Growatt SPH6000 Inverter + Pylon bateries - battery is not discharging

[yessuz]

Hi guys, I am new to forum so apologize for any stupid questions I will ask (or if this already was asked).

Basically, today I got my Solar system comissioned. It consists of:

• 20 x 415 w panels (8.3 kwp) - 10 east & 10 west
• Growatt SPH6000 inverter
• 3 x Pylon US3000C batteries (total 10.5 kwh)

System in the Shine app showed that the PV were generating (rain and miserable, so very little, just 0.3 kw (maxed up to 0.73 kw for brief time). all that power was consumed by house. Battery sitting at 50%.
So all looked good.

But now, in the evening, I am drawing all my power from the grid. battery is sitting at 50%.

Is there maybe some sitting which I need to look at or something, in order to enable the use of the battery? or I need to wait for some magic from Growatt side? as mentioned - system comissioned today, late afternoon :/

 

[johnb2713]

Could you post a photo of your meter cabinet where the power cable comes into your property. Check the settings of your inverter, here is a copy of mine, also an SPH6000. Please note, the SPH6000 even though it is a 6kW inverter will only supply 3kW when running on batteries i.e. night time etc, a winters evening with the oven and hob running etc will cause import from the grid.

 

[yessuz]

my settings are more or less the same inverter set into load mode..

what I noticed is: 1) Clamp is not connected (as in meter box picture).. but it is set to meter and I have meter installed (as in other pics)
2) battery was set to charge to 90% during the specific time period and it did. so that is good.

other than that - inverter shows whole Solar generation is being consumed by the house (which cannot be true, as I cannot consume 4 kw while actual house load is 200w..


here's some pics

 

[johnb2713]

It's difficult to tell without having it all physically in front of me. It doesnt look to be wired correctly from what i can see.

1) The meter used for import / export data should be connected directly into the meter tails so all of the house load etc is sensed. It appears that your solar installation is connected via the Henley blocks but the rest of the house is connected via the cables exiting the back of the meter box.
2) I cant see a data cable from the meter to the growatt.
3) There does appear to be a thick black data cable going into the base of the growatt and a similar cable coiled up in the meter cabinet with a CT connected to it, the CT not being installed on the meter tail.

I would try setting the growatt to CT instead of meter and attach the CT to the live meter tail. The arrow on the CT needs to point away from your meter and towards your consumer unit assuming theyve connected it up correctly.

 

[yessuz]

hmm,

what I see is that the clamp cable which is coiled at the meter box has both of it's ends not connected to anything at all.

 

[yessuz]

I got message from my installer that meter has issues - it is nor reading house load. Growatt has also confirmed this.

installer will be checking it on Monday

 

[johnb2713]

I got message from my installer that meter has issues - it is nor reading house load. Growatt has also confirmed this.

I dont see how it can measure house load, the tails from the house dont go through it.......

installer will be checking it on Monday

Good luck

 

[yessuz]

THANK YOU.

will update later.

 

[yessuz]

OK, an update.

It all works now!

Installer came in and made some installation changes. Namely - moved the meter from the loft to the meter box. so now meter sees the house load and reacts to the load, shows off-load to grid and battery being charged by solar at this moment.

In short - it is Otovo (who I am buying my installation from) who insists that meter would be in the loft (not ct clamp) but all in all - super good jobs and looks like it started to work after small initial hiccup.

Happy days

 

[johnb2713]

OK, an update.

It all works now!

Installer came in and made some installation changes. Namely - moved the meter from the loft to the meter box. so now meter sees the house load and reacts to the load, shows off-load to grid and battery being charged by solar at this moment.

As per my post #7, glad youre sorted.

Reeeeeesult!

 

[bladerunnerpv]

happy days!
out of curiosity what does the meter box look like now (new version of your pic #1)

 

[johnb2713]

happy days!
out of curiosity what does the meter box look like now (new version of your pic #1)

My guess is the meter will be in there with L & N tails going through the meter as it should be.

 

[user 36882]

This is an interesting outcome and thanks to all for contributing.
Our installer insists that nothing is wrong with the installation and that CT is functioning correctly, but we continue to see the behaviour I described in my original thread and exactly as @[B]yessuz[/B] also described. Installer says it must be a Growatt problem, though he has not returned to review the installation.
@johnb2713 I am not in the least qualified to understand exactly how our installation is built, but I attach photos in the hope of some idea to go back to installer with.
Thanks as always for any input.

 

[user 36882]

Should have ref’d my original thread/post too:
https://electricianforum.co.uk/thre...r-2-x-6-5kw-batteries-solar.56487/post-545538

 

[yessuz]

happy days!
out of curiosity what does the meter box look like now (new version of your pic #1)

oh, sorry, I was too excited yesterday!



now the additional meter ("Wylex") is installed to the right from the "Eon" breaker and whole house load (and EV) is going through it, so inverter sees the load via black cable which leads to the bottom of meter box together with 2 grey power leads.

However, I think at this stage I would not be able to use the Scottish power 12p/kwh SEG tariff as in principle I could export to the grid from the battery I think... and that is the limitation by Scottish power :/

 

[yessuz]

Should have ref’d my original thread/post too:
https://electricianforum.co.uk/thre...r-2-x-6-5kw-batteries-solar.56487/post-545538

In my case clamp is not used (as I quote installer "15 m is almost max length for the CT clamp") and Otovo is insisting to have a meter rather than clamp.

 

[johnb2713]

oh, sorry, I was too excited yesterday!

View attachment 15786

now the additional meter ("Wylex") is installed to the right from the "Eon" breaker and whole house load (and EV) is going through it, so inverter sees the load via black cable which leads to the bottom of meter box together with 2 grey power leads.

However, I think at this stage I would not be able to use the Scottish power 12p/kwh SEG tariff as in principle I could export to the grid from the battery I think... and that is the limitation by Scottish power :/

Exactly right and the whole issue you had, the inverter / solar / batteries had no sensing on the incoming supply.

 

[bladerunnerpv]

oh, sorry, I was too excited yesterday!


now the additional meter ("Wylex") is installed to the right from the "Eon" breaker and whole house load (and EV) is going through it, so inverter sees the load via black cable which leads to the bottom of meter box together with 2 grey power leads.

no worries, no need to apologise. Thanks for taking the time to post a pic.

pleased to hear its all working now - enjoy - just need a bit less cloud to get the most out of it now!