shupsyBaba:
Good morning

Just read through the entire thread, long read
Great work!

I do have a few request, I was planning on going Solar until
I realized yesterday that my batteries have packed up
(bought them used and have used them for almost three years)

So I need to replace them first, can anyone give me the contact of
a seller of good grade used batteries. 150Ah/180Ah preferably
and the cost.

Not sure if the likes of Ceejay80's Oga Chidi have in stock

2. I would also like a contact of a seller of NOT-TOO-EXPENSIVE
PV panels - 130W - 180W, 12V, mono crystal.

2b. Plus can one mix mono and poly together? That is eg 2 130W mono + 2 150W poly?

3. What is the average cost and brand of a good / recommendable Solar charger,
PWM, yes I know MPPT are the best but unless I can get one for less than
30K I wouldnt bother for now

Thanks, appreciate

timifakay:

Can't be enough for 400ah, would take about 2 days to charge one 200ah battery fully from low state.
@coderXO
Got it at N Olalekan Batteries, Ifeleye market, Oke Padre Ibadan

mukhcech:



abeg help me with the guys phone asap. Does he have 40ah.? Thanks

shupsyBaba:
Yes o!
Almost 3 years, sadly the guy I bought it from then isnt in that business again.
Oga Ceejay80, I just called you now, still looking for the no. of the battery guy at Army Arena, would appreciate if you can repost though.
Thanks

moobbie:
Shout out to all the members on board. Most especially gracias to ceejay. THUMBS UP. His just awesome. Now my own view of things.

I think we are deviating from d actual concept of this thread. I want to believe this thread is to provide an inverter system that's cost effective n efficient. Thanks to ceejay, we all v d know-how of ups/inverter system. Now the main thing is to charge our setups. Me personally my 100ah purchased over a month now hasn't been fully charged cos of worsening epileptic power supply in my hood *believe this is quite general. Now it's 2 hours a week.

Ceejay, I will like us to incorporate a way to charge our setups with solar that's cost efficient n cheap. No doubt about the solar panel, we will need that. Where I think the cost efficiency comes in is the charge controller. As for me thinking of the costs is heart breaking. Someone mentioned a work-around around the controller.

I think *other opinions needed a 200w panel should charge a 100ah in a day or 2 without the charge controller without risk to battery damage. We need the work-around around the charge controller in details. Thanks

GeorgeD:
ugh,
let me try and reply you again. hopefully this time the post stays:

never make the mistake of charging your battery bank directly from your solar panels. as you have already experienced, you risk losing your batteries to overcharging and overheating. besides it's very dangerous!
always connect your solar array to your battery bank through a charge controller.

now to your question: how will an mppt charge controller increase the output of your array?

to answer this question, you need to know how a solar charge controller works.

a normal charge controller charges your battery bank at battery voltage irrespective of its rated output. for example, a 200w panel rated at 32v, 6.25a charging a 24v battery bank, you will get

24v*6.25a = 150watts. but your panel is supposed to be 200w, so (200w-150w) you lose 50w! on any given day no matter how bright the sun is in the sky. it even gets worse if your battery voltage is low.

lets say you used your inverter heavily overnight and your battery bank voltage dropped to 18v. in the morning your panels will only be outputting:

18v*6.25a = 112.5watts. you lose about 87.5watts! suddenly your 200w panel is only as good as a 100w panel, half what you paid for!
now, with an mppt solar charge controller, the charge controller looks at the output of the panels, and compares it to the battery voltage. it then figures out what is the best power that the panel can put out to charge the battery. it takes this and converts it to best voltage to get the maximum current into the battery. most modern mppt's are around 93-97% efficient in the conversion. you typically get a 20 to 45% power gain in cloudy weather and 10-15% in bright sunlight.


first of all, what is an mppt controller?


an mppt, or maximum power point tracker is an electronic dc to dc converter that optimizes the match between the solar array (pv panels), and the battery bank. to put it simply, it converts a higher voltage dc output from your solar panels down to the lower voltage needed to charge your batteries.

for example using the same 200w solar panel above,

assuming your battery is low, at 24 volts. an mppt controller takes that 32volts at 6.25amps and converts it down, so that what the battery gets is now 8.33 amps at 24 volts. Now you still have almost 200 watts, your money's worth.

24v*8.33 = 199.92 approx 200w.

assume your battery bank voltage is low, it even gets better:

18v*11.1 = 199.8 approx 200w
where with a normal charge controller you lose power the lower you batter voltage,
with an mppt charge controller, you get more current and your panel's rated power
when you need it most.

Valto:
in this days of epileptic power supply, solar is the way to go. 200amps battery will need about 400watts rated solar panel to charge full in a day assuming there is enough sunlight.
price breakdown
2 pcs 200watts mono solar panel=70k
wellsee 30amp solar charge controller =8k
so with 78k u are good to go.

Valto:
in this days of epileptic power supply, solar is the way to go. 200amps battery will need about 400watts rated solar panel to charge full in a day assuming there is enough sunlight.
price breakdown
2 pcs 200watts mono solar panel=70k
wellsee 30amp solar charge controller =8k
so with 78k u are good to go.

deekseen:
Thanks for this. I was actually trying to find out if a hybrid solar charge controller unit can replace the 2 separate inverter and charge controller units, because it's cheaper and takes less space.

mukhcech:



abeg help me with the guys phone asap. Does he have 40ah.? Thanks

joehis2013:


Pls Is there any way of using an ordinary monitor as tv i.e one without an AV input

kio052001:

yes
its done with the help of a TV Box you can get it in Ikeja

ceejay80s:

How much does it cost ?

kio052001:

not more than 7,500 (for the newer version) it looks more like a raspberry

timifakay:



Does the hybrid solar charge controller have inbuilt inverter? Function of inverter is different fro that of charge controller, and as I sad earlier on, output current of charge controller (for solar panel) or smart charger (for PHCN charged set up) should be atleast 10% of battery ah

balogunsam:
UPDATE: Plugged to charge like an hour or more ago and the metre needle read 35A...it then came down as time went on..now its on 10A...should be full in an hour or so more.

balogunsam:
Hi everyone...finally got the setup yesterday

30A smart charger- 12500
200AH used battery- 35,000
1.2kv Bluegate 12V UPS+fan fixing- 4,000
Wire(2 yards)- 700
Total- 52,200.

First picked a telecom battery from the Arena guy but it lasted just three hours so I returned it and picked the Gaston 200AH in the photo....will test and give feedback.
I was torn between getting a brand new Panasonic 100AH in Ikeja for 35k or getting the toks 200AH but since the battery guy gave me a return warranty I decided to try him.

***The UPS didn't get hot at all during the three hours it worked...guess because of the fan and the load that was not much. If you can afford the bigger UPS, I stro gly recommend it.

Load: 32" LCD @70w
2 laptops @130w
GoTV
Standing Fan @70w


@ceejay, thank you very much chief! Your idea brought up all this.

balogunsam:


Guys please help o...the needle kept going down till it got to 5A...I expected the green light to come on but its not coming on....the fan just stopped working and the red light went off...please advice...is this normal?

Valto:
i was offered 3 different type of fairly used batteries, all are in good condition. house which one do i choose out the 3?

Valto:
i was offered 3 different type of fairly used batteries, all are in good condition. house which one do i choose out the 3?

Bosc:

I use the 3rd one (Ritar) which I also bought fairly used. The seller told me that it is an industrial battery and that its life span is about 13 to 15 years but that he will assure me that I will use it for 3 years or more. So if you are sure that they are all in good shape, I recommend it for you.

saint2ace:


Ritar batteries are quite reliable, that would be my first pick followed by Sukam then Luminous.

My opinion...

Valto:
thanks, how long does it last, with your previous quoted load?

Bosc:


I think that the charging capacity of my inverter is higher than the 10amp written on the manual. I said so because I discovered that my 200amp battery was fully charged by the time I came back from work yesterday. Still on testing mode, I slept with my standing fan ON (though I increased the speed to 2 this time) and it lasted from around 8:30pm till 4:30am when my inverter started beeping.

Valto:
thanks. i am afraid of used battery though. he said its 35k last. his location is alaba int. and because of my location, it will not be easy return incase its faulty.

ceejay80s:

As soon as the fan goes off the red light goes off too, the green light comes ON, that means ur battery is full, its normal

balogunsam:


Yes chief, i guessed as much. The issue is the green light does not come on. The red just goes off and the fan goes off too...green light does not work. I called Mr Chidi so he said i should bring it back for a replacement. I'll take it to him on Monday/Tuesday.

Valto:
lolz, even one supplier told me to just connect directly and start using. i refused, after reading the voltage with meter. i cant afford to damage my 200amp battery i bought 70k in this hard time. 30amps solar charge controller is on the way.

Valto:
i was offered 3 different type of fairly used batteries, all are in good condition. house which one do i choose out the 3?