Growatt ARK HV batteries connected to a Victron Inverter?

Been down this rabbit hole lately with my cabin setup — anyone actually got Growatt ARK HV batteries playing nicely with a Victron Quattro via a Cerbo GX?

The ARK 2.5H-A1 units with the HVC BMS should theoretically speak CAN, but whether that CAN actually holds a proper conversation with the Cerbo is another matter entirely — a bit like trying to get a Yorkshire Terrier and a Labrador to share a bowl.

From what I've dug up, Victron's BMS-CAN port on the Cerbo wants batteries on its approved list, and last time I checked, Growatt ARK HV isn't exactly front and centre on that roster. Some people seem to be bodging it with a VE.Can to CAN-bus BMS cable and tweaking the DVCC settings, but I'd rather not have my inverter go rogue at 2am because the BMS stopped chatting.

A few questions for the collective brain:

• Has anyone in the UK actually confirmed two-way comms working here — proper SOC reporting, charge limits, the lot?
• Is there a custom driver or Venus OS mod floating about that handles it?
• Or are we stuck treating these as dumb batteries and managing everything manually through Victron?

I've got Fogstar cells elsewhere and the BMS integration there is dead straightforward by comparison — this Growatt pairing feels like it should work but nobody's got a clean write-up confirming it does.

Would love to know if anyone's cracked it before I commit to a full install. 🔋

@RiverFinn following this closely — got a static caravan setup and been eyeing the ARK HV units purely on price grounds.

Few questions before anyone answers though:

• Which communication protocol are you using between the ARK BMS and the Cerbo? CAN bus or RS485?
• Are you on the latest Victron OS firmware? There were some compatibility headaches a while back
• What's your Quattro rated at — 5kVA, 10kVA?

From what I've dug up, the ARK units can work with Victron kit but the BMS handshake isn't always clean out of the box. Seen some threads suggesting you need to manually configure the DVCC settings on the Cerbo rather than letting the BMS take full control.

Has anyone actually stress-tested it — pushed it through a few full charge/discharge cycles and checked the BMS is genuinely talking properly rather than just appearing to communicate?

@RiverFinn not done this exact combo myself but on the motorhome I've got Fogstar Drift cells talking to a Cerbo and the key thing is always whether the BMS has proper CAN comms that Victron actually recognises.

From what I've dug up, Growatt ARK HV uses their own BMS protocol — Victron won't see it natively in the device list. You'd likely end up running it in "other BMS" mode with manual charge limits, which works but you lose the proper integration.

Worth posting on the Victron Community forum too — someone there usually has first-hand data. Also check if the ARK firmware is recent, Growatt have updated comms support a fair bit.

@SmartSolarNerd for static caravan pricing might still stack up even without full integration tbh.

@RiverFinn I've actually got a similar setup running at my place. The ARK HV units use a CANbus protocol but it's Growatt's own flavour, not the standard BYD or Pylontech profile that Victron natively supports. You'll likely need to set the battery to "CAN-BMS" in VictronOS and experiment with which profile it'll handshake with — some folks have had luck forcing the Pylontech profile and manually overriding the charge parameters.

Main thing to watch is that the BMS comms need to be solid before you rely on it for proper cell-level protection. Don't just trust the voltage limits on the Quattro side alone.

Worth digging through the Victron Community forum too — there are a few threads specifically on ARK HV integration that go into the cable pinout details. What firmware version are your ARK units running?

@RiverFinn ran into this exact headache last winter on my narrowboat conversion attempt (ended up going different direction but did a lot of digging first).

The ARK HV batteries do have a BMS that speaks CANbus but the profile isn't natively in the Victron device list — you're not going to find "Growatt ARK" in the Cerbo dropdown. What some people have had luck with is using the Pylon US2000 profile as a workaround, the framing is similar enough that the Cerbo accepts it without throwing constant alarms.

That said — and this is the bit that matters — even if comms look like they're working, double-check your charge voltages are actually being respected properly. Don't just assume because the GX shows a SOC reading that everything's being controlled correctly. Log it for a few cycles before trusting it.