Growatt spa3000 odd import behaviour

[lhudson]

Hi,
I have just install an SPA3000 and a large lead acid battery bank. I have no solar. I would like the spa to charge the battery during off peak (00:30-04:30) and discharge the rest of the time to offset my load. What I'm finding is that after a day of power the house really nicely the battery is low as expected, however, the SPA decides to start charging the battery. I noticed that this happens when the battery voltage < Lead_acid_LV. Obviously I don't want this to happen, why would I want to charge the battery on peak? How do I stop this? Is there anyone on this forum who is an expert on this device? Customer support seem to know less than me.
Thanks
Lee

 

[bladerunnerpv]

Hi lhudson, welcome. I presume this will be in the timings settings. There have been a fair few posts on this type of when does it charge/discharge thing with helpful resolutions to problems, so I suspect the answer is already here in some form, the SPH series is likely to be pretty similar too, suggest you have a search of the forum and come back if you have no luck. Also, if you can post images of the settings you currently have, that will help with diagnosis, there are a good number of Growatt users here who might be able to spot the issue.

 

[lhudson]

Hi bladerunnerpv, thanks for taking the time to reply. I will also look for the SPH. I've spent quite a few hours trawling various forums but have had no luck. I have ordered the RF bridge so i'm hoping I can get a better view of the settings that way, the LCD display is really hard to work with. Once I get the web interface i'll hopefully have something more useful to post if I can't figure it out myself. Thanks again for the response, it's much appreciated.

 

[bladerunnerpv]

Hi lhudson, youre welcome, not sure I've been of much help....

IIRC user Johnb2713 's posts have had a number of settings imgs posted which may be of help
also searching the forum for shinephone app may bring up relevant posts?

best of luck

 

[johnb2713]

Hi lhudson, youre welcome, not sure I've been of much help....

IIRC user Johnb2713 's posts have had a number of settings imgs posted which may be of help
also searching the forum for shinephone app may bring up relevant posts?

best of luck

From what I've seen and heard in the past the SPH series was a completely new breed of inverter from Growatt, the previous iterations not having a huge fan base. I dont think they would compare in settings or operations, sorry.

 

[bladerunnerpv]

sigh, oh well, so much for educated guesswork! thanks for putting me straight John

 

[johnb2713]

sigh, oh well, so much for educated guesswork! thanks for putting me straight John

Sorry if I was a bit abrupt there, I really know nothing about SPA series. Heres the parameter and settings from the SPH if it's of any use.

 

[bladerunnerpv]

nah, you're fine John, was trying to pay it back a little after all the help I've had on the forum and thought my hopes had been dashed! Thanks for sharing again, hope you have a good bank holiday weekend.

 

[lhudson]

Thank you both for the replies, looks like there are allot more settings here than I can access via the LCD. Hopefully I'll be able to do more when my lan box and RF stick come. One question you may know the answer to, I'm using a non growatt CT clamp, does that matter? I understand CT clamps have a turn ratio, if the growatt is expecting a particular conversion rate I wonder if this screws it up? Would a smart meter be a better way to go? Thanks again

 

[johnb2713]

A generation meter will be slower to respond to sudden changes eg switch the kettle on but better accuracy in terms of current draw. A CT clamp is faster to respond to the kettle situation but very poor at low current levels in terms of accuracy when noise becomes significant.

 

[lhudson]

Ah I see, I'll stick with the CT then. Do you think it matters if my CT isn't the one that came with the SPA?

 

[shaunuk]

Hi,
I have just install an SPA3000 and a large lead acid battery bank. I have no solar. I would like the spa to charge the battery during off peak (00:30-04:30) and discharge the rest of the time to offset my load. What I'm finding is that after a day of power the house really nicely the battery is low as expected, however, the SPA decides to start charging the battery. I noticed that this happens when the battery voltage < Lead_acid_LV. Obviously I don't want this to happen, why would I want to charge the battery on peak? How do I stop this? Is there anyone on this forum who is an expert on this device? Customer support seem to know less than me.
Thanks
Lee

Morning. Only had a quick scan over this post.

Sph has a similar issue with a little charge flowing to the battery when it’s in lead acid mode below LV setting.

I’ve tried spa and Sph inverters. Biggest difference is the spa can accept two ct clamps. And of course no mppt on the spa.

Basically you need to get the web interface up and running, you probably want to be in Battery First 1 mode, read the current time from the inverter and then set the current time. Reboot the inverter. Then set your battery first schedule, ac charge on and set the schedule. It can be buggy as hell but once the settings are locked in and survive a reboot you should be in a better place.

Growatt are a mixed bag unfortunatly. Decent hardware but buggy software, I ended up on a meter for accuracy personally as I didn’t like the inverter Trickeling in power all day from the grid, but I use ct clamps for customers.

It’s mad that some settings are on the lcd and a different set of settings are in the web interface and a third set of settings are in the mobile app.

I guess this is get what you pay for. It’s certainly a great start with Solar and for people with minimal requirements. Bit as soon as you start looking at the details, it’s time to go victron

 

[lhudson]

Thanks for this, I'll wait for the web interface. Do victron do an AC coupled charge controller?

 

[johnb2713]

Thanks for this, I'll wait for the web interface. Do victron do an AC coupled charge controller?

Would that not be just a hybrid inverter?

The nice thing about Victron is they have a huge array of products, chargers, inverters, MPPT controllers etc, you can purchase individual items, plug them in to each other and they work, it's a great modular type approach to all things solar and battery.

 

[shaunuk]

Thanks for this, I'll wait for the web interface. Do victron do an AC coupled charge controller?

multiplus

 

[lhudson]

Do growatt have any modern equivalent to the spa3000 out of interest? I don't see anything obvious on their website and I don't think you can get SPAs new.

 

[johnb2713]

SPH3000

 

[lhudson]

Noticed it charging the battery when the voltage was above the minimum which is weird, wondering if it's time related. Hopefully I'll be able to see when it's online

 

[lhudson]

Now I'm online and growatt have had a look, all settings appear correct but now my battery is charging for some reason again. No idea what's going on. The web interface is crap, very buggy...

 

[lhudson]