Growatt SPF5000ES Offgrid 9kw DIY Solar Project

[Pink7]

I have placed a order of breakers on aliexpress but they estimate 2 months delivery... thats forever to wait.. I ordered TOMZN ac and dc breakers who from my research should be in the sweet spot of great value, fair quality to fair price. Any ideas for some faster solution of good mid prized breakers? Aliexpress order can be canceled)

 

Pink 

[Encid]

1 hour ago, Pink7 said:

I just completed my 2 x Growatt SPF5000ES order with WIFI and Thailand Special Line delivery for 54k B

That really is a great price!

Just comparing it with @Bandersnatch who paid 37.3K baht per inverter (same model) delivered 9 months ago.

 

[Crossy]

46 minutes ago, Pink7 said:

I have placed a order of breakers on aliexpress but they estimate 2 months delivery... thats forever to wait.. I ordered TOMZN ac and dc breakers who from my research should be in the sweet spot of great value, fair quality to fair price. Any ideas for some faster solution of good mid prized breakers? Aliexpress order can be canceled)

 

Pink 

 

Lazada?? There's (or was) an official Tomzn store.

[Pink7]

25 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Lazada?? There's (or was) an official Tomzn store.

Not much any more.. Manual says: recommended spec of AC breaker is 40A for SPF 3500 ES and 50A for SPF 5000 ES. I have a pending order for 32A, its to less?

 

 

 

Pink

[Bandersnatch]

13 hours ago, Encid said:

That really is a great price!

Just comparing it with @Bandersnatch who paid 37.3K baht per inverter (same model) delivered 9 months ago.

 

Indeed - most solar components have been going up in price due to supply shortages

[sezze]

1 hour ago, Bandersnatch said:

Indeed - most solar components have been going up in price due to supply shortages

Well , watch international news . Im afraid everything will going to be extremely expensive . I can see now the effects of the starting crisis , and it is coming hard and fast . Trust me , anything energy like is pure profit .

[Pink7]

6 hours ago, sezze said:

Well , watch international news . Im afraid everything will going to be extremely expensive . I can see now the effects of the starting crisis , and it is coming hard and fast . Trust me , anything energy like is pure profit .

In North Europe where I'm from Prices of electricity is now x5 of normal!!!  And 6 months +waiting list to get solar installed.

 

Pink

Edited August 26, 2022 by Pink7

[Pink7]

On 8/8/2022 at 4:35 PM, Encid said:

That's a really good price!

 

Here's the current online price from Global House... 

 

Today i got another 8 panels today, same deal 2990,-. They just refilled so i know some Global, if any need more panels.

 

Pink

Edited August 26, 2022 by Pink7

[Pink7]

On 8/24/2022 at 12:30 PM, Crossy said:

 

That's a 3-phase ATS.

 

Maybe you could draw what you intend doing. We wouldn't want anything to go bang.

 

Here is a simple drawing

 

Pink

[Adumbration]

Small house requires 5000-7000 watts.

 

You need 20 panels not 11.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Adumbration

[Pink7]

1 hour ago, Adumbration said:

Small house requires 5000-7000 watts.

 

You need 20 panels not 11.

I currently use 20kw per day. My setup is 28 panels x 330w= 9240w (Inverter capacity is 6000w x 2= 12000w) . I will use 2 inverters with 2 parallel sting each: 45.5v x7 = 318,5v and 18.4A Inverter capacity: 450 vdc and 22A. Then battery i expect to be 2x200A 48v. In my calculation it should be enough to cover my needs ( or most of it) and with margins for the setup to not push any limits.

 

Pink

[sezze]

5 hours ago, Adumbration said:

Small house requires 5000-7000 watts.

 

You need 20 panels not 11.

Useless comment . All depends on your consumption , small or big house does not matter . And 5000-7000watt is not small consumption either , because that would be 20-27kW per day or roughly 700kWh per month . It isn't the biggest consumption , but by far not the smallest neither .

[Crossy]

10 hours ago, Pink7 said:

Here is a simple drawing

 

Pink

 

OK I see what you want to do, and that would work.

 

BUT

 

Do NOT use the "N" connection for the inverter output switch (Use A & B on both sides and C & N on the inverter input).

 

The reason is that on 3-phase breakers the N contact opens after and closes before the ABC contacts.

 

This is important for 3-phase to avoid the possibility of having the phases connected with no neutral (even for a fraction of a second). An open neutral on 3-phase can be very bad news for connected devices.

 

For your application you might end up with supply and inverter neutral connected together briefly, it's unlikely but why take the risk.

 

 

 

[Pink7]

37 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

OK I see what you want to do, and that would work.

 

BUT

 

Do NOT use the "N" connection for the inverter output switch (Use A & B on both sides and C & N on the inverter input).

 

The reason is that on 3-phase breakers the N contact opens after and closes before the ABC contacts.

 

This is important for 3-phase to avoid the possibility of having the phases connected with no neutral (even for a fraction of a second). An open neutral on 3-phase can be very bad news for connected devices.

 

For your application you might end up with supply and inverter neutral connected together briefly, it's unlikely but why take the risk.

 

 

 

Thanks for that Crossy that was good news. Here is a updated version, hopefully correct if not let me know.

 

Pink

Edited August 26, 2022 by Pink7

[Crossy]

2 minutes ago, Pink7 said:

Here is a updated version, hopefully correct if not let me know.

 

Works for me ???? 

[dwagner]

Pink7 - where are you getting the Growatt SPF 5000 ES inverters from? I see them on Lazada for Baht 32,750 - not including WIFI and No Warranty from a very questionable seller - no seller rating or ships on time ratings.

 

Growatt has a BKK office. I sent their sales dept a message asking about price and warranty and was told: per unit cost was Baht 34,240 (32K+7% VAT), free shipping and a five (5) year warranty. At a USD/THB exchange rate of 35.5 the price I am being quoted is ~$965 USD.

 

You are paying $713 USD per unit ($595 EACH + $118Shipping, half of 

 

Are you getting any warranty for this $252 USD difference?

[Pink7]

56 minutes ago, dwagner said:

Pink7 - where are you getting the Growatt SPF 5000 ES inverters from? I see them on Lazada for Baht 32,750 - not including WIFI and No Warranty from a very questionable seller - no seller rating or ships on time ratings.

 

Growatt has a BKK office. I sent their sales dept a message asking about price and warranty and was told: per unit cost was Baht 34,240 (32K+7% VAT), free shipping and a five (5) year warranty. At a USD/THB exchange rate of 35.5 the price I am being quoted is ~$965 USD.

 

You are paying $713 USD per unit ($595 EACH + $118Shipping, half of 

 

Are you getting any warranty for this $252 USD difference?

When buy at Alibaba its not much seller warranty, but i not count much in for warranties here either.  BTW the latest version take  22A the previous 18A. I wanted the 22A. I will give a update with more details when i got mine, so we see its all as expected.

 

Pink

Edited August 27, 2022 by Pink7

[Sophon]

18 hours ago, Pink7 said:

Today i got another 8 panels today, same deal 2990,-. They just refilled so i know some Global, if any need more panels.

 

Pink

Where in Thailand is the Global you use?

[Pink7]

8 minutes ago, Sophon said:

Where in Thailand is the Global you use?

I know some around Issan have, i was at the Nakhon Ratchasima branch

 

 

Pink

[Pink7]

Currently researching BMS for my setup: I expect to end up with 2 x 16 200A  (48v) Calb batteries. Inverter max charge 2 x 100 AH. I want a setup who not push any limits and who also give long battery life. Any suggestions for a good BMS setup for this?

 

I have currently looked at:

 

BMS Daly 16S 48V 100A ( I guess i also need Bluetooth)

Ant Smart BMS 7-16S 80A

Qucc Smart BMS 6S-16S 80A

 

Pink

Edited August 28, 2022 by Pink7

[Pink7]

On 8/16/2022 at 2:32 PM, Bandersnatch said:

I normally set my inverters to SBU priority to power the house/EV (load) first with Solar, then Battery and finally Utility (the grid)  

 

I have set my batteries to only charge from Solar. You don't want to wake up in the morning and find that your batteries are at 100% state of charge because they have been charging from the grid all night and then all the next day's solar production is wasted.

 

So at night I power the household load from batteries and in the morning gradually solar will ramp up until it can fully cover the load then it will start to charge the batteries. As a result charging is slow and gradual and not a big drain on the inverters.

 

Depending on your household electrical load normally load will be closest to the limit of the inverter. In my case my house is well insulated and my aircons are only 8,500 BTU, I have solar thermal and no electric cooking. However I do have an EV which draws a lot of power. 

 

 

How is your experience with your battery banks?

 

Pink

[Pink7]

My 2 x Growatt arrived today, so Thailand Special Line worked well. Delivery was 3 weeks and all arrived in good condition.

 

pink

 

[Encid]

How about an update @Pink7 

 

Have you got your system up and running yet?

[Pink7]

Here is an update... Been sick some weeks so this project need a restart. All still in boxes so step one is to update my self on the project and get missing items ordered and get main install of panels and inverters done. Currently i want to find out if GROWATT SPF-5000-ES can run with parallel setup without batteries?

 

I got seduced by a offer on 2 x EITAI 48V 200Ah/10.2Kwh battery. Who can connect direct with GROWATT SPF-5000-ES For around $4500 inc delivery to door and custom. But not sure what i want. DIY battery have its benefits too.. Here is a photo with same setup as i would need.

 

Pink

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Pink7

[sezze]

4 hours ago, Pink7 said:

 Currently i want to find out if GROWATT SPF-5000-ES can run with parallel setup without batteries?

 

 

As far as i know and heard , this is impossible and not only for Growatt but for all inverters . The reason is that 1 needs to be the master unit and other(s) slave(s) .If power fails , then the units don't know which unit to listen to .If you want to parallel units , you need a battery .

[Muhendis]

3 hours ago, sezze said:

As far as i know and heard , this is impossible and not only for Growatt but for all inverters . The reason is that 1 needs to be the master unit and other(s) slave(s) .If power fails , then the units don't know which unit to listen to .If you want to parallel units , you need a battery .

Interesting.

One might have thought there would be a memory support battery so that settings would still be remembered even if power were lost for a few weeks.

[Crossy]

Meanwhile, in another thread: -

 

 

[Encid]

15 hours ago, Pink7 said:

Here is an update... Been sick some weeks so this project need a restart. All still in boxes so step one is to update my self on the project and get missing items ordered and get main install of panels and inverters done.

Get well soon @Pink7... looking forward with interest to seeing some progress.

[Pink7]

On 12/21/2022 at 1:50 PM, Encid said:

Get well soon @Pink7... looking forward with interest to seeing some progress.

Yes I have restarted the project and getting last parts and tools needed now and looking for some actual progress very soon. 

 

Pink

[Pink7]

Here is step1, the 2 Growatt inverters are up. I used 2 wall bolts on each to be sure they stay up. Clearance is 20cm on each side and 50 in top as manual requested. Screens are ay eye level.

 

Pink

Edited January 2, 2023 by Pink7