GrowattMenuBar

GrowattMenuBar is a lightweight macOS menu bar app for local, near-realtime Growatt inverter monitoring through Modbus TCP.

It was built around a Growatt MIN ... TL-X/TL-X2 style inverter with a ShineWiFi-X datalogger exposing TCP port 502, but the app should work with other Growatt setups that expose the same Modbus input registers.

The app is local-first and read-only:

• No Growatt cloud credentials
• No ShinePhone API login
• No inverter or datalogger write commands
• Only Modbus function 04 read-input-register requests

What It Shows

• Menu bar AC output, for example AC 1.55 kW
• Expanded popover with AC, PV, PV1, PV2, daily generation, lifetime generation, grid voltage/frequency, and temperature
• AC power history chart
• Configurable host, port, Modbus unit id, polling interval, and inverter capacity
• Night-aware polling so inverter sleep/timeouts do not show as alerts after sunset

Screenshots

Screenshots use sample data.

PV vs AC

• PV is the DC power coming from the panels into the inverter.
• PV1 and PV2 are the two panel strings / MPPT inputs.
• AC is the usable AC power leaving the inverter after conversion.
• PV is normally a little higher than AC because the inverter has conversion losses.

For the menu bar, the app shows AC because that is the practical produced output.

Requirements

• macOS 14 or newer
• Swift 6 / Xcode command line tools to build from source
• A Growatt inverter reachable through a Modbus TCP gateway
• A ShineWiFi-X, ShineWiLan-X2, or similar datalogger on the same LAN
• TCP port 502 reachable from the Mac

Known working pattern:

Mac:              192.168.31.x
Datalogger:       192.168.31.5
Router/gateway:   192.168.31.1
Modbus TCP:       192.168.31.5:502
Modbus unit id:   1

The Growatt cloud connection can stay enabled. This app reads locally and does not change the datalogger cloud server.

Setup

1. Put the datalogger on a normal private LAN, not guest WiFi.
2. Prefer 2.4 GHz for the datalogger. Your Mac can use 5 GHz if it is bridged to the same LAN.
3. Prefer DHCP plus a router DHCP reservation for the datalogger.
4. Reserve a stable IP for the datalogger, for example 192.168.31.5.
5. Confirm the Mac can reach it:

ping 192.168.31.5
nc -vz 192.168.31.5 502

6. Run the app and open the Connection section.
7. Set:

Host:     192.168.31.5
Port:     502
Unit:     1
Poll:     10 seconds
Capacity: 6.0 kW

If you use static IP on the datalogger instead of DHCP reservation, the fields must match your actual LAN:

IP address:       192.168.31.5
Gateway settings: 192.168.31.1
Subnet mask:      255.255.255.0
DNS:              192.168.31.1 or 8.8.8.8

After changing advanced network settings in ShinePhone hotspot mode, return to the WiFi configuration screen, enter the SSID/password, and tap the app's configure/apply button. Just saving the advanced screen may not apply the settings to the active WiFi connection.

Build And Run

Run from source:

swift run

Build a release .app bundle:

./Scripts/build-app.sh
open dist/GrowattMenuBar.app

The app is a menu bar accessory. It will not show a Dock icon.

Install On macOS

Install it into your user Applications folder:

./Scripts/install-app.sh

That script builds the release app, copies it to:

~/Applications/GrowattMenuBar.app

It also registers the app with macOS and opens it. After that, you can launch it from Spotlight, Launchpad, Finder's Applications list, Raycast, Alfred, or similar launchers.

Because this is a menu bar accessory, opening it will show the sun icon / AC x.xx kW in the menu bar instead of a Dock window.

To install somewhere else:

GROWATT_INSTALL_DIR=/Applications ./Scripts/install-app.sh

Common Problems

Growatt Cloud Works, But Local App Cannot Connect

This usually means LAN access is blocked even though internet access works.

Check for:

• Guest WiFi
• AP isolation
• Client isolation
• IoT VLAN isolation
• Different subnets, such as Mac on 192.168.33.x and datalogger on 192.168.31.x

The Mac must be able to connect directly to datalogger-ip:502.

2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz Confusion

The datalogger normally needs 2.4 GHz WiFi. The Mac can be on 5 GHz if both radios are bridged to the same LAN/subnet.

Working:

Mac on 5 GHz:       192.168.31.72
Datalogger on 2.4:  192.168.31.5
Gateway:            192.168.31.1

Not working:

Mac:         192.168.33.145
Datalogger:  192.168.31.5

Port 502 Is Closed

Possible causes:

• Wrong IP address
• Datalogger still in hotspot/config mode
• Datalogger not on the same LAN
• Modbus TCP not enabled/supported by that firmware/model
• Router isolation blocks device-to-device traffic

Check:

arp -a
ping <datalogger-ip>
nc -vz <datalogger-ip> 502

Connection Closed Before Response / Timeouts

The ShineWiFi-X Modbus gateway can be sensitive. Avoid aggressive polling or large register reads.

This app intentionally uses small register blocks and defaults to a 10 second poll interval. If you still see intermittent timeouts:

• Keep poll interval at 10 seconds or higher
• Exit hotspot/config mode
• Restart the datalogger
• Avoid running multiple Modbus clients against the dongle at the same time

The app uses a Camaçari-friendly night schedule:

• 06:00-16:00: normal polling.
• 16:00-18:00: dusk watch. Poll normally while the inverter responds; after the first timeout, show Sun down and probe every 5 minutes.
• 18:00-03:00: quiet night. Show Sun down and skip automatic Modbus reads.
• 03:00-06:00: wake checks. Probe every 5 minutes until the inverter responds, then resume normal polling.

The Refresh button still attempts an immediate read.

WiFi SSID Or Password Problems

Some datalogger setup flows are picky about SSID/password parsing. If configuration silently fails, test with a simple 2.4 GHz SSID:

SSID:     Solar
Password: Solar123456
Security: WPA2-Personal

Avoid special characters, emoji, accents, quotes, and very long passwords while debugging.

Menu Value Does Not Match PV Gauge

The menu shows AC. PV is panel-side DC input, and can be higher than AC.

If you want usable produced power, use AC.

References

These are the docs and community notes that helped validate the setup:

• Growatt technical whitepaper page - official Growatt page listing Single Device Control via Growatt Modbus TCP (ShineWiLan-X2).
• Growatt Modbus TCP whitepaper PDF - official PDF describing the Modbus TCP gateway architecture.
• Single Device Control via Growatt Modbus TCP (Scribd mirror) - user-provided reference used during setup. Treat it as a mirror, not the canonical source.
• Growatt ShineWiFi-X / ShineWiFi-S configuration instructions - hotspot/configuration flow.
• Growatt MIN 2500-6000TL-X/X2(Pro) product page - inverter family reference.
• PLCHome/growatt README - community API client notes, datalogger register references, and warning about datalogger writes.
• Home Assistant Growatt interval discussion - community notes around datalogger interval behavior.
• Grott discussion: ShineWiFi-X report frequency - community notes around ShineWiFi-X interval/register behavior.

Safety

This app is read-only, but solar equipment can be dangerous. Do not open, wire, or modify inverter hardware unless qualified.

The code intentionally does not implement Modbus write functions.

Privacy

This repository is safe to publish publicly:

• No Growatt usernames or passwords
• No cloud API tokens
• No inverter or datalogger serial numbers
• No vendor account data

Only private LAN defaults such as 192.168.31.5 are included, and they are configurable.