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Solar Assistant with Growatt SPH6000

dejavu

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Joined
Mar 16, 2022
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26
Anyone managed to get Solar Assistant working with SPH6000 inverter, I have the shinephone app connected to my RS232 port so I can only use my RS485 port for Solar Assistant. I have tried using pin 1 and 5 and also pin 4 and 5 as detailed for Growatt Inverter on the Solar Assistant website where I seem to have issues is on the Growatt Workmode menu I do not have any options under RS485 settings nor do I see VPP mode. I took a video of the menu cycle.

If anyone has managed to get Solar assistant working with the above invert , I would greatly appreciate the help.

 
Anyone managed to get Solar Assistant working with SPH6000 inverter, I have the shinephone app connected to my RS232 port so I can only use my RS485 port for Solar Assistant. I have tried using pin 1 and 5 and also pin 4 and 5 as detailed for Growatt Inverter on the Solar Assistant website where I seem to have issues is on the Growatt Workmode menu I do not have any options under RS485 settings nor do I see VPP mode. I took a video of the menu cycle.

If anyone has managed to get Solar assistant working with the above invert , I would greatly appreciate the help.

Incase anyone stumble across this in the future, managed to get this working by selecting okay on the battery in RS485 settings and then scroll up or down to select VPP mode. The I used pin 4 and 5 to connect to B and A on the RS485 adapter on the Solar assistant website.
 
Incase anyone stumble across this in the future, managed to get this working by selecting okay on the battery in RS485 settings and then scroll up or down to select VPP mode. The I used pin 4 and 5 to connect to B and A on the RS485 adapter on the Solar assistant website.
Hi, do you have a battery on your system? If you do how do you connect the Pi to it? Is it possible to see a photo of your connections?
 
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Hi, do you have a battery on your system? If you do how do you connect the Pi to it? Is it possible to see a photo of your connections?
No I did not connect the battery to the pi, I am using inverter supplied values.
 
Thanks for the reply. Did you buy the kit from SA? If not what did you do for power to the unit?
 
Thanks for the reply. Did you buy the kit from SA? If not what did you do for power to the unit?
I powered from a socket close to the installation, the USB port on the inverter wasn't powerful enough
 
I powered from a socket close to the installation, the USB port on the inverter wasn't powerful enough
Oh right. Easy enough then. I don't have that option owing to where the installation is. Is it all still working ok and do you find the info useful above what the Shineapp displays?
 
Oh right. Easy enough then. I don't have that option owing to where the installation is. Is it all still working ok and do you find the info useful above what the Shineapp displays?
Honestly it's pretty much the same as the shine app just slightly more better formatted.
And it doesn't error out as the shineapp so I use it more but nothing special for me so far Screenshot_2023-01-21-12-40-33-12.jpg
 

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Yeah it's the errors I'd like to eliminate. Plus make it a little easier to change settings
 
Is it possible for you to let me know what your order of wires is on the RS485, I have all my pieces now just need the software and to flash the Pi.

Is it possible to get a picture of the plug head so I know I'm doing it right please?
 
Is it possible for you to let me know what your order of wires is on the RS485, I have all my pieces now just need the software and to flash the Pi.

Is it possible to get a picture of the plug head so I know I'm doing it right please?
Is this good enough
 

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Yes that's really helpful. From the looks of it apart from the two wires in use the others are just loose and not connected to anything? Do I just need to use the data + and - wires and does the colour not matter?
Solar Assistants own crimping RS485 cable has a yellow, orange and black left on it. I'm guessing it doesn't need a third wire as you're getting the data ok as per your screen shots earlier
 
Yes that's really helpful. From the looks of it apart from the two wires in use the others are just loose and not connected to anything? Do I just need to use the data + and - wires and does the colour not matter?
Solar Assistants own crimping RS485 cable has a yellow, orange and black left on it. I'm guessing it doesn't need a third wire as you're getting the data ok as per your screen shots earlier
I only see pin 1 and 5 which are yellow and orange connected for growatt here.

 
I guess that's specific to the Growatt and other inverters may need the black as well which is for grounding
 
Dear all, i am in the same situation. My GrowattSPH 6000 isnt responding when i conncted Solar assit PI. Can you please shar the, how did you connect the RS485 cables, and settings on SA please. Many thanks for the help.
 
Dear all, i am in the same situation. My GrowattSPH 6000 isnt responding when i conncted Solar assit PI. Can you please shar the, how did you connect the RS485 cables, and settings on SA please. Many thanks for the help.
If you look at my post about 4 posts back I uploaded a photo
 
Hi All,
Not sure if I should put this in a new thread but this one seems to be active recently and it is on topic.
I too have an SPH6000 with a 6.5kW battery and the shine wifi datalogger connected.
My aims are:
  1. Get decent/reliable monitoring.
  2. Have full configuration control.
  3. Feed my data into InfluxDB V2 for viewing in Grafana.
  4. Stop sending my data to China.
I have been trying to get an app called grott https://github.com/johanmeijer/grott working with some success but the metrics it produces are very confusing (for my simple mind).
So, I came across solar assistant and think it might suit my needs better. I'd like to connect it to the RS485 port at least to start with so I can keep the shine wifi logger connected until I know I am happy with solar assistant.
I have a couple of questions before I take the leap and order it:
  1. Can I control/Edit/Set ALL settings on the system via Solar Assistant?
  2. How easy is it to get data into InfluxDB?
    1. I assume I'd go MQTT>Telegraf>Influx?
  3. Is the data any better presented than via the shine logger?
  4. Anyone have a good UK source for the cable/connectors needed?
Referring to question 3:
Would this do the job with a cut of RJ45 cable connected on the right pins.
Or would this do the job right out of the box?

Any thoughts appreciated.
 
Hi All,
Not sure if I should put this in a new thread but this one seems to be active recently and it is on topic.
I too have an SPH6000 with a 6.5kW battery and the shine wifi datalogger connected.
My aims are:
  1. Get decent/reliable monitoring.
  2. Have full configuration control.
  3. Feed my data into InfluxDB V2 for viewing in Grafana.
  4. Stop sending my data to China.
I have been trying to get an app called grott https://github.com/johanmeijer/grott working with some success but the metrics it produces are very confusing (for my simple mind).
So, I came across solar assistant and think it might suit my needs better. I'd like to connect it to the RS485 port at least to start with so I can keep the shine wifi logger connected until I know I am happy with solar assistant.
I have a couple of questions before I take the leap and order it:
  1. Can I control/Edit/Set ALL settings on the system via Solar Assistant?
  2. How easy is it to get data into InfluxDB?
    1. I assume I'd go MQTT>Telegraf>Influx?
  3. Is the data any better presented than via the shine logger?
  4. Anyone have a good UK source for the cable/connectors needed?
Referring to question 3:
Would this do the job with a cut of RJ45 cable connected on the right pins.
Or would this do the job right out of the box?

Any thoughts appreciated.
Hi, I've had Solar Assistant up and running for about 6 a month now. It's way more reliable than Shinephone. I lost that recently for about 2 weeks until I had time to completely reinstall the data logger. In relation to your questions,
1. Not all the settings, I can't find the section for time slot charging from the grid, bit that may just be me.
2. Unfortunately I can't help with this as I have not gone down this route.
3. The only thing I find missing data wise is a bar graph showing the percentage of self use Vs the grid import. Other than that I have adjustable import and export timescales, current MPPT values, power generation to the second if I want it rather than 5 minutes delay. There's loads more but it's all covered on the website.
4. I got all my bits from Amazon in the UK including the 5V DC buck converter and then cobbled it all together. My RS485 lead was a FTDI one which was unterminated on the Ethernet end which I just crimped as per the instructions using pins 4 and 5. The one you linked to would possibly need cutting and then re- terminating. Depends on what you want to do.

Hope some of that helps.
 
Hi, I've had Solar Assistant up and running for about 6 a month now. It's way more reliable than Shinephone. I lost that recently for about 2 weeks until I had time to completely reinstall the data logger. In relation to your questions,
1. Not all the settings, I can't find the section for time slot charging from the grid, bit that may just be me.
2. Unfortunately I can't help with this as I have not gone down this route.
3. The only thing I find missing data wise is a bar graph showing the percentage of self use Vs the grid import. Other than that I have adjustable import and export timescales, current MPPT values, power generation to the second if I want it rather than 5 minutes delay. There's loads more but it's all covered on the website.
4. I got all my bits from Amazon in the UK including the 5V DC buck converter and then cobbled it all together. My RS485 lead was a FTDI one which was unterminated on the Ethernet end which I just crimped as per the instructions using pins 4 and 5. The one you linked to would possibly need cutting and then re- terminating. Depends on what you want to do.

Hope some of that helps.
Many thanks @Duckcm18 , your input greatly appreciated. Maybe others will be able to fill in the gaps?
 
Well, I went for it.
I used this USB to 485 with a cut off RJ45 patch lead. My thinking was it would be easy to change pins if it didn't work.
Happily I used pins 4 & 5 and it worked first time. It's pulling in data as I type.
Just have to work out how to get the data into my InfluxDB now.
Think I'll start another thread to see if anyone has done it because I'm finding the solar assistant documentation a bit confusing.
 
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