kibukila:
Hello house my charge controller has stopped working.When connecting the cables from the solar panel it shows no current flows from the panel.But the current is flowing the meter shows 19volts flowing from the panel.I have tried to connect the battery directly from the solar panel and it has been recharged.What can be the problem.Other functions on the controller are working.

You could have a bad controller. Check to make sure that you don't have your cables reversed. That is the most common mistake we see. Positive going into negative and vice versa. Make sure the connections are tight and you have the correct amount of voltage as required by the controller. Direct hook up to the panels I highly discourage. The battery at night will reverse the flow of electricity back to the panels. Also you don't want to overcharge your batteries. Easiest way to destroy them

JUO:
this is from a 400w setup

do u use mppt cc?

abunafiu:


@temizeee, I honestly think you can do the rest work your self. DO THE maths, present your results. then we may do some corrections. I am saying this because you said you study EEE.
Calculate your daily energy consumption in KWH.
Estimate how much energy your 2 by 90w pv will harvest in 4 to 5 hours daily in KWH.
ure welcome to this thread.

thanks sir,i have finally installed my setup actually i run small battery for 4 nau n am happy cause i am able to put on my loads convienently during sunshine..will get good battery bank soon so as to backup at night.

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c0ogumo:

SALE!
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If interested, please use our contacts below.

Mobile: 0702-300-1051
Whatsapp:973-204-1296
BBM PIN: 79395A2D
Email: info@solardepotng.com
Website: www.solardepotng.com
Your One Stop Shop For Renewable Energy

house need some help. if my energy estimate or consumption is 6000watts per day, what is likely going to be my battery size or bank that keep me totally off grid. also the panel size that that will keep every thing well charged. will really appreciate all assistance from you gurus....help.

samnaija:
house need some help. if my energy estimate or consumption is 6000watts per day, what is likely going to be my battery size or bank that keep me totally off grid. also the panel size that that will keep every thing well charged. will really appreciate all assistance from you gurus....help.

6000w load is unrealistic.....for a home........b4 we start wasting time giving you a breakdown of cost/parts.....pls confirm you have upto 3m naira for this project?..............if not i recommend you read up on inverters and load sizing and batteries............then we can talk....by talking of loading an inverter with 6000w, am almost certain you dont hv much idea of how inverters work...so any advice we give here would be wasted/not understood

chris81964:


You could have a bad controller. Check to make sure that you don't have your cables reversed. That is the most common mistake we see. Positive going into negative and vice versa. Make sure the connections are tight and you have the correct amount of voltage as required by the controller. Direct hook up to the panels I highly discourage. The battery at night will reverse the flow of electricity back to the panels. Also you don't want to overcharge your batteries. Easiest way to destroy them

Thanks for your response.I have checked the connections and found the cable connecting panel and controller is fault.I have replaced it and the controller is back to fully operational.There was no correct voltage going into the controller.In the note, my battery still needs replacing since is very old bought it in 2011 its voltage is dropping very rapidly on applying a load.

Glad it worked out. The connections and cabling are always the first place to check. Before you throw the battery away. Disconnect it from the inverter and let the controller charge it for two straight days. You want to see a float state of 26. 3 to 26.7 volts. Then apply a load on it it, if discharges very quickly then the battery is really bad. I will hook it up to the controller with no load for a couple of days first before I decide to discard it. Good luck

kibukila:


Thanks for your response.I have checked the connections and found the cable connecting panel and controller is fault.I have replaced it and the controller is back to fully operational.There was no correct voltage going into the controller.In the note, my battery still needs replacing since is very old bought it in 2011 its voltage is dropping very rapidly on applying a load.

earthrealm:


6000w load is unrealistic.....for a home........b4 we start wasting time giving you a breakdown of cost/parts.....pls confirm you have upto 3m naira for this project?..............if not i recommend you read up on inverters and load sizing and batteries............then we can talk....by talking of loading an inverter with 6000w, am almost certain you dont hv much idea of how inverters work...so any advice we give here would be wasted/not understood

Maybe he meant a total of 6000Wh for the whole day i.e. 250W for 24h

samnaija:
house need some help. if my energy estimate or consumption is 6000watts per day, what is likely going to be my battery size or bank that keep me totally off grid. also the panel size that that will keep every thing well charged. will really appreciate all assistance from you gurus....help.

Try and confirm your energy need is 6000wh a day and not 6000watts so we know how to guide you.

Also separate the energy usage in daytime and night time

@ cuoguomo, and richmon......the solar panel roof stands............are they diy?.....my panels are located deep in the villa, and ur coming to install it wudnt be economically rewarding, so am asking if its something a diyer can install himself after purchase, 6 panels

sorry guys its for the whole day. i will get on separating my day from night . i multiplied the number of hrs of use x watts of appliance. i think i am right.

all,
just a quick update on my experience with lightning.
sometime in late february my system was hit yet again. but unlike the previous year, this time it came in through
the ac part of the system, i.e phcn lv wires via stabilizer to the inverter. even though i had installed a midnite solar
surge arrestor (mnspd115v) in december, it could do nothing to save the day as it was meant to protect only the dc
part of the system. so, ok the system suffered multiple strikes within a very short interval and although it put on
a brave fight, it could not withstand that many number of hits. eventually the magnum caved in and went comatose.
to say the least, i was devastated and didn't know what to do. when i installed the mnspd115v in december, i realised
that i needed to get the mnspd300v for the ac part of the system and had already planned on doing so later in the
new year but i guess mother nature wasn't about ready to wait for me as it struck at a time earlier than i had
anticipated.
with damage already in my hands, i became frantic. i knew i had to act fast before another series of lightning strikes
puts out the rest of my system for good. i reached out to my good friend richmon but unfortunately he was out of stock
for mnspd300v so i had to resort to plan b. while that was going on, i reached out to my dealer in ph and explained
the situation to him. it was a big relief when he assured me it was not a problem as the inverter could be fixed. so, i
shipped the damaged magnum to him and he commenced repairs.
long story short: my magnum is back and as good as new! also i have learnt my lesson and protected both ac and dc
part of my system with respective midnite solar mnspd lightning arrestors. it is now goodbye to trembling and heart
ache anytime cloud gathers and the rains begin.
but what a costly way to learn!

these are the lessons learnt:

1) never procrastinate on buying and installing protection equipment for your inverter system.
you will end up paying for it dearly when lightning strikes. and trust me, it always strikes when you
least expect it to!

2) forget those peeps who peddle low end inverters and try to convince you not to buy high end inverters
on the premise that high end inverters like xantrex, magnum, sunny boy, outback, exeltech, etc cannot
be repaired when damaged. i am a living witness. my magnum was struck but is alive today performing even better
than how it was was before it got damaged by lightning!

3) during the period while the magnum was under repairs, i switched over to my sukam 3.5kva inverter. the
sukam keeps amazing me with the ease which it has been taking up challenge after challenge.
so, my advice for peeps with high end inverters, always remember to keep a spare inverter like sukam, luminous, etc
handy for that moment when your high end inverter may be away on repairs.

GeorgeD1:
all,
just a quick update on my experience with lightning.
sometime in late february my system was hit yet again. but unlike the previous year, this time it came in through
the ac part of the system, i.e phcn lv wires via stabilizer to the inverter. even though i had installed a midnite solar
surge arrestor (mnspd115v) in december, it could do nothing to save the day as it was meant to protect only the dc
part of the system. so, ok the system suffered multiple strikes within a very short interval and although it put on
a brave fight, it could not withstand that many number of hits. eventually the magnum caved in and went comatose.
to say the least, i was devastated and didn't know what to do. when i installed the mnspd115v in december, i realised
that i needed to get the mnspd300v for the ac part of the system and had already planned on doing so later in the
new year but i guess mother nature wasn't about ready to wait for me as it struck at a time earlier than i had
anticipated.
with damage already in my hands, i became frantic. i knew i had to act fast before another series of lightning strikes
puts out the rest of my system for good. i reached out to my good friend richmon but unfortunately he was out of stock
for mnspd300v so i had to resort to plan b. while that was going on, i reached out to my dealer in ph and explained
the situation to him. it was a big relief when he assured me it was not a problem as the inverter could be fix. so, i
shipped the damaged magnum to him and he commenced repairs.
long story short: my magnum is back and as good as new! also i have learnt my lesson and protected both ac and dc
part of my system with respective midnite solar mnspd lightning arrestors. it is now goodbye to trembling and heart
ache anytime cloud gathers and the rains begin.
but what a costly way to learn!

Sorry Oga (in our own slangs)

Good to know you had it rescued.

There's no panic with Magnum if it is faulty. There are only two circuit boards inside it and each can be replaced with ease by any one. Either one of them is faulty at a time. One is the FET Board and the other is the AC Board.

The fault code on your remote will always give you an idea of which of the ccts is defective and its easy to change.

earthrealm:
@ cuoguomo, and richmon......the solar panel roof stands............are they diy?.....my panels are located deep in the villa, and ur coming to install it wudnt be economically rewarding, so am asking if its something a diyer can install himself after purchase, 6 panels

yes it it easy to install as it is shown on the video i posted earlier

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bodejohn:
I am going completely off grid (Nepa abi na Phcn switched off) till the end of 2015.
I want to prove to madam that "I have fully delivered my promise on power"...LOL

The Count up Started on February 15th, 15 days downed already...

Who is joining me?

@bodejohn

How is the experience so far?
I am thinking of having solar panels/inverter installed for me too. But not on "total boycott" of NEPA basis yet....
If NEPA comes, good: If NEPA sleeps off, fine.

I am in Abeokuta. Can anyone let me have whom I can contact? My needs will be 3.5 kva because my modest place is a small 2-bedroom pad.

@TheEntireHouse
Who can let me have the cost details for installing a 3.5 kV a solar-powered inverter system in Abeokuta?

following very erratic n low voltage by phcn for sometime now...my prag servo 10kva stabilizer has dveloped a fault..
i want to try other models now...who can recommend a good model and where can i buy it?

searched on konga and jumia....saw this one...... input range 90 to 270..far beta than prag 140 - 270v
has anyone used this b4?

http:///servo-central-stabilizer-1222080

earthrealm:
searched on konga and jumia....saw this one...... input range 90 to 270..far beta than prag 140 - 270v
has anyone used this b4?

http:///servo-central-stabilizer-1222080

A little advice on these AVS ratings.

The power ratings on these devices are usually on best conditions. For example, a servo regulator that is rated 10kva is only able to handle that amount of power when all conditions are normal. that is when there's no voltage drop across it, i.e. when the input voltage is 220v and the output is 220v. If input voltage drops the conversion process also lowers its power handling ability. For example, at and input of 150Vac, a 10kVA Servo might not be able to handle upto 50% of it's power. This power Factor ratings is what the products manufacturers deny us.

That is why it is much more dangerous to use AVSs that has very low acceptable input voltage ratings like the one in my image below.

Now one way out is to rate your AVR 3 times the size of your load if you experience low voltage in your area.

One very big danger of stepping up extremely low input voltage is that you are going to incur excessive bill from PHCN. if you are using prepared meter you'll run out of crdt before you can say Jack Robinson because of the high current you are drawing.

The avr below is a 20kva servo in one of my installations and as you can see it could handle input voltage ads low as 67v and still gives out a reasonable 181v output . But it could barely carry 3HP airconditioner.

richmon74:


A little advice on these AVS ratings.

Interesting...

very interesting @ richmond....especially the part abt phcn prepaid bills........but wetin man go do naah..low voltage is useless..doesnt power anything usefull......
my prob with prag is that sometimes in my area voltage hovers around 120v so making the stab to trip off.........wish i bought the relay type prag tht accepts from 100v..............was considering that when i saw this on konga...decided to pull the trigger...........it appears prag isnt so strong...to fail just cos flunctuating voltage.

i rarely exceed 4kw simultaneously.....i shud be ok, has any1 been able to compute the consumption wattage of inverters...say a 1.5kva inverter or a 4kva inverter?

my 20amp charger controller for my 500w panel just got burnt now,the cause unknown.what i could say is that i was on my pc when it happened and i notice that d +ve cable from panel and the +ve cable from d battery both got cut off frm d controller while d -ve was still intarct,though both +ve cable are next 2 each other on d controller.Could it be that both +ve cable touched each other?or is it over heating?.while d controller was burning my inverter continued working it was d odour of burning wire that alerted me.Anyone with d idea of what really went wrong,for future guidance.note the panels is still working because i put it directly on d battery

TSHIRT2:
my 20amp charger controller for my 500w panel just got burnt now,the cause unknown.what i could say is that i was on my pc when it happened and i notice that d +ve cable from panel and the +ve cable from d battery both got cut off frm d controller while d -ve was still intarct,though both +ve cable are next 2 each other on d controller.Could it be that both +ve cable touched each other?or is it over heating?.while d controller was burning my inverter continued working it was d odour of burning wire that alerted me.Anyone with d idea of what really went wrong,for future guidance.note the panels is still working because i put it directly on d battery

sry abt ur loss..but note that connecting ur batts direct to solar without charge controller will deep fry ur batts........within 2 wks of this assault...they wud be irredeemable.........

i feel its the+ve cable from ur batt disconnecting that burnt ur charge controller.......it happened during the day abi?...most charge controllers cant handle the excessive energy output from the panels..if they dont hv anywhere [batt bank] to send it.........i recommend you incorporate DC fuses in your next design

TSHIRT2:
my 20amp charger controller for my 500w panel just got burnt now,the cause unknown.what i could say is that i was on my pc when it happened and i notice that d +ve cable from panel and the +ve cable from d battery both got cut off frm d controller while d -ve was still intarct,though both +ve cable are next 2 each other on d controller.Could it be that both +ve cable touched each other?or is it over heating?.while d controller was burning my inverter continued working it was d odour of burning wire that alerted me.Anyone with d idea of what really went wrong,for future guidance.note the panels is still working because i put it directly on d battery

If you are running a 12V system you exceeded the capacity of your controller with 500 W. You are also bumping the upper limit for 24V. What is the voltage of your panels and what is the maximum voltage that your charge controller would accept? Where you within that number? What kind of protection did you have from the panel to your charge controller? What size and quality cable did you have? How tight where your connections?
These are nice places to start.

richmon74:


A little advice on these AVS ratings.

The power ratings on these devices are usually on best conditions. For example, a servo regulator that is rated 10kva is only able to handle that amount of power when all conditions are normal. that is when there's no voltage drop across it, i.e. when the input voltage is 220v and the output is 220v. If input voltage drops the conversion process also lowers its power handling ability. For example, at and input of 150Vac, a 10kVA Servo might not be able to handle upto 50% of it's power. This power Factor ratings is what the products manufacturers deny us.

That is why it is much more dangerous to use AVSs that has very low acceptable input voltage ratings like the one in my image below.

Now one way out is to rate your AVR 3 times the size of your load if you experience low voltage in your area.

One very big danger of stepping up extremely low input voltage is that you are going to incur excessive bill from PHCN. if you are using prepared meter you'll run out of crdt before you can say Jack Robinson because of the high current you are drawing.

The avr below is a 20kva servo in one of my installations and as you can see it could handle input voltage ads low as 67v and still gives out a reasonable 181v output . But it could barely carry 3HP airconditioner.

Most people don't know this. some will expect 10kva avr to perform as 10kva even at 100vac input. Hum fire dey around the corner o. same with inverter. For the excessive bill, because the equipment is performing at it's best. e.g if u have a 70w fan and there is voltage drop to 150-180v, the consumption of the fan will drop to maybe 40w same will happen to all the equipment. but if u feeding the equipment with steady 220v the consumption will remain at 70w all the time. For those of u who don't know this before don't go and disconnect your avr /avs in the name of reducing your bill.

Best thing is to even connect 5he avr at source. ...ie b4 5he prepaid meter...so any exc3ssive current draw wud be on phcn....afterall phcn shud supply full voltage...the only drawback is that the avr will be outside on ur balcony

GeorgeD1:
all,
just a quick update on my experience with lightning.
sometime in late february my system was hit yet again. but unlike the previous year, this time it came in through
the ac part of the system, i.e phcn lv

wires via stabilizer to the inverter. even though i had installed a midnite solar
surge arrestor (mnspd115v) in december, it could do nothing to save the day as it was meant to protect only the dc



part of the system. so, ok the system suffered multiple strikes within a very short interval and although it put on
a brave fight, it could not withstand that many number of hits. eventually the magnum caved in and went comatose.
to say the least, i was devastated and didn't know what to do. when i installed the mnspd115v in december, i realised
that i needed to get the mnspd300v for the ac part of the system and had already planned on doing so later in the
new year but i guess mother nature wasn't about ready to wait for me as it struck at a time earlier than i had
anticipated.
with damage already in my hands, i became frantic. i knew i had to act fast before another series of lightning strikes
puts out the rest of my system for good. i reached out to my good friend richmon but unfortunately he was out of stock
for mnspd300v so i had to resort to plan b. while that was going on, i reached out to my dealer in ph and explained
the situation to him. it was a big relief when he assured me it was not a problem as the inverter could be fixed. so, i
shipped the damaged magnum to him and he commenced repairs.
long story short: my magnum is back and as good as new! also i have learnt my lesson and protected both ac and dc
part of my system with respective midnite solar mnspd lightning arrestors. it is now goodbye to trembling and heart
ache anytime cloud gathers and the rains begin.
but what a costly way to learn!

Can you give the number of that ph dealer so i can reach him with inverter issues

RipVanWink:


sry abt ur loss..but note that connecting ur batts direct to solar without charge controller will deep fry ur batts........within 2 wks of this assault...they wud be irredeemable.........

i feel its the+ve cable from ur batt disconnecting that burnt ur charge controller.......it happened during the day abi?...most charge controllers cant handle the excessive energy output from the panels..if they dont hv anywhere [batt bank] to send it.........i recommend you incorporate DC fuses in your next design

yes it happened in d afternoon when d sun was high up and as at that time d controler indicator shows battery full.

OK..REMAINING piece of puzzle is..if your system is 24v or 12v..........i suspect its 24v...cos if it was 12v...it should have burnt long ago....cos 500w/12v = 40amps n ur CC is just 20amps. 500w/24v is abt 25amps..........since most panels/installations arent 100% efficient, 25amps will not be getting to ur system except on rare occasions and being that ur batt bank was full again...compounded the problem as the CC was now battling 2 very dangerous problems.

the scenario i painted is scenario A.

SCENARIO B is the cable +ve batt cable pulling free/somehow disconnecting