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Henrik Känngård avatar image
Henrik Känngård asked

Unsupported PV-inverter (Growatt) and grid-failure in ESS setup with Multiplus 3-phase

Hi!
I have a setup where there are 3 Multiplus running in three phase mode connected to the grid in a ESS setup. As PV-inverter we have a Growatt 7000TL3-S connected on Line out of the Multiplus. And it works fine as long as there is a grid conntected, but on test with Grid failure it does not work so well, the charging is very intermitent. Could there be any way to setup the PV-inverter to support this or do we need to install some other component to get this working properly? There is offcourse the option to change PV-inverter, but would like to see this as my last option... ;)

ESSAC PV Coupling
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Rob Duthie avatar image Rob Duthie commented ·

As with most PV grid inverters you need to set a micro grid mode to be compatable with the Victron.

As i have seen and test others like the Huawei brands etc.

Most Chinse inverters don't call it micro grid mode they call it Fuel-Engine-Grid, don't use anti island as this mode back feeds power from the inverter when the sun is shinning it self generates for off grid applications only.

A bit confusing there terminlogy.

I have tested and it works on my own Victron inverters

Yes also will need a growatt current sensor to see what power is flowing so the victron knows what to do and also display the information on the VRM site and the GX device.

Regards

Rob D

NZ

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Henrik Känngård avatar image Henrik Känngård Rob Duthie commented ·
Thank you, will look if there are some way to se the PV-inverter in this mode!
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marekp avatar image
marekp answered ·

@Henrik Känngård

More info is needed.

1. Does ESS assistant know that there is PV inverter on AC-out?

2. Do you have a VRM?

3. If you have a VRM, can you post the graphs of PV inverter Yeald, AC-output frequency, AC-output Power and Battery SOC when grid is off.

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Henrik Känngård avatar image Henrik Känngård commented ·

1. Yes the ESS assistant know about the PV inverter on AC-out.

2. I have VRM, but the PV inverter is not tied to it, will get a energy meter soon to see the PV in VRM and GX (Has a Venus).

3. Since the PV is not shown on the VRM I can not share those values, but here are some values if they can give you a clue, but I gues also Rob's tip above can be of interest, the PV-inverter might need to be configued some way.vrm1.pngvrm2.pnggrowatt.png

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marekp avatar image marekp Henrik Känngård commented ·
@Henrik Känngård

For your system to know how much your Growatt is producing your need to install power meter (ET340) for Growatt and connect it to your GX.

This is the only way GX knows what to do with Growatt production when grid is off.

From your graphs you can probably see that GX is raising output frequency and Growatt reacts properly by turning off.

Once GX knows Growatt production values you would probably be able to properly set up frequency ranges in ESS setup of AC-coupled Growatt.

The worst case the control will by ON/OFF type.

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Henrik Känngård avatar image Henrik Känngård marekp commented ·
Thank you! The ET340 is on the top of my shopping list now :)
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pau1phi11ips avatar image pau1phi11ips Henrik Känngård commented ·

The ET340 is an easy off the shelf solution to get the data in VRM.

Depending on your coding ability though, you could also use something to read the data from the Growatt via RS485 and publish that as a PVInverter on the Venus DBus.

https://github.com/nygma2004/growatt2mqtt

https://github.com/freakent/dbus-mqtt-devices

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Henrik Känngård avatar image Henrik Känngård pau1phi11ips commented ·
Thank you! Very interesting! I wish my coding skills were better than they are (very limited). Though I understand that this only solves part of the problem (getting the data), what I need is also the ability to control the Growatt inverter when the battery are getting full for example, so it wont produce more energy than can be recieved. At this point we are also checking with our supplier of the PV-inverter if he can switch the growatt to a Victron-supported unit, since he knew about our plan to integrate them when he sold them to us ;)
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