thought was a good measure, as the PI4 needs stable 5v supply.
2. I noticed that one of my USB extension cables, going from the RS485 adapter of one battery to the PI, didn't have that little bulge (ferrite coil?) at the end. The other battery had this on the extension cable. So I replaced the one that was missing that coil/magnet. Now my system has been running for almost 48h without issues.
So now I have 2 JKBMSs, and one MUST inverter connected to the PI4. The inverter is connected via a simple USB cable, but I will replace that with an RS485 connection via an adapter, just for better isolation.
Not sure if this helps the OP, but maybe will help others.
| 15:21 (2 minutes ago) | ||||
|
I have after weeks of Solar Assistant USB issues I have finally solved the problem.
With my old inverter solar assistant had no USB issues at all, they all started when I got this new iGrid inverter, SA would not last for long working on USB, it would disconnect from USB and never reconnect again unless I went fiddling with the cables unplugging resetting etc you get the idea.
I tried a lot of ways to solve this by adding ferrite clip on filters, USB isolators but nothing seemed to help.
Then I started looking at the USB cables in detail, I could measure A voltage difference between the USB GND on the inverter and the USB GND on the Pi running SA of around 5VDC, this increased as the inverter charged up the battery and so the shield was not connected at both sides on the cable I was using.
I looked the USB cable between the inverter and the Pi running SA and checked for continuity between the micro USB metal connector shield and the USB2 shield and it was open.
THEY WERE NOT CONNECTED ON THE USB CABLE I WAS USING.
I then checked all the cables I had I selected a USB cable that has a visible shielded as it was a transparent cable cover and was connected to the shield at both ends of the USB cable, I knew I needed to get rid of the GND voltage difference between the inverter and the Pi.
Since this cable has been fitted Pi and SA have worked without any issues at all, over 24 hour and counting with no USB drop outs.
So the conclusion is this voltage difference between the GND's was causing the USB to fail as you would expect.
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