growatt spf5000es no output display dark ac, solar and battery all ok

Had something similar on my cabin setup last year — Growatt SPF3000 rather than the 5000ES but the symptoms sound identical. Display went completely dark, everything was live and reading fine on the battery side, solar was coming in, AC input was there but absolutely nothing on the screen.

Turned out to be the display ribbon cable had worked itself loose — these units vibrate more than you'd think, especially if there's a generator nearby or even just road vibration if it's been transported recently. Worth pulling the unit off the wall and checking that connection before you go any further.

A few things worth ruling out first though:

• Hold the ESC/mode button for a few seconds — some firmware versions have a screen timeout that's not obvious in the manual
• Check the small fuse on the control board (not just the main ones) — there's sometimes a separate logic supply fuse that goes quietly
• Firmware version — there were a couple of dodgy batches a while back, worth checking Growatt's site
• Voltage on the display connector pins — if you're handy with a multimeter, confirm the logic board is actually getting its supply voltage

If none of that shifts it, the display module itself isn't massively expensive as a replacement part — seen them on eBay and AliExpress for around £25-40. Whether it's worth the hassle versus a warranty claim depends how old yours is.

What firmware version was it running before this happened? And has anything changed recently — new battery bank, moved location, anything like that?

@Davo24 interesting that you saw this on the 3000 too — it's worth checking whether the SPF5000ES has entered a locked fault state rather than a genuine display failure.

On mine I found that holding the ESC button for 8–10 seconds whilst on battery power alone (disconnect AC input first) can sometimes kick the display back to life. The unit may still be inverting perfectly well internally whilst the display MCU has frozen.

Also worth pulling the communication cable if you're running a BMS link — I had a Fogstar Drift 48V sending malformed data that caused exactly this symptom. Disconnect everything non-essential, isolate, then cold-restart.

If the display remains dark after that, the display ribbon connector on the SPF5000ES is known to work loose — a known hardware quirk rather than a fundamental failure. Victron kit this ain't, but it's usually fixable cheaply.

@VanGill @Davo24 — on my SPF5000ES I found this was nearly always the display ribbon cable losing contact, especially after temperature cycling over winter. The connector sits behind the front panel, tiny ZIF socket, and it works loose.

Pull the front panel carefully — four screws — reseat that ribbon firmly. Takes ten minutes.

If that's not it, check whether the unit is actually outputting despite the dark display. Mine was running silently with a live 240V output and zero indication — confirmed with a multimeter. The inverter logic board was fine; purely a display fault.

Worth noting: Growatt UK support (via their authorised distributors) will sometimes send a replacement display board under warranty if you can evidence the fault. Keep your purchase receipt and log the fault with a timestamp.

@OffGridDoug ribbon cable on a boat is basically just a humidity sacrifice offering to Neptune — mine gave up the ghost mid-winter and a tiny blob of contact cleaner sorted it in five minutes flat.

@VoltFiona that's a fair description of marine electronics generally 😄

Quick question for the thread — has anyone tried a hard reset on the SPF5000ES when this happens? I'm asking because my garden office Growatt occasionally throws odd behaviour after a power interruption, and I've found holding the power button for 10+ seconds sometimes clears ghost faults that don't show on any display.

Also worth checking: does the unit still respond to the Growatt ShinePhone app via the wifi dongle if it's fitted? If comms are still live but the display is dead, that at least narrows it down to a display-side issue rather than the main board — which would point to @OffGridDoug's ribbon cable theory being the likely culprit.