makavele:


Shouldn't be more than 175 running watts

Hmmm. Assuming it's 175 watts, that means continuous instantaneous current draw on a 12volt system will be around 14.5A. Now that's a lot of current draw, i think. A 24volt system will definitely fare better with less current draw. My issue with the >12volt setups is battery charging equalization and it's life shortening effect on the battery if that concept is ignored. Though I've had three successful DIY 12volt setups, i envisage the 24v setup would require more technicalities which a non-pro like me will find challenging.

Good morning. I want to mount a 300w solar panel over a distance of 30m from the controller. How many mm of cable do I use?

sathob:
Well, great people of FTA, I think I should start this on behalf of George_D because of the request made by others who have expressed interest in alternate electricity, especially solar energy. Our FTA independence is not complete if we are to suffer frequent power outages and been dependant on the nation’s electricity grid system always. I have read in this house many times, from members “PHCN don go off, so I will track later when they come back”. No one can run away from power outages in the main electricity grid – not even the west, it happens. Hence, we all should have alternate electricity and using renewable energy is, to me, the best. This means one can enjoy their FTA fully by being totally free and not “dom” (dominated).

Look at some advantages
• Lower or no electricity bills
• Compared to generator users, there is no fuel cost and stress of getting it and no fumes.
• People living in the remote locations where power is unavailable or too expensive to hook-up too can have electricity.
Just to mention but a few.

Without going into detail, one can enjoy electricity by means of using solar energy (energy from the sun), wind mill (using energy from the wind). Don’t forget, where there is frequent electricity supply from the utility company, you can store some energy for back up.

You will need the following to complete a solar project or back up.

1. Solar panels
2. Power Inverter
3. Charge controller
4. Batteries to store energy
5. wires and cables
6. Monitors/meters

The solar panel consists of cells called photo voltaic cells and these, covert the energy received from the sun to electricity in simple terms (this electricity is a direct current
d.c). The panels can last up to 20 years plus. The panels can be fixed, adjustable or of the tracking type. You can decide to go for a complete panel from manufacturers (already made) or build panels by yourself using solar cells- the latter is for the hobbyist. The panels are rated in watts eg 80w solar panel supplying 12v continuous at a given time

The inverter
Power Inverters are available in 3 basic designs, two of which I remember very well now – the one that out sinusoidal waves and those that are modified sign wave type (meaning not pure sine waves and do have limits when it comes to its application) . The power inverter converts your storage battery power into the 240 volts AC that runs your appliances. It is the heart of your solar energy system. Unless you only run 12 volt DC appliances you will need a power inverter to supply your AC. This is just the basics.

The Charge Controller
A Charge Controller is necessary to protect the batteries from over charging and supply them with the proper amount of energy to promote long battery life.

Batteries
Without Storage Batteries to store energy you would only have power when the sun was shining. There is a lot more to batteries than just the ordinary car battery. Yo may need to change batteries over the years.

Wires and Cables
Without the right size of cables, you are likely to experience inefficient transfer of power (greater losses) and overheating.

Meters
This is required to monitor the performance of your solar system.

Firstly, it is very necessary to know what gadgets you will be using (eg.tv, sat. receiver) and how long you will use how long you would have them on the solar power and how much energy your battery can store and which solar panel (rating in power) will supply the required energy.

A lot goes into calculating the cost of setting up a solar system. First one has to consider the period of usable sunlight available at their location to do this calculation. For us here close to the equator, we get about 7 to 8 hours or more of sunlight during dry season, just a rough estimate.

How do I know I need 100w or 80w or 300 watts solar panel for my project?

The power consumption of appliances is given in Watts. To calculate the energy you will use over time, just multiply the power consumption by the hours of use.

Eg. If I have 90W tv set which I want to use for 6hrs, 25W satellite receiver for the same period, and a 50W fan for 3 hours. What will be the energy required from the solar panels for the period?

1. the energy for each appliance is Watts x time (hours) = Wh

So, the watt hours for the tv = 90 x 6 = 540 Wh (watt hours)

Watt hours for sat. receiver = 25 x 6 = 150 Wh

Watt hours for fan will be = 50 x 3 = 150 Wh

2. sum the watt hours for the individual appliances ie. 540 + 150 + 150 = 840 Wh (watt hours)

This means that the solar panel will need to supply 840 watt hours of energy to the battery each day to cover the total power required by these appliances.

3. since there are bound to be losses in the system However, to account for natural losses, we multiply the result by 1.2 (this factor allows for natural system losses, assuming 85% efficiency). Therefore, we will assume the panels will actually need to be able to supply a total of
840 x 1.2 = 1008Wh

4. so, to supply 1008Wh of energy the panel we assume to receive 7 hours of sunlight will be rated at 1008 Wh / 7 h = 144W
So, I will need 144W solar panel to supply energy to my appliances above at the given time.

Regarding point 3, it also means, if I have a solar panel rated at 100W receiving sunlight for 7 hours a day, the total energy supplied considering 85% efficiency will be 100x7x0.85= 595Wh and not 700Wh

5. Your battery should be able to store 1008Wh of energy. Since batteries capacities are rated in Ah (Ampere Hours) you need to multiply Ah by the Volt rating to know the Watt Hour. Power(W) = Voltage (V) x Current (I) ; Watt hour = VxIxHour

Therefore Ah (which is I x h) = Wh / V = 1008 / 12 (the number 12 represents a 12v battery)
= 84 Ah

So it means you will need not less than a 84Ah, 12V battery (deep-cycle batteries, not ordinary car batteries) to do the job.

NB. Another way of calculating battery capacity is explained in this example. Should my battery be rated at 84Ah, 12V the watt hour (energy) will be 84Ah x 12 V = 1008Ah

It implies that the battery can supply a 150watt appliance for 1008/70 = 14hours

Pls don’t just play around with batteries they are dangerous.

davodyguy:
Dmercifu and other chiefs.

Can I do 6V 200Ah *4 to get 24v after my acquisition of the prag 2kva 24v inverter?

you can do 1v 200Ah * 24 if you so desire . . as long as the multiplication leads to 24V or your desired voltage

ceaser:


Comprehensive. Thanks.

I intend to use a single 200ah battery simply because i do not intend to run the freezer beyond the sun-hours, 4pm; 5pm maybe. I want to wager on the top performance of the freezer to still keep frozen items intact till the following morning. A programmable timer will do the on-off switching. I initially thought i could use the dusk-dawn switch feature on one of the few charge controllers I have but i figure out that may only work for the operation of a direct 12volt DC appliance, not for the inverter that may not have battery recovery voltage feature to restart itself.

However in case i decide to go with two 200ah batteries parallel set up, would you say that a 30amp PWM CC with 450 watts (three parallel 150watts) suffice?

I know the 30A CC will max on 360watts solar input but I'm just trying to push my luck with 450watts.

450 watts panel paired to a 30A CC to charge 2 units of 200AH batteries. . oh men ..
Kiekie1; food don land oh

p.s.: that terminal on your CC is for very light applications e.g. DC bulbs .. and should not be used for items with excessive current draw

zeestone99:


Ur 1kva shud power it conveniently, for the battery, u need to calculate the number of hours you intend running the fridge, then size ur pv and battery with your calculation. U should be fine

Willing to wager a 100k, his 1000va inverter would struggle to start the deep-freezer (most especially when it has defrosted) !!
You game

edit: except he has a premium inverter (neither chinese nor indian)

makavele:


Willing to wager a 100k, his 1000va inverter would struggle to start the deep-freezer (most especially when it has defrosted) !!
You game

edit: except he has a premium inverter (neither chinese nor indian)

struggle it may, but if the overload switch doesnt trip..it should start it just fine.

my 1.5kva 24v old generation luminous inverter starts by double door 360l fridge, the fridge clocks in at 190w with a watt meter

noticed a new trend: lots of newbies not willing to read up/research, and just re-asking already asked questions few threads ago

I can take you up on this wager bros.

A solid 600w and above inverter should carry a sub 200w freezer as the only load with no trouble - I know for sure the ICellPowers and Mustpower (both Asian origin) 1kw can do the job without stress.

It's all a question of design and the inverter's internals and real life surge rating - I know of an indian design (name withheld to avoid trouble ) 2kva inverter that would always go into overload whenever a freezer's compressor picked up yet we deployed a 12v 1.5kw Mustpower as replacement and it carried the freezer + other equipment (extra 400watts) like a champ.

OP can succeed with his plan if he has the right inverter for the job.

makavele:


Willing to wager a 100k, his 1000va inverter would struggle to start the deep-freezer (most especially when it has defrosted) !!
You game

edit: except he has a premium inverter (neither chinese nor indian)

earthrealm:


struggle it may, but if the overload switch doesnt trip..it should start it just fine.

my 1.5kva 24v old generation luminous inverter starts by double door 360l fridge, the fridge clocks in at 190w with a watt meter

noticed a new trend: lots of newbies not willing to read up/research, and just re-asking already asked questions few threads ago

You said it all !

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I can take you up on this wager bros.

A solid 600w and above inverter should carry a sub 200w freezer as the only load with no trouble - I know for sure the ICellPowers and Mustpower (both Asian origin) 1kw can do the job without stress.

It's all a question of design and the inverter's internals and real life surge rating - I know of an indian design (name withheld to avoid trouble ) 2kva inverter that would always go into overload whenever a freezer's compressor picked up yet we deployed a 12v 1.5kw Mustpower as replacement and it carried the freezer + other equipment (extra 400watts) like a champ.

OP can succeed with his plan if he has the right inverter for the job.

Lol My Man !

You may be cutting things too tight with this plan bros. I can assure you that a suitable 12v 1kw inverter will carry your freezer as the only load without stress. The 12v 15amps draw that you are anticipating is not a lot at all - common 16mm DC cable or higher gauge if you are paranoid will do the job with no stress or heat.

I believe the cable gauge sizing guide supports this spec and also I routinely run 40amps at ~51volts on 25mm cable without any stress or heat generated.

Where I have issues is your proposal to use just one battery and 450watts in panels to run this freezer. Your 450w rated panels will not produce their full rated capacity all through the day so you will be drawing some power from the battery at some point. While 200watts draw from a 2.4kw battery storage is not a big deal, you may find your battery deeply drained or running out of juice on some days especially if you run the freezer after 4pm in the evening or start off early in the day say 6am and also if you will be powering other loads off the battery at any time.

The correct way to size panels is to allow for sufficient capacity to BOTH RUN LOADS AND SIMULTANEOUSLY RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES FULLY within the available sunlight hours. Perhaps again your setup has some on grid/utility or generator charging hours factored in so these could makeup the shortfall.

For batteries you want to size them so that they are never drained beyond 50% and they are discharged no more than C20 (I have found locally available C10 batteries do not live up to their spec). So depending on your actual scenario and if you will be adding on other loads you may need at least 2 12v 200ah batteries to make things work out perfectly.

ceaser:


Comprehensive. Thanks.

I intend to use a single 200ah battery simply because i do not intend to run the freezer beyond the sun-hours, 4pm; 5pm maybe. I want to wager on the top performance of the freezer to still keep frozen items intact till the following morning. A programmable timer will do the on-off switching. I initially thought i could use the dusk-dawn switch feature on one of the few charge controllers I have but i figure out that may only work for the operation of a direct 12volt DC appliance, not for the inverter that may not have battery recovery voltage feature to restart itself.

However in case i decide to go with two 200ah batteries parallel set up, would you say that a 30amp PWM CC with 450 watts (three parallel 150watts) suffice?

I know the 30A CC will max on 360watts solar input but I'm just trying to push my luck with 450watts.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I can take you up on this wager bros.

A solid 600w and above inverter should carry a sub 200w freezer as the only load with no trouble - I know for sure the ICellPowers and Mustpower (both Asian origin) 1kw can do the job without stress.

It's all a question of design and the inverter's internals and real life surge rating - I know of an indian design (name withheld to avoid trouble ) 2kva inverter that would always go into overload whenever a freezer's compressor picked up yet we deployed a 12v 1.5kw Mustpower as replacement and it carried the freezer + other equipment (extra 400watts) like a champ.

OP can succeed with his plan if he has the right inverter for the job.

You're just saying the same thing I said .. I repeat . . . a 1000va inverter would not handle a freezer's or even double-door refrigerator's start-up surge unless he has a premium inverter.

makavele:


450 watts panel paired to a 30A CC to charge 2 units of 200AH batteries. . oh men ..
Kiekie1; food don land oh

p.s.: that terminal on your CC is for very light applications e.g. DC bulbs .. and should not be used for items with excessive current draw

I know that 12volt socket output is for light applications o.

earthrealm:


struggle it may, but if the overload switch doesnt trip..it should start it just fine.

my 1.5kva 24v old generation luminous inverter starts by double door 360l fridge, the fridge clocks in at 190w with a watt meter

noticed a new trend: lots of newbies not willing to read up/research, and just re-asking already asked questions few threads ago

He Mentioned 1000VA and about 800VA or so; . . which would struggle like hell. I was in that shoe before. Unless the appliances have been ice-cold from PHCN the previous night, the inverter would never start any of them. Someone even mentioned a trick here; starting the freezer with a generator then switching over to inverter . . . which worked 50/50 for me

ceaser:




I know that 12volt socket output is for light applications o.

Good

makavele:


Willing to wager a 100k, his 1000va inverter would struggle to start the deep-freezer (most especially when it has defrosted) !!
You game

edit: except he has a premium inverter (neither chinese nor indian)

Sadly most inverters above 1000kva that I've come across are specified for 24volts input. I guess i may be restricted to 24 volts set up after all.

kiekie1:


You said it all !

I felt i had little choice with the limited time available. I've read thru almost 120 pages of the thread. Nairaland search tabs has limited functionality as well. Didn't seem i was getting close to finding what i wanted. Hence the pressing need to "re-ask" questions.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
You may be cutting things too tight with this plan bros. I can assure you that a suitable 12v 1kw inverter will carry your freezer as the only load without stress. The 12v 15amps draw that you are anticipating is not a lot at all - common 16mm DC cable or higher gauge if you are paranoid will do the job with no stress or heat.

I believe the cable gauge sizing guide supports this spec and also I routinely run 40amps at ~51volts on 25mm cable without any stress or heat generated.

Where I have issues is your proposal to use just one battery and 450watts in panels to run this freezer. Your 450w rated panels will not produce their full rated capacity all through the day so you will be drawing some power from the battery at some point. While 200watts draw from a 2.4kw battery storage is not a big deal, you may find your battery deeply drained or running out of juice on some days especially if you run the freezer after 4pm in the evening or start off early in the day say 6am and also if you will be powering other loads off the battery at any time.

The correct way to size panels is to allow for sufficient capacity to BOTH RUN LOADS AND SIMULTANEOUSLY RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES FULLY within the available sunlight hours. Perhaps again your setup has some on grid/utility or generator charging hours factored in so these could makeup the shortfall.

For batteries you want to size them so that they are never drained beyond 50% and they are discharged no more than C20 (I have found locally available C10 batteries do not live up to their spec). So depending on your actual scenario and if you will be adding on other loads you may need at least 2 12v 200ah batteries to make things work out perfectly.

Okay. So you'll propose two 200ah batteries. A panel size of around 600watts 12volts parallel. That definitely implies an upgraded CC to around 50amps, except i wanna go for the 24volts setup with less CC amp rating, i think.

What d'you think?

ceaser:


Sadly most inverters above 1000kva that I've come across are specified for 24volts input. I guess i may be restricted to 24 volts set up after all.

You'll be doing yourself a lot of favor going 24V

ceaser:


Okay. So you'll propose two 200ah batteries. A panel size of around 600watts 12volts parallel. That definitely implies an upgraded CC to around 50amps, except i wanna go for the 24volts setup with less CC amp rating, i think.

What d'you think?

Hello, I never sampled a 1kva inverter . I posted prices of quality , high surge capability 12v specs ranging from 1000w , 15000w & 2000w respectively and it powers fridge / freezer respectively .. If you are a 12v fan and have 2v - 6v or 12v 200-600a batteries , you can use the 12v set up.. You just get the right guage of solar cable as Mr Niyi mentioned above and install with either pwm or mppt controller.. My mobile number is visible in my signature for detailed enquiry ..... Cheer's

kiekie1:


Hello, I never sampled a 1kva inverter . I posted prices of quality , high surge capability 12v specs ranging from 1000w , 15000w & 2000w respectively and it powers fridge / freezer respectively .. If you are a 12v fan and have 2v - 6v or 12v 200-600a batteries , you can use the 12v set up.. You just get the right guage of solar cable as Mr Niyi mentioned above and install with either pwm or mppt controller.. My mobile number is visible in my signature for detailed enquiry ..... Cheer's

That's noted. Thanks.

Please I need a contact for solar water heater (100 to 200Litres) capacity for a building project. The Protek guy I found had only 300L tank capacities available.

Appreciate any help from the honorable members of the house

niyiomoiyunade,
it seems like solar water heaters have mysteriously disappeared from the market
within the space of one year. my advice is to go for the 300 liter capacity that is
available.Besides, when it comes to solar water heating, bigger is certainly better.

makavele:


you can do 1v 200Ah * 24 if you so desire . . as long as the multiplication leads to 24V or your desired voltage

So I go have 24 batteries ABI and turn my house to alaba market ABI?

My oga.

It would appear so o.

I have searched high and low and so far no joy for any of the premium brands except Protek who only have 300L capacity.

Client wants a roof mount and insists his roof can only support 200L max

GeorgeD1:
niyiomoiyunade,
it seems like solar water heaters have mysteriously disappeared from the market
within the space of one year. my advice is to go for the 300 liter capacity that is
available.Besides, when it comes to solar water heating, bigger is certainly better.

davodyguy:

So I go have 24 batteries ABI and turn my house to alaba market ABI?

. . . if you so desire !!!

niyiomoiyunade,
unless your client's roof is concrete, i wouldn't advise a direct mount
even for a 200 liter capacity water heater. i don't really know why he's
avoiding getting a second tower for the water heater but if cost is the
overriding reason, he can just modify his existing fresh water tower
(at a little added cost) and place the water heater under the fresh
water tank.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Please I need a contact for solar water heater (100 to 200Litres) capacity for a building project. The Protek guy I found had only 300L tank capacities available.

Appreciate any help from the honorable members of the house

how much is the 300 litres? Is it on any online store?
Asked about this a few pages back not got no response

DUNKA:
how much is the 300 litres? Is it on any online store?
Asked about this a few pages back not got no response

Dunka,
Good evening. 300L is available in only the pressurized spec which was sold above 1m but currently under promo for 510k range if I can remember. How is the family - my regards !

Good evening house!
I have been following this forum for more than a week now. I most confess, I have learnt so much from this forum. The willingness of the gurus to respond to challenges presented by newbies like me. Please keep up the good job you are doing.

I have a 5kva Ipower plus inverter. My challenge is how to get the data. So I am finally at a point where I can play with the software(WATCHPOWER) that came with my inverter. So I hooked it all up with a USB to RS232 converter. Everything seems to work. I can even hear the relay when I switch output source priority from utility to SBU.

The issue I have is on the data logging I cannot select the device in the droplist. Its just not there. It does show the device ID on the main screen on the left

Has anybody else experianced this

Just to update
I finally got it sorted out.
An upgrade was all that was required

makavele:


Willing to wager a 100k, his 1000va inverter would struggle to start the deep-freezer (most especially when it has defrosted) !!
You game

edit: except he has a premium inverter (neither chinese nor indian)

Well oga at d top has accepted ur 100k challenge, lemme jst do ref jeje

zeestone99:


Well oga at d top has accepted ur 100k challenge, lemme jst do ref jeje

We are waiting for OP to come and give us his testimony

so just doing some mental maths, and its appearing too good, thus am asking some1 else to xchk.

2 x 12v x 200ah batt fully charged, hooked up to a 4kva 24v mustpower inverter, theoritical energy availabe is 4800wh, taking out losses etc, we have 4000wh, the user has a 1.5hp sumo pump and a single 5k liters tank wch takes 45 to 60mins to get filled, so from my calc. to run the sumo pump for 1hr will gulp roughly 1500wh?.....thus the batt would still hv a little juice above the 50% dod mark?