New feature: grottserver

[johanmeijer]

New: Grottserver.py

I added grottserver.py to the 2.7 branche.

Grottserver can be used as destination to send the inverter/datalogger data. It will remove the need to send data to the internet (growatt server).

grottserver use

Install needed python libraries

pip3 install libscrc 

Start the grottserver:

pyhon3 grottserver.py 

grottserver will start to listen at the server ip address and port 5782.

Change grott.ini file to route the data to grottserver, add or change:

 [Growatt] 
 #ip address and port of Growatt server (specify only if IP has changed)
 ip = <your.server.ip.address>
 port = 5782

Restart Grott

sudo service grott restart

Be aware: This is the first version of the server and I like to see your reactions. My experience is for now (after running it a couple of hours): it works!!

Improvements, new functionality will be added in the next versions. Examples (but let me know what you want):

• improved configuration
• improved logging
• improve communication (now only basic communication is implemented)
• run as a service / docker container
• include it in Grott (not as separate server)
• Add API to sent configure commands to inverter / datalogger
• Webinterface????

[ZonPV]

Great news! Especially for my privacy and (remote) control of the inverter by Growatt!!!

Would be nice if this option is also available for users as me which use the dockerversion. As the envireronment must be configured with names beginning with g..

So looking forward to a docker version of python or even better, included in docker is possible. Two seperate versions is no problem either!
By the way: I am running python on my NAS so would be helped if some extra options in docker 2.7.1 which refer to Python would be oke to.. Otherwise you have al lot of work to maintain all those versions??

[johanmeijer]

You can use the grott environmentals ggrowattip and ggrowattport to specify the destination in the docker container.
I am not sture if you can run grottserver (temporarely) on native python on your nas.

[tabascoz]

Wow - Amazing! just better that i was expecting! is it possible to send both to grott server and also to growatt untill the api to send commands is not available? Asking because i created code to send the commands, but they send it to GW servers and server relay them to the inverter.

[johanmeijer]

Sorry having it next to each other is not possible (without difficult programming).

You will have to wait till I find out how to enable grott (grottserver) to accept and send commands next to maintaining the connection with the inverter.

I am working on it. My python skills are improving every day ;)

My idea for now is to have an api and maybe browser based interface available in the future.

[a-dekker]

Gave it a try and it seems to be working fine.
One thing I noticed it can take quite some time to be able to restart grottserver.py, in the meantime it will report "Address already in use". There seems to be some timeout before the socket is released. You can avoid that by telling python the address can be reused.
For that, I added
socketserver.TCPServer.allow_reuse_address = True
just before the line
with socketserver.TCPServer((HOST, PORT), MyTCPHandler) as server:
and now I can restart the script in a split second.

[johanmeijer]

@a-dekker thanks for testing and the hint for improvement. I will add that.

This is the first beta version of grottserver. Hopefully it will fulfill a need (Monitoring without sending data to China).

I am working on a second version which also make it possible to send commands (via an API). But as you already noticed I first have to improve my python socket programming and multi threading skills. In doing so one learns :)

The plan is to integrate it with Grott. So no separate server is needed anymore.

[johanmeijer]

I did some tests with grottserver.py (see discussion #98) as destination in stead of a connection to the growatt server. My conclusion : The growatt server is the limitation when specifying a report frequency <= 1 minute. Lower then that may cause connection errors.

With the beta grotserver.py running at the same machine as grott 1 minute is no problem. I even manged to run with 0.5 (half a minute) and 0.1 (every 6 seconds) without any problems.

Be aware this will increase the PVOutput request limit problem (only 60 request per hour are allowed) A reason more to look for a solution for that ;)

[gijs007]

Nice, can we configure a faster report frequency through a Docker environmental variable? Would love to test this out with Home Assistant.

[a-dekker]

It is not a grottserver setting, but the Data Transfer Interval setting in your datalogger.

[redbullterror]

i have tested the grottserver.py and it works fine.
only i have 2 inverters 4200mtl-s and 3600tl-x

4200mtl-s respons and the 3600tl-x respons only when the 4200-mtls is down.
they working not togheter.

[johanmeijer]

At this moment the beta server (mvp) is single threading and can only connect to one inverter (better one datalogger) at the same time.

Multi threading is on the list to implement.

Thank you for testing. Hopefully you want to test it again with the coming improvements.

[redbullterror]

Hello i have change a part of the code so they work now with multiple connections.

socketserver.ThreadingTCPServer.allow_reuse_address = True

with socketserver.ThreadingTCPServer((HOST, PORT), MyTCPHandler) as server:

in the weekend i will test long run.

[redbullterror]

I tested the script.

it now works with multiple inverters.

only the mtl-s turns off at night and the next morning there is no more connection.

the tl-xe continues to work because it does not turn off.
remains on standby.
it works again when grottserver restarts.

[johanmeijer]

Thanks for the remarks and testing. I will look at the connection error in the morning. Normally the datalogger starts a new connection in the morning. Maybe Grott/Grottserver still think there is a connection at least between Grott and Grottserver (and a connection timeout is needed?).
Do you have one or 2 Grott instances running?

[ehoutsma]

First impression is very good @johanmeijer!

Simple enough to quickly respond to the datalogger and skip the need of server.growatt.com.

Haven't tested overnight or if the datalogger is reset. Will let this server run overnight and see how it performs.

[cyberdiamond]

Very timely with the growatt server website offline for maintenance at the moment.
Got it setup just before the site went down and it seems to be running well for me.
Looking forward to the API where I could change the battery settings :)

Well done!

[johanmeijer]

@cyberdiamond.

The MVP-2 with the ability of sending API's is almost there. The basic server (with data and API processing) is in test. I am in the middle of understanding/decoding the commands so I can create useful API's.

I am not sure if I have to and can integrate the command processing also in proxy mode (with the growatt server as destination).
This need some additional design thinking (and integration with the current Grott coding).

A stand-alone server is for now the most simple solution. But to be honest at the end (grott 3.x) I want everything in de basic code.

[mjdyson]

Hello @johanmeijer do you need any help with decoding the commands? Looking forward to the next release! :)

[johanmeijer]

@mjdyson that would be helpful. I like to know which commands are being used (or wanted) and how looks the Grott log data (from growatt original data till growatt plain data) for that command.

In principle there are 4 commands types:

 read datalogger register (layout Tnnyy19)
 write datalogger register (layout Tnnyy18)
 read inverter register (layout Tnnyy05)
 write inverter register (layout Tnnyy06)

 nn is protocol type (02, 05, 06)
 yy is inverter address in datalogger (01 for Shinelan/Shinewifi, 50, 51, 52 etc for shine lanbox). 

A register represented a specific value/setting. E,g, For datalogger 04 is the interval, 31 is datetime. For SPF (and SPH?) inverter register 00 is being used for change AC Output source.

I would be nice if we had a list of where a register (both datalogger / inverter) is being used for.

In the version I am creating now I will make it possible to read/set registers via an API. It would be nice if we can use meaningful keywords in stead of register so e.g. interval instead of reg = 04. I know this is fine tuning but at the end it makes it looking more professional ;).

[mjdyson]

Edit: A friend of mine found this... I think it might be helpful.
https://www.scribd.com/document/489508943/Growatt-Inverter-Modbus-RTU-Protocol-II-V1-20-English

(:

[mjdyson]

As for features wanted...
My needs are around enabling / disabling battery charge / discharge - to optimise use of off-peak tariffs and excess solar for charging an EV.

The shinelink controls do not seem to accept 0% discharge power rate. Instead it needs to be >10%.
However, it also appears that you can specify a stop discharge SoC at 100%, which will also do the job.
In both cases, a time window (schedule) seems to be required.

E.g. if an EV is charging at night, I want this to come from the grid, not the house battery.
E.g.2. if the EV is charging during the day, I dont want to charge the house battery OR deplete the house battery.

[tabascoz]

If you may allow my suggestion - we could have both the library with parameter description and also a direct call with register/value pair. This way it would allow us to test and report back the accuracy of information and library.

I've asked Growatt to send me the modbus parameters and they promptly shared the modbus protocol manual, which looks it's using the same set of parameters.

Please find the manual here:
Growatt OffGrid SPF5000 Modbus RS485 RTU Protocol: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14-Wfi5DK4RRy10IOx2RfZ0Ljq9TS_bnnPPF1qtZeNX4/edit?usp=sharing

Note this is for SPF5000. I do have the 3500 version, but it looks it's the same board/settings, just less powerful.

I found that there are more possible values to some key functions like ac source and charger source than currently documented. But it is a good starting point. Once you develop the functionality, please let me know how i can contribute and generate a database of parameters to be incorporated.

[johanmeijer]

@mjdyson @tabascoz
Thanks for sharing the documents (@tabascoz the link does not work anymore).

I have already found these documents and use them for decoding the data. They are really perfect for that (use the input reg part for that).

I think the output reg description should match with the inverter command structure. Although I have not been able to map that directly.
But that is something you can help with if I have a test version available.

For the Datalogger commands (like setting interval, date-time, ip address/port for growattserver, etc)I have not found any description of this yet. So that is something we have to found out by trail and error ( I prefer to call this empirically examining).

I agree with developing both methods (register and keywords). The first thing I will do (working on that) is setting registers (inverter and datalogger). Later we can map keywords on registers and create more logical API calls (this can be parameter based like the layout structure and easy adjustable).

The current working format of the API is:

192.168.0.47:5782/datalogger?datalogger=xxx281833B&command=register&register=04&value=5

Do you agree that, according to API standards, a HTTP GET is a read and POST is an update / change?

This means that you can not give commands with a GET (e.g. in a browser address field). I am not sure if all the tooling you are going to use (like HA) can work with this.

Is there someone using a shine lanbox? I am really interested in the first communication flow after startup.

At the end (if a I have some spare time left) there will be a browser/html interface to see more information on status and give commands.

[ehoutsma]

What do you want to know? I have a Shine Lanbox with a MTL-S 5000.

[johanmeijer]

@ehoutsma I would like to have a detailed Grott log after start of the inverter or (re)start of Grott.

A detailed grott log is created by specifing "minrecl = 1" in the grott.ini file (then all records are logged).

What I need is the log records from start till the first detected data record (and send to MQTT/Influx etc).

Record sequence expected:

- Start with a ping record (Txxyy16), there might be more ping records after this as well
- multiple configuration records (txxyy19) (these can be send also between ad after the next records).
- Maybe a time configuration record (Txxyy18) 
- an announcement record (Txxyy03)
- a data record (Txxyy04)

I am mostly interested in the yy part of the layout. I expect for the ping and config/time records a 50 (So T065016, T065019) and the announcement / data records a 51 or 52 if you have multiple inverters(T065103 or T065104). Be aware the 06 can also be 05 or 02.

If not I have to go back to the drawing board.

[ehoutsma]

A quick sumup of the layouts after my Shinelink /Shine lan reboots:

     - Grott data record length 20
     - layout   :  T050116

     - Grott data record length 24
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 20
     - layout   :  T050116

     - Grott data record length 43
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 28
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 43
     - layout   :  T050118

     - Grott data record length 23
     - layout   :  T050118

     - Grott data record length 25
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 26
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 25
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 34
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 27
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 25
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 56
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 31
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 24
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 24
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 24
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 39
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 28
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 28
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 32
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 31
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 25
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 225
     - layout   :  T055103

     - Grott data record length 24
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 43
     - layout   :  T050119

     - Grott data record length 225
     - layout   :  T055103

     - Grott data record length 11
     - layout   :  T055103

     - Grott data record length 319
     - layout   :  T055104

     - Grott data record length 164
     - layout   :  T055129

     - Grott data record length 319
     - layout   :  T055104

The 5104 are the datablocks as you already know. (I extract those from my proxy and know extract them out of the grottserver.py to process them with a self build php script).

[mjdyson]

I'll add some of mine for when Grott starts...

	 - Grott data record length 40
	 - layout   :  T060116SPH

	 - Grott data record length 44
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 40
	 - layout   :  T060116SPH

	 - Grott data record length 46
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 45
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 46
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 45
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 54
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 47
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 45
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 76
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 51
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 44
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 44
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 44
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 58
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 48
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 48
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 52
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 51
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 45
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 45
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 44
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 45
	 - layout   :  T060119SPH

	 - Grott data record length 839
	 - layout   :  T065003XSPH

	 - Grott data record length 11
	 - layout   :  T065003SPH

	 - Grott data record length 839
	 - layout   :  T065004XSPH
	 
	 - Grott data record length 11
	 - layout   :  T065004SPH
	 
	 - Grott data record length 246
	 - layout   :  T065029SPH
	 
	 - Grott data record length 839
	 - layout   :  T065004XSPH
	 
	 - Grott data record length 839
	 - layout   :  T065004XSPH
	 
	 - Grott data record length 839
	 - layout   :  T065004XSPH

It's a shinelink LAN box connected to an SPH3000-6000

[johanmeijer]

Ok. Thanks. T0550xx does not exist. is 01! I know enough for now!

This means dat the "address" of the datalogger is always 01!

[jupppo]

Again thank you for your support. The hint with register read/write, might be right.

I am also struggeling with the loop in node red read loop. I tried the event_changed and events: state nodes with "If State" is {"value": 0} as a string. But is always fires the false output whether the state is the mentioned value or not.

NodeRedRegisterRW.txt

[PedroKTFC]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Use the debug nodes to see what the fields and values are of the messages in your NR flows. When I do a GET, the output has the value in the payload, not in the state.
Btw, can we take this discussion offline somehow as I suspect not many people are interested in it?

[jupppo]

Your right, that really doesnt belong here, cause it is a node red question which was more kind of a noob error.

[jupppo]

it reads register4&, not48 ;-)Gesendet von Outlook für Android

[PedroKTFC]

Doh! I need to clean my screen!!

Are you using libscrc? Your PUT looks valid as far as I can see. I wonder if the message to the data logger has a crc appended correctly?

[jupppo]

I am not aware that I use libscrc.
I run grott and mqtt together on a separate VM.
It looks to me that grottserver runs into its defined timeout after the put request.
I am still using grottserver 2.7.8

The whole communication is really strange. Me and others are also having issues with weired measurements which come from the datalogger sometimes. I cleaned most of them by having filters in HA.
What puzzles me that I never had any of the issues on the growatt website or app.

[PedroKTFC]

I run grottserver a little bizarrely! I use HassOS so I have limited control over my environment (without some effort). I've therefore copied grottserver.py to a local folder (config/grott/local - the latter directory one I created) and then run it within an Advanced SSH & Web Terminal window using the command python3 grottserver.py. This allows me to trivially make any edits I want to the code (I've made the verbose printing more selective so I can print detail from, say, only GETs etc) and see the output from it in the terminal window.

I can't remember what version I downloaded but in the source I have this for the version:

/# Updated: 2023-09-19
/# Version:
verrel = "0.0.14e"

I've never seen any weird measurements and the only issue I have is that my GETs don't always get through but I think that's a message sequencing issue given I have a 6s data update speed.

[jupppo]

My setup is pretty similar, except that I am running grott separtely.
I just went through the grottserver logs again. It seems to me that grottserver is try to push the PUT request a several times to the datalogger. When the first confirmation comes on in that it was sent, the grottserver responds in the same second with the error message.
I will to some network sniffing today to see what comes in and out at the datalogger side.

To the GET message: Have you tried to push the GET message right after the confirmation ""grottserver - 0104 record received)" comes from grott?
That seems to be working for me that I get an immediate response.
Also when I restart the instance, first hour after that no delays or noreads, when querying the registers.

[jupppo]

BTW, as a work around it is easy to do in node red:

I simply query the register and if the output IS_NOT what I want I start a timer and do another GET query
(I created a HA entity to write in, since I want it anyway. Dont get puzzled by the value, I tried it as well with an inverter setting.

Same could be done for writing vis PUT (if it would work for me :-( )

[jupppo]

@johanmeijer: I did some network sniffing and I suddenly realized that my datalogger never get and PUT request from the grott server. How does grott server even know the IP Adress of my datalogger? Am I missing something or do I make a stupid mistake? The data must somehow flow to the inverter/datalogger to be changed.

[PedroKTFC]

This explains how to configure Grott in all its permutations. You have to configure your data logger to talk to Grott, not the Growatt servers. Grott then passes all messages from the data logger to whatever it's configured to send them to, by default the Growatt servers. To use the Grottserver, you have to tell Grott to talk to it. This is my (yaml) configuration for Grott:

data_path: /config/grott
gmode: proxy
grott_mqtt: true
ginvtype: SPH
ginvtypemap: ""
retain: false
verbose: true
ha_plugin: true
mqtt: {}
ggrowattport: 5781
ggrowattip: 172.16.0.125

[jupppo]

I understood this, but when I send a PUT to the grott server, how does that gets send to the datalogger?

[PedroKTFC]

You configure your data logger to talk to Grott (in my case the IP address of my HA pi). The data logger opens communications to Grott which can then reply to it. Grott then opens communications with grottserver (assuming that's how Grott is configured, otherwise it'll be to the Growatt servers). The grottserver can then communicate with Grott (and hence your data logger). As long as you have set up the data logger with Grott's IP address, and set up Grott with your grottserver's IP address and port, the route back up is worked out.

[jupppo]

OK, thank you. I hoped to be on the right path, but obviously not. I may try my make my shine X work and see whether that has a different behavior and accepts my PUTs.

I also checked, and I installed libscrc on the grott instance.

[PedroKTFC]

Have you definitely configured your data logger to go via the Grott add-on (I assume you're using proxy mode)? Are you seeing updated values in HA from the data logger? That should be your first check. If not, Grott isn't working correctly. Double check its configuration.

Then are you seeing values updated in the Shine app and/or the Growatt website? If so, and you think you're using grottserver, then you haven't configured Grott correctly to talk to grottserver rather than the Growatt servers. Make sure you restart Grott each time and check its logs which should echo the configuration you've set.

If Grott is working correctly with grottserver, you should be seeing values updating in HA but not in the Shine app and/or the Growatt website.

Also, if you try http://IPaddress:5782 you should get the "home page".

If all this is working then I'm stumped!

[jupppo]

Everything else works perfect over a year now.I am also completly puzzled by that. My last resort is the datalogger, which however works fine with register changes, when grottserver is off.BTW. I can confirm now, that after a grottserver restart all register read outs work without problems for a while (a  hour or so). The longer it runs, the more unstable become the register reads. Might it be that this is a buffer or cache problem?Gesendet von Outlook für Android

[johanmeijer]

Hmm I will see if I can find any buffer/cache problems.

Be aware sending the register commands via the Growatt website does not always give results to (at least with my configuration).

But if we can find something in grottserver that can improve the response that would be fine.

Be aware grottserver monitors everything that is being send and you can see this in the log. Also when a reply on a register get/put is sent after the time out. (and you can see the results in the command=regall. Grottserver will cache the register values if sent by inverter or datalogger).

[johanmeijer]

With the http://ipaddress:5782/datalogger (or http://ipaddress:5782/inverter)you can see the inverter/dataloggers Grottserver is aware off.

With following commands you can see if any "cached" register data:

get :5782/datalogger?command=regall&datalogger=

• shows all datalogger register information being read by the api command or published by datalogger
• initial time information is sent to early (before grottserver sets time command) and not accurate

get :5782/inverter?command=regall&inverter=

• shows all inverter register information being read by the api command

[jupppo]

Hey Johan, thanks a lot.
When I try a PUT nothings shows up. But given your description that was to be expected, because when the growatt systems does respond to these request, nothing gets cached in grott.

What I recognized is that you cache gives me out the hexadezimal number for the registers.

But I saw something strange in the list for the datalogger: "000b": {"value": "##192.168.3.35/app/xml/#8081#"}
When I would guess, I would say thats the internal adress of the DLs Web Interface.

So, what do you think: If I change register 11 (dec) to its current IP Adress, the Datalogger WebIF would be accessable? Or do you think its too risky to mess something up?

[PedroKTFC]

I've never got the regall versions to give me what I expect (a list of all the registers and their values). All I get are the values of registers that I've individually read (roughly, I haven't done a detailed examination). I rarely get any inverter registers if I use regall. Have I misunderstood how it works?

I've therefore put together my own version of grottserver that, if I use the url http://ipaddress:5782:registers, will read all registers in the wiki and display them in a very simple web page (here's an example) but it's very slow as it reads each register individually and has to retry when the data logger doesn't respond.

[johanmeijer]

Regall shows only the register value that are "cached" because of an earlier get register request or because of spontaneously sends (why I do not know) of register information by the datalogger (applies only to datalogger registers I think, never seen one from the inverter).

If I have nothing to do anymore maybe I will decode the initial datarecord with register information ("03") from the inverter that is being sent during startup. For now this is only a fleeting thought.

[PedroKTFC]

And you have to be careful as what's cached may be out of date. For example, I updated register 4 with a PUT but it didn't reflect in regall.

That's why I implemented my own explicit register reads.

[johanmeijer]

I am aware of that. It is on the list to refresh the register cache when an update has been performed.

[geoffles]

@johanmeijer I've finally gotten around to taking full advantage of grott and grott server. Seems to be working pretty well, and now I can get 6s updates - woohoo!

I was able to check the layouts quite extensively by monitoring what was going through grott, and was confident enough to set the the output and charge sources of my inverter (SPF 5000TL HVM-P) via grott server - so I officially don't need the Growatt web app any more! I don't know about other people but I'm tired of missing data from the inverter and not being able to change the output/charge source whenever I so chose.

I've started work on a windows notification area status icon that consumes the MQTT output from grott:

To add to my confidence I also added a hard filter to only allow grott to set specific inverter registers with specific possible values. I've also wrapped up calling grott server in a shell script to make it easier to work with. Next up is Home Assistant. These tools are probably quite specific to my inverter model, but would be happy to share if anyone is interested.

I believe there is a remarkable amount of consolidated knowledge here - great job! It's taken over a year, but I've finally come to the party :P

[PedroKTFC]

Hi, that's very interesting. I'm really keen on a version that will allow me to control the inverter from home assistant. I've created a fork here which contains the updates I described above and for me to have a starting point if I want to develop it further.

The main reason I want a version to control via home assistant is that my energy provider regularly gives us periods of free power (we have one tomorrow between 9am and 11am) and I want to exploit them as much as possible, ideally automatically. At the moment, to ensure my battery is charged from the mains in this period, I disable grottserver, log into the growatt app, update the battery first parameters accordingly, and re-enable grottserver. However, for my devices controllable through home assistant (such as my immersion heater), I can switch them on and off in these periods automatically through NodeRED. With appropriate services in home assistant I could extend this to include charging my battery.

[geoffles]

@PedroKTFC I'm not sure yet. My gut is pointing me towards an MQTT type request and status update approach. What I've found is that the datalogger is quite a mediocre device and results can be quite erratic if stuff is busy. Basically have some retry and state confirmation logic to tie into Home Assistant.

Where I am, we frequently have rolling blackouts but there's an easily accessible schedule, so my plan is to tie that schedule into a solar and demand forecast for my house and set the output and charge priorities based on that.

[PedroKTFC]

I don't know MQTT in any detail at all but a retry and confirmation logic will be essential. I'm pretty sure that's what Growatt do in their app as whenever I use it to change something, it gives a Success or Failure message (and I have to manually retry). I found when putting my "read all registers" fork together I had to allow several retries on each register as there were frequent failures (I'm guessing my use of 6s reads doesn't help). One of the reasons it takes so long to read them all. Also, even if I get what looks like a successful response, despite that I get an invalid value.. So, when changing a register value, you'll have to confirm that the data logger has really changed the value and, if it seems it doesn't, try again in case it's returned an invalid value. Ultimately, the user will have to be allowed to try again themselves.

[geoffles]

MQTT just decouples the request from the response in a publish / subscribe manner - so basically, HA will request something via an MQTT command message and then sometime realsoon™ it will receive a status message reflecting the new state.

I'm not very familiar with the details of the mechanics in HA, but that's the route I'd like to try

[pw-h]

@geoffles Can you explain how you adjusted the update frequency to 6 seconds? I have a Growatt MTL5000 i believe

[geoffles]

@pw-h the interval is controller by the datalogger which takes the interval in minutes, so 0.1 minutes is 6s.

Example HTTP request to Grott Server:
curl -X PUT "http://<grottserverhost>/datalogger?command=register&register=4&datalogger=<dataloggerid>&value=0.1"

It's not reliably 6s, but it seems to come through at about that rate on average.

Hope that helps.

[jupppo]

Sign into the Growatt Sever with the webinterface and set register 4 to 0.1

[pw-h]

i gather this does not work in proxy mode :-) 5782/datalogger returns no information for me :-)

Edit: A, the growatt server, not the grottserver

[pw-h]

Set my register to 0.2, but an update comes every 30 seconds or so. Maybe because my wifi stick is set to 9600 .... But i'm happy with every half minute.

[jupppo]

It could be that Growatt limited the setup. My Interface on the Growatt doesnt set a lower number that 1 anymore!
The Baud Rate shoulnt be a problem.

[pw-h]

It does still work, i can read a value of 0.2 for my register #4, but i have to refresh the webpage, put in the password 20240219 and set the value 0.2 for register 4 before i do anything else.

[jupppo]

Password would be growatt20240219

[pw-h]

Nope, it's yearmonthday nowadays (at least in the last couple of days), so today the password is 20240219

[jupppo]

strange, I logged in with growatt+date 2h ago...

[pw-h]

At the moment both ar e working :-) . Register values has reverted to 1, so indeed it seems you cannot go below 1 anymore

[PedroKTFC]

Whenever I want to change my system (usually it's the time when my battery is to be charged from the mains), I update the HA Grott add-on so it doesn't point to my grottserver but instead to the Growatt servers. I then use either the Shine app or Growatt website to make the change I want, and once successfully updated, I reset the HA Grott add-on back to my grottserver.

[PedroKTFC]

I'm now on an export tariff that pays me whenever I export power. The import and export tariffs vary by time of day (eg between 16:00 and 19:00 I get paid the highest amount for my exports but I also get charged the highest amount if I import).

I've tried to automate the charging, discharging of my battery dependent on the time of day. For example, if an hour before the most expensive time, at 15:00, I check the charge in my battery and, if it's low, I charge it up so it will see me through the most expensive period without any need for importing. My automation sets what I think are the required registers (from here) one by one using grottserver. So far it hasn't worked as I expected and there have been the following issues:

• I had thought I needed to set register 1044 to the mode needed (eg battery first to force its charging). However, this seems to be set implicitly from the other register configurations (eg if you set battery first for a certain time, 1044 will be 1 only in that time). To all intents and purposes, it is read only.
• I then thought that if I had a time period set (eg the first battery first time slot is set at 15:00 to 16:00), this would be remembered so all I need to do is enable and disable this (ie set registers 1092 and 1102 to 1 at the start of the period and then back to 0 at the end).
• However, each time I try this I find the first battery first time slot is reset to 00:00 to 00:00! It looks like I also need to set the time slots each time.

Has anyone seem similar behaviour? Is there a correct order for setting the registers (eg time slots before 1092, 1102 or vice versa or more complex)?

[PedroKTFC]

For anyone who's interested, I think I have finally worked out how registers should be set, at least for my SPH inverter:

• To make any changes to a timeslot, all three associated registers must be set in one transaction (function code 10). You cannot set the associated enable flag just by itself (it might work but in all likelihood it'll screw up the times in the timeslot).
• If a battery first timeslot is active (ie within the start and end times and the associated enable flag = 1) but the AC charge switch = 0, then the battery will charge from the solar cells (if power) while power for the rest of the house load will be taken from the grid.
• If battery first timeslot is active (ie within the start and end times and the associated enable flag = 1) and the AC charge switch = 1, then the battery will charge from solar cells (if power) and/or the grid (if solar power not sufficient) and power for the rest of the house load will be taken from grid.
• You can set other registers that are not part of a timeslot individually.
• The response to function code 10 includes a status. 00 is success. I have had a 01 when setting an invalid time for a timeslot ie Start time < current time < End time - so not unreasonably you can't set a timeslot that starts before the current time.

Note I've created a version of grottserver that allows all three registers of a timeslot to be set in one transaction (see here