Thanks brothers I've learnt a lot already. I'll analyze all the information I got here and make a decision. Please someone should advice on brands and ratings that will be cool for business, this means daily usage and strain.
@iLoveTheSun my salon is fairly big. We are located at Awka, Anambra state.

CoolKizzy:
Thanks brothers I've learnt a lot already. I'll analyze all the information I got here and make a decision. Please someone should advice on brands and ratings that will be cool for business, this means daily usage and strain.
@iLoveTheSun my salon is fairly big. We are located at Awka, Anambra state.

Nice to know you are located in Awka. You can personally visit one of my solar sites in Ngozika estate,beside NNPC,opp Udoka estate which I believe should be very close to your location.. Its simply an OFF GRID solar plant efficiently powering up an E.N.T clinic & the doctors residence. Holla for more details , cheers !


*AUTHORISED DEALER PRAGMATIC TECHNOLOGIES*
All our prag / cyberpower products comes with reliable warranty

*AUTHORIZED DEALER INDIAN INVERTERS / BATTERIES ... GENUS , LUMINUOS , EPSILON PRODUCTS*
All our products come with 1 year Warranty

*AUTHORIZED DEALER SOLAR SHOP LTD PRODUCTS*
All our products come with 1 year Warranty

For best affordable prices,proforma invoices valid for just 1 week, contact Smartcell Global Services,Lagos Nigeria. Simply call Sir Frankie "08135031951" for purchase,fast delivery and waybills .. Thanks !!

kiekie1:


Nice to know you are located in Awka. You can personally visit one of my solar sites in Ngozika estate,beside NNPC,opp Udoka estate which I believe should be very close to your location.. Its simply an OFF GRID solar plant efficiently powering up an E.N.T clinic & the doctors residence. Holla for more details , cheers !


*AUTHORISED DEALER PRAGMATIC TECHNOLOGIES*
All our prag / cyberpower products comes with reliable warranty

*AUTHORIZED DEALER INDIAN INVERTERS / BATTERIES ... GENUS , LUMINUOS , EPSILON PRODUCTS*
All our products come with 1 year Warranty

*AUTHORIZED DEALER SOLAR SHOP LTD PRODUCTS*
All our products come with 1 year Warranty

For best affordable prices,proforma invoices valid for just 1 week, contact Smartcell Global Services,Lagos Nigeria. Simply call Sir Frankie "08135031951" for purchase,fast delivery and waybills .. Thanks !!

what are the prices for different brands of 250w 24v mono panels you have?

Monlo:
@bigrovar,i have subscribed to your youtube channel,and now your follower on twitter.Even downloaded your videos.Thanks for everything,you have now made me able to generate my own electricity and am happy you did that.I enjoy your tutorials alot.Godbless you.

@Chris81964,what your youtube username?

Green all the way.One love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7C1Fj6EjZs here is a link to one of my videos.

@CoolKizzy
Thanks! I guess insolation is simular to Lagos?!

Can you please tell us your roof size? Then we can start calculating from the biggest set-up.
Do you want to provide a picture of your roof?

Do you have three phases in your salon?

Is it true that you burn 1.3m in your generator per year?

earthrealm:


NAAAH, STILL DOESNT ADD UP...THE TROJAN BATTS ARE RATED FOR 15 TO 20YRS, ....and cost abt 16% of the nickel iron batts.
comparing 120k......20yrs ------------------------------ trojans/us batts
700k.........30yrs and above..................... nickel iron
u can see that trojans carry the day, 2ndly i things change, in 30yrs newer and better batts wud hv been produced/developed, look at the 504/505 of the 70;s
anyway to each his own, this is just an academic exercise, i doubt any1 on this thread would go and buy such batts,,,,considering the price

The battery life is not measured in yers but no of cycles - typical Lead acid have life cycles of 1200 at 50 % dod while N- Fe have 11,000 at 80 % dod. there are scenarios where Ni-fe pay back e.g. usa /Germany where night tariff is much lower than the day so you charge the batteries during off peak and discharge during ONpeak keeping utility bill low. They are not to be compared in the same setup of solar power storage


Als Ni-Fe require a much tigghter regulation of individual cell voltage and temperature typically achieved by special charging equipment

Also they can be charged much faster

They are about 75% percent efficient on an energy in and energy out basis. he efficiency factor varies because of cell charging rates and the cell operating temperatures. As they age their efficiency flat lines until their useful life is up. Lead-acid batteries continually lose their battery capacity with age, so you waste less energy charging a 10 year old nickel iron than a 10 year old lead acid. If you have a back up generator then you also use far less fuel over the life of the battery. Why have to run a back up generator for 10 hours or more when you can run that same generator 5 hours to do the same thing? The cells are rated at a C/5 rate which means you can charge a 100 AH battery set for 20 amps for 5 hours. For that same 100 AH lead acid battery set yu woudl have to charge it up at a rate of 5 amps (a C20 rate - 100/20 = 5) for 20 hours.

bigrovar:


You certified EE friend is in need of urgent upgrade. The load side of a charge controller is not meant for running powerful load (the kind an inverter exert on your batteries) the load generally meant for small dc loads like lighting systems (some people use their cc to power their security lighting points as such can use the load aspect to make turning on of security lights automatic) You can also use the load aspect to design a low voltage disconnect setup, using a DC solid state relay with an AC disconnect (that's another story) Anyway on no condition are you suppose to connect your inverter to it. Check the connection schematics of any cc and you none would you see it where inverter is connected to the cc.. in fact you are always warned never to try it or you risk turning your cc into expensive metal.

If you want to save on NEPA most of the new hybdrid inverters have a abttrery or solar mode where they take from solar before switching to Grid

Monlo:
@bigrovar,i have subscribed to your youtube channel,and now your follower on twitter.Even downloaded your videos.Thanks for everything,you have now made me able to generate my own electricity and am happy you did that.I enjoy your tutorials alot.Godbless you.

@Chris81964,what your youtube username?

Green all the way.One love.

Thank you for subscribing to my channel on YouTube

pranil:


The battery life is not measured in yers but no of cycles - typical Lead acid have life cycles of 1200 at 50 % dod while N- Fe have 11,000 at 80 % dod. there are scenarios where Ni-fe pay back e.g. usa /Germany where night tariff is much lower than the day so you charge the batteries during off peak and discharge during ONpeak keeping utility bill low. They are not to be compared in the same setup of solar power storage


Als Ni-Fe require a much tigghter regulation of individual cell voltage and temperature typically achieved by special charging equipment

Also they can be charged much faster

They are about 75% percent efficient on an energy in and energy out basis. he efficiency factor varies because of cell charging rates and the cell operating temperatures. As they age their efficiency flat lines until their useful life is up. Lead-acid batteries continually lose their battery capacity with age, so you waste less energy charging a 10 year old nickel iron than a 10 year old lead acid. If you have a back up generator then you also use far less fuel over the life of the battery. Why have to run a back up generator for 10 hours or more when you can run that same generator 5 hours to do the same thing? The cells are rated at a C/5 rate which means you can charge a 100 AH battery set for 20 amps for 5 hours. For that same 100 AH lead acid battery set yu woudl have to charge it up at a rate of 5 amps (a C20 rate - 100/20 = 5) for 20 hours.

Cc earthrealm. He explained it in full details, I would have done the same but no time. It is like buying a Chinese car over a Japanese car...

chris81964:

I am on Twitter personally @chris81964 and as a business @atlanticwastepw.
Thank you for thinking enough of me to recommend. Subscribe to me on YouTube. We have over 60 videos. I did most of them in Nigeria.

Not sure am subscribed but seen most of your videos. It inspired me to make mine.

pranil:


If you want to save on NEPA most of the new hybdrid inverters have a abttrery or solar mode where they take from solar before switching to Grid

I have always found hybrid to be fascinating however my Unix background has wired the concept of always going for tools that do one thing but does it well. I feel though that the future of off grid might lie with hybrid inverters the integration makes more sense.

@pranil and tivta , i understand perfectly what he wrote or that the nickel iron battery is far superior to the other batts we have around.....
am just airing my mind/being practical/realistic.

few people can afford the battery, i myself will not buy it. i would rather buy 5 or 6 trojans with the money and replace every 10 to 15 yrs...than buy a single nickel iron battery.............that i will never change till 30yrs.
i have a luminous smf battery, and its going on 4yrs now....still doing fairly ok, with several tweaks i carried out, i see the battery getting to 6 or 7yrs.....powers a fridge for 8hrs daily, and lights/tv/fans as needed

hybrid inverters are the future...i see them getting bettter with time, with data logging capabilities

earthrealm:
@pranil and tivta , i understand perfectly what he wrote or that the nickel iron battery is far superior to the other batts we have around.....
am just airing my mind/being practical/realistic.

few people can afford the battery, i myself will not buy it. i would rather buy 5 or 6 trojans with the money and replace every 10 to 15 yrs...than buy a single nickel iron battery.............that i will never change till 30yrs.

The future is Lithium and we can expect the auto industries to help bring it to mainstream in terms of affordability they same way auto industry helped popularized the Lead Acid batteries.

i have a luminous smf battery, and its going on 4yrs now....still doing fairly ok, with several tweaks i carried out, i see the battery getting to 6 or 7yrs.....powers a fridge for 8hrs daily, and lights/tv/fans as needed

I have already heard good things said about the Luminous SMF batteries. I think they are AGM (No?) It is what I always recommend to solar newbies as a good balance between prices and quality. If I gad to redo anything with my setup. I would strongly consider them as I am finding maintaining FLA to have quite a bit of wahala.

hybrid inverters are the future...i see them getting bettter with time, with data logging capabilities

Data logging is actually what interest me most about them. ability to have a system to log power generation and consumption.

bigrovar:


Not sure am subscribed but seen most of your videos. It inspired me to make mine.

Wow. Thank you. I am humbled @bigrovar.
I was a Ubuntu fan years ago. I had installed it on my server and desktops in my home office. My sons liked it. The middle one works at the IT department of a local university. It paid off. The baby who goes to the university next year wants to major in computer science.
Sorry to go off topic.

@Bigrovar, nope...most hybrid inverters dont log data like conventional CC.
my morning star mppt CC records all harvest, wh/ah etc for either 6months or 3months...not sure again...ep solar 60amp does something similar, though i prefer the logging of morning star.

most hybrid dont have that functionality as per solar harvest...n i doubt they hv such for AC usage again.

luminous smf batt , i think is average, not super per se.....mine crapped out in the 3rd yr, diminished performance etc...i opened them up and topped up with about 30ml of AC water to each cell, got desulphators and hooked on them, this appeared to have revived them bit, as i was about buying new batts, but have postponed the purchase for now, since they are doing fairly ok now.

as per fla, which wahala are they giving you?...am running mecury tubulars, got them around march.....topped them up with water mid july...as i noticed some cells were going low....i bet they would hv lasted 1 more month before getting to the red zone..as per electrolyte level, so i can safely dedude that they need watering every 4 to 5months....which isnt bad.

@Bigrovar, nope...most hybrid inverters dont log data like conventional CC.
my morning star mppt CC records all harvest, wh/ah etc for either 6months or 3months...not sure again...ep solar 60amp does something similar, though i prefer the logging of morning star.

most hybrid dont have that functionality as per solar harvest...n i doubt they hv such for AC usage again.

luminous smf batt , i think is average, not super per se.....mine crapped out in the 3rd yr, diminished performance etc...i opened them up and topped up with about 30ml of AC water to each cell, got desulphators and hooked on them, this appeared to have revived them bit, as i was about buying new batts, but have postponed the purchase for now, since they are doing fairly ok now.

as per fla, which wahala are they giving you?...am running mecury tubulars, got them around march.....topped them up with water mid july...as i noticed some cells were going low....i bet they would hv lasted 1 more month before getting to the red zone..as per electrolyte level, so i can safely dedude that they need watering every 4 to 5months....which isnt bad.

interested in the wahala yours are giving you

@Chris18964 & bigrover, pls I'm interested in subscribing to your YouTube videos. Pls how can I get hooked up?

@earthrealm, talking about AGM deepcycle and GEL deepcycle batteries, which one performs better? Pls ur reply will be so much appreciated.

chris81964:

Wow. Thank you. I am humbled @bigrovar.
I was a Ubuntu fan years ago. I had installed it on my server and desktops in my home office. My sons liked it. The middle one works at the IT department of a local university. It paid off. The baby who goes to the university next year wants to major in computer science.
Sorry to go off topic.

wow that's awesome won't be the first I am hearing such testimony. My current project is to use the Raspberry pi to talk to the Tracer controller using a Tracer python module. It will then upload data from the tracer to an online server via FTP. This would allow controller real time data available online.

earthrealm:


luminous smf batt , i think is average, not super per se.....mine crapped out in the 3rd yr, diminished performance etc...i opened them up and topped up with about 30ml of AC water to each cell, got desulphators and hooked on them, this appeared to have revived them bit, as i was about buying new batts, but have postponed the purchase for now, since they are doing fairly ok now.

2 years is not bad Sha.. considering the price. What was the average DOD for the 3 years.

as per fla, which wahala are they giving you?...am running mecury tubulars, got them around march.....topped them up with water mid july...as i noticed some cells were going low....i bet they would hv lasted 1 more month before getting to the red zone..as per electrolyte level, so i can safely dedude that they need watering every 4 to 5months....which isnt bad.

interested in the wahala yours are giving you

Not performance wahala o. They are still running ok performance wise. Just got home now and forgot to flip on the solar breaker after I turned it off last night after a thunderstorm. This allowed the battery to rest for over 8 hours and my voltage when I got back from work is 25.7 6 which is not bad. The wahala is FLA is like a fine city babe.. you gasto give her attention otherwise u no go enjoy am. You most not over charge it, it most not be installed in a place without proper ventilation, u have to make sure you equalise, get hydrometer to always check SG level haba. I don turn chemistry student finish. SMF no too get all this wahala. But I hope the Mercury Tubular is worth it Sha. If it can serve me for 3 years. I would be very happy.

bigrovar:
wow that's awesome won't be the first I am hearing such testimony. My current project is to use the Raspberry pi to talk to the Tracer controller using a Tracer python module. It will then upload data from the tracer to an online server via FTP. This would allow controller real time data available online.

I am lazy. Schneider Electric and SMA make all that stuff. I will be going from the Rich Electric Inverter to Schneider or SMA and I intend to deploy the monitoring equipment and software that they have

earthrealm:
@Bigrovar, nope...most hybrid inverters dont log data like conventional CC.
my morning star mppt CC records all harvest, wh/ah etc for either 6months or 3months...not sure again...ep solar 60amp does something similar, though i prefer the logging of morning star.

The new hybrid like Axexpert , MPP solar have USB data logger ( much better than the wahala of serial usb of morning star) - No new PC's come with Serial ports specially laptops that means you need to buy one more cable for USB to serial and maintain it's driver compatibility I have both . There are even third part software. The one I use called solar patrol not only measures data like solar harvest over any period but even measures things like heatsink and board temperature , instantaneous peaks , and many other things . It is almost reaching the SMA functionality . There is even a webserver built in so that I can see the data from any PC connected to network

I Can even change the inverter mode from Utility ( use Nepa) to Solar ( use solar even if nepa is there ) or battery bnased on timer( mine is set from 11 am to 3 PM)

bigrovar:
2 years is not bad Sha.. considering the price. What was the average DOD for the 3 years.


Not performance wahala o. They are still running ok performance wise. Just got home now and forgot to flip on the solar breaker after I turned it off last night after a thunderstorm. This allowed the battery to rest for over 8 hours and my voltage when I got back from work is 25.7 6 which is not bad. The wahala is FLA is like a fine city babe.. you gasto give her attention otherwise u no go enjoy am. You most not over charge it, it most not be installed in a place without proper ventilation, u have to make sure you equalise, get hydrometer to always check SG level haba. I don turn chemistry student finish. SMF no too get all this wahala. But I hope the Mercury Tubular is worth it Sha. If it can serve me for 3 years. I would be very happy.

If you want the absolute best ( trojan quality in SMF) look for varta
less than Double the price more than double life
- up to 800 cycles @ 50% DOD or 2,900 cycles at 70% DOD. - that is 5-7 years ( mine is already on 3rd year and delivering still 97 % capacity when tested in June

http://www.varta-automotive.com/en-gb/products/leisure/professional-deep-cycle-agm/

http:///varta-12v-260a-deep-cycle-batteries-lad-260-1930022

pranil:


If you want the absolute best ( trojan quality in SMF) look for varta
less than Double the price more than double life
- up to 800 cycles @ 50% DOD or 2,900 cycles at 70% DOD. - that is 5-7 years ( mine is already on 3rd year and delivering still 97 % capacity when tested in June

http://www.varta-automotive.com/en-gb/products/leisure/professional-deep-cycle-agm/

http:///varta-12v-260a-deep-cycle-batteries-lad-260-1930022

How did you come about the 97% capacity ?
Hoe did you check to know it's exactly 97%?

Please I'd like to learn.

@bigrovar, u may be over pampering the fla,
mine i dont bother checking the density with hygrometer,
i simply equalize once or twice a month [most inverters hv equalization setting].
and if u are using CC, most good CC are pre programmed to equalize once a month, so why bother messing with hygrometer after all this?

mine is indoors, and the gassing/smell is not bad, its only pronounced during equalization
for me apart from watering, every 3 to 5months fla is almost like smf,...i may b wrong though, time will tell

@pranil...yup varta is quite good, excellent battery.....my only fear is buying fakes....
when i wanted to replace my car battery...i bought a korean batt for 16k, while some1 else bought an equivalent varta for 26k.
i hooked up desulphators to my car batt, and i expect it to last 4yrs plus....instead of the usual 2yrs most people complain about


major challenge is most battery manufactureres dont post this DOD info,
prag used to hv such info on thier website.
luminous...searched...didnt see.
mecury tubular...didnt see too

kiekie1:
Must Power Star Light inverters
1kva-12v=80k
1.5kva-12v=95k
3kva(2000w)-12v=100,000
3kva(2000w)-24v=130,000
4kva(3000w)-24v=140,000
5kva(4000w)-24/48=200,000
6kva(5000w)-24/48= 230,000
7.5kva(6000w)-24=250,000

Hybrid inverters with inbuilt PWM controllers
7.5kva-48v=290,000
5kva-48v=250,000
4kva-24v=220,000
3kva-24v=190,000
Hybrid Inverter with inbuilt MPPT control
12KW-48v=870,000

EP Solar 12/24/36/48v 60a mppt(i tracer) solar charge controller @ 140k

EP Solar 12/24v 40a MPPT(a series ep ever) solar charge controller @ 65k

Fangpuson MPPT 80a solar charge controller .....@ 170k

Trojan 12v 205a USA batteries @ 93k...(limited quantity in stock)

Quanta Amaron 12v 200a vrla battery @ 110k

MY HOME poly crystalline solar panels ;
150w @ 40k
300w @ 75k

300w Rubitec Mono panels .. @85k

With 35k , I can offer you the most important pro solar roof mounts including ;
2 qty solar mount rail "4200mm" ,
4 qty rack end clamp,
6 qty mid clamp,
6 qty L feet with rubber & special screw....

Same goes to angle positioning solar kits;
- Adjustable front leg
- Adjustable rear leg
- Rail splice kit
- Grounding lug


*AUTHORISED DEALER PRAGMATIC TECHNOLOGIES*
All our prag / cyberpower products comes with reliable warranty

*AUTHORIZED DEALER INDIAN INVERTERS / BATTERIES ... GENUS , LUMINUOS , EPSILON PRODUCTS*
All our products come with 1 year Warranty

*AUTHORIZED DEALER SOLAR SHOP LTD PRODUCTS*
All our products come with 1 year Warranty

For best affordable prices,proforma invoices valid for just 1 week, contact Smartcell Global Services,Lagos Nigeria. Simply call Sir Frankie "08135031951" for purchase,fast delivery and waybills .. Thanks !!

Trojan 12v 205a USA batteries @ 97k...(limited quantity in stock)

obimind:
@earthrealm, talking about AGM deepcycle and GEL deepcycle batteries, which one performs better? Pls ur reply will be so much appreciated.

both batteries are similar..

in agm batts... agm = associated absorbed glass mat, here the electrolyte is bonded in a mat like material/structure
in gel batts, the electrolyte is a gel like material.
both hv thier pros n cons....most teleomm batts are gel, they are quite sensitive and dont tolerate abuse, overcharge them...n they become useless, ireeperable.
only go for gel batts, if u hv good inverter/cc that has a gel setting, and try not to discharge them below 30%

AGM = Absorbed Glass Mat. Also called Absorbent Glass Mat by some.

Cheers

@Earthrealm, thanks bro...currently I'm using AGM batteries and am about purchasing new sets of batteries. My installer keeps advising me to go for GEL batteries which I'm trying to get more info to avoid regretting my decision at the end of the day. I'm so grateful Sir.

obimind:
@Earthrealm, thanks bro...currently I'm using AGM batteries and am about purchasing new sets of batteries. My installer keeps advising me to go for GEL batteries which I'm trying to get more info to avoid regretting my decision at the end of the day. I'm so grateful Sir.

Go for agm batteries. Gel beside the can be very pecky when it comes to how it likes to be charged. AGM is a bit more rugged and can take more charge current in bulk state than any of the lead acid batteries flooded or Gel. Varta and Luminous are good agm batteries.

Hi all. I need a little help, please.
A solar company installed a 2kw solar setup for me : 8 250w panels, 6 150aH AGM batteries and two charge controllers.
Two weeks into usage, it lasts no more than 1hr if the sun is out, at 30% load.
This was a system that used to last 2hrs at 30% load. A drastic drop. The technician came and checked the batteries, and was getting 6v and 8v on two batteries respectively, out of the bank.
He said they dropped.

Now am confused?
Why drop so fast?
What did I do wrong?
We do get low voltage from the grid, so I hitched up the system to a 3kw voltage regulator.
Could it be the voltage regulator overcharge that killed the batteries?