@pecorns
Yes you are right. It would seem logical to go for higher wattage panels, but I needed a car shade as well. Going for a 280W panel would not have covered the area I needed for my car shade. So I opted for 140W. As for efficiency the flexmax80 is doing a good job so far in tracking array mismatch.
The Tigo maximiser is taking array efficiency to a higher level, I looked it up and I am impressed. Its like MPPTing individual solar modules.
The drawback is you have to get every other accessories like inverters from same manufacturer. And worse of all, like the emphase microinverter its only for grid-tie sytems for now. My email: adekoy22@gmail.com.

Cheers

Akanniade:

@pecorns
Yes you are right. It would seem logical to go for higher wattage panels, but I needed a car shade as well. Going for a 280W panel would not have covered the area I needed for my car shade. So I opted for 140W. As for efficiency the flexmax80 is doing a good job so far in tracking array mismatch.
The Tigo maximiser is taking array efficiency to a higher level, I looked it up and I am impressed. Its like MPPTing individual solar modules.
The drawback is you have to get every other accessories like inverters from same manufacturer. And worse of all, like the emphase microinverter its only for grid-tie sytems for now. My email: adekoy22@gmail.com.

Cheers

Thank you very much for your reply, what I want to also know is can I run the building entirely on this.

akanniade,
congrats! 196kw in 32 days translates to an average 6.125kwh per day! not bad at all especially since we are still in the thick of the rainy season.

i'm sure by the time we enter the almost dry months from october you'll be producing far more energy than you need. i still see you hitting up to 300kwh per month in december or january!

@George_D
    I am going to load the system more. It seems I was being too carefull, cos on days no one is at home there is less harvest due to minimal load. I already removed the timers from the fridge and freezers.
How is your system doing? Have you gotten more battery banks?

akanniade,
i thought as much. when i saw your 196kwh 32day harvest i was like, what?! how come its so small with all those massive solar panels lying around there? and you just got what the solution is: more loading.

even if you have a 20kw system and all the time your battery bank is on float (with little or no loading) the panels just sit there idle and they become excess capacity and a waste of money too.

by the time you load them more, the panels are forced to produce more power to replenish what your taking out of your batteries and your kwh harvest per day shoots up.

since you have removed the timers, i expect your next 30day harvest to increase significantly compared to what it is now.

as for me, my system is still doing the best it can given its limitted back up capacity. i'm still searching for fairly used back-up batteries though. do you have any good news for me?

@George_D
Not yet. My Friend says all the base stations under his jurisdiction has been replaced already.

akanniade,
ok, no wahala. i guess i'll have to keep searching.

meanwhile, you got mail!

Thanks, I have downloaded the software thru the link in your mail.

@blink 182

The answer is yes, you can run your entire building on solar, but like i explained earlier, it's alot more complicated than buying a large generator.

akanniade,

did your strategy work? are you reaping more power from your array now?

Yes its working but not much difference anyway, with the clouds coming back. I guess the august break is over.

akanniade,
i guess you can say that. its been rain and more rain here too since i got back to town. i begin to wonder may the rains were waiting for my return before staging a comeback!

anyway, i still believe you'll be having more power than you can use come oct, nov, etc.

all,
385kwh on MPPT and still counting.

looks like the sunny days are gradually making a come back!

Solar Water Pumps Clearance
Monoflo submersible pumps. Sun-Sub Solar Pump Motor, Pump, and controller
Maximum Head of 150m

Size Range (I have 7 of these in stock)
Model Number SM062
Maximum Speed [rpm] 3000
Flow at Maximum Speed [lpm] 60
Max Discharge Pressure [kPa]* 1500
Pump length without motor [mm] 940
Current price:N195 000


Size Range (I have 1 of these in stock)
Model Number SM101
Maximum Speed [rpm] 3000
Flow at Maximum Speed [lpm] 100
Max Discharge Pressure [kPa]* 750
Pump length without motor [mm] 940
Current price:N195 000


Size Range (I have 8 of these in stock)
Model Number SM041
Maximum Speed [rpm] 3000
Flow at Maximum Speed [lpm] 40
Max Discharge Pressure [kPa]* 750
Pump length without motor [mm] 850
Current price:N160 000

Email me @ solarwindshop@gmail.com

solarwind,
do you have surface mounted solar pumps?

i'd prefer that to submersibles.

Yes, I carry Dankoff Solarforce pumps but I don't have them on clearance. Email me the specifications & the speed (liters per minute). The price range is between 320K - 375K. These pumps can produce up to 34 liter per minute at a total VERTICAL LIFT of 42 meters(This pump cost 375K) or 42 meters vertical lift @ 18 liters per minute(cost 320K).

I hope this give you a basic idea of cost of surface pumps. The price depends on your application. Send me an email @ solarwindshop@gmail.com

solarwind,
looks like surface solar pumps are way more expensive than sumo pumps.

any particular reason for that?

Well, typically, they are both around the same price usually, it's just that my supplier overstocked on these sub pumps hence I got them at a lower price. Also, the booming industry of drilling water wells in remote areas has really increased the demand for Sub pumps greatly. Typically the sub pumps I have here are more for communities and not individuals. They can produce up to 5000 liters/day (200 liters/hour) with a 300 watt panel and a 80m vertical Head. For deeper wells(vertical heads of 150meters), you will need 900watts panels to produce 5000 liters/day.

That is a lot of water and this is more ideal for farmers or people selling water. The main answer is just, Solar water pumps are still expensive and they benefit farmers, and large communities better than private individual. When you think about it, not unless you stay in a house with at least 10-15 people, it's not worthy it.

Any reason why you love surface water pumps?

yes, actually i was thinking of replacing my old dab surface pump with a solar powered alternative and
wanted to avoid doing a lot of modification to the already existing plumbing work.

What is the total vertical height of your existing system? You can power your existing system using solar panels, but it might be more expensive due to the number of solar panels you would need and cost of an inverter. A dc pump is definitely the best option.

@George D, pls from your experience, what do you think will be the total cost of setting up a solar system for 5 rooms and 10 rooms respectively ? Thanks for you response.

solarwind,
i'm presently using my inverter along with solar panels to power the conventional ac surface water pump.

as for the height i think its about 150 feet (not sure though)

digitman,
solar system sizing does not depend on how big your house is or the number of rooms you have but rather it depends on the total load you desire to power. the load in turn depends on the number of equipment (watts) you have and how long (duration) you want to run them daily.

give me a list of equipment you want to run (the wattage of each one) and the hours per day you expect to run them and i will tell you what size of battery bank you need and the number of panels to go with it. its that simple.

@George. Pls, can you recommend the type of battery i can use for my 1kw inverter. The list of equipments i want to run are TV,decoder, ten 18watts bulb for 4hours daily.

akerekoroabijawara,
since you said battery type i'd advise you go for zenith deep cycle batteries. very reliable and efficient. i've been using mine now for over four years without any stress.

George_D:

akerekoroabijawara,
since you said battery type i'd advise you go for zenith deep cycle batteries. very reliable and efficient. i've been using mine now for over four years without any stress.

Thanks.

all,
i witnessed my battery bank in float mode the very first time last week!

looks like the sun is really coming out in full force as we progress into

october!

@GeorgeD you recommed Zenith deep cycle battery as the best battery. Somebody promise to sell the type of battery mtn uses for me. Is the type of the battery ok for inverter? And how durable is the battery? The size is 150ah.

akerekoroabijawara,
if its mtn battery then go for it.

i'm also looking for that type of battery to buy in large quantity.

seems you're in luck!

George_D:

akerekoroabijawara,
if its mtn battery then go for it.

i'm also looking for that type of battery to buy in large quantity.

seems you're in luck!

thanks

@ george'D
PLEASE I JUST INVESTED IN DIS INVERTER BUSINESS.KINDLY ADVISE ME ON HOW TO MONITOR D BATTERY CHARGING COS I DONT WANT 2 DAMAGE IT.AM USING A 1000VA INVERTER WITH CHARGER.IT HAS HIGH-MEDIUM-LOW CHARGING CONFIGURATION.AM USING 2NOS FIAMM AGM 160AH BATERIES FOR TELECOM ITALIAN PRODUCT.IT TENDS TO GET HOT WHEN PUT ON HIGH CHARGE AND D INVERTER HAS NO COOLING FAN.OLD MODEL I GUESS.MY MAIL ADDRESS IS ikiriye@gmail.com thanks

ikriye,
the best way to safe guard your investment when it comes to inverters is to use a good quality one.

don't try to cut corners as it will only hurt you at the end.

again, a good inverter is key to long lasting batteries. you don't need to manually adjust the charge
hence there'll be no such problem of your battery heating up.

also, a good inverter usually has a cooling fan-especially for sizes 1000va and above.

so overall, my advice is to get a good inverter and save yourself from future headaches.