Hi guys
I wanted to find out if this is a good one off offer from a private individual overseas...

250W x 4 solar panels
4000KW inverter

Equivalent amount is #400,000

Please, NOTE...Asking only for my own purchase. Not a seller or whatnot.

Dependent on the make of the items, it may be a good offer or an offer too good to be true.

Pls use Gennextech's price list on previous page:

4 panels will be about 300k
1 5kva inverter is 288k

Note that these prices are of course after customers duty, cost of business and profit are factored in.

You make the call

Today's weather was very dull. Cloudy all the way with some rainfall. However, l got some fantastic rresult. VOc was at 48.5v this mmorning. Been off grid since last week. PHCN high tension cables destroyed . 5pm and see result

House,

time to be innovative as the economy is not smiling.
anybody knows a site where i can get used solar panels n mppt?

thanks

BlackBaron:
Hi guys
I wanted to find out if this is a good one off offer from a private individual overseas...

250W x 4 solar panels
4000KW inverter

Equivalent amount is #400,000

Please, NOTE...Asking only for my own purchase. Not a seller or whatnot.

Good evening @BlackBaron,

would you like to tell the house what brand of solar panels you may get? I am just curious.

iLoveTheSun:


Good evening @BlackBaron,

(would you like to tell the house what brand of solar panels you may get? I am just curious.)

This is my personal opinion: You will get what you pay. Of course, it is legitimate to double check prices, so nobody is being screwed.

Here are my points why there are many advantages buying from my fellow solar installers/retailers.

1) Will you get warranty/guarantee from your vendor?
If you buy from my fellow solar installers, they will provide warranty/guarantee. If something goes wrong, they will be happy to fix it, because their reputation is on the table. Who is going to fix your inverter in case of failure?
(normally 2 years for workmanship; 10 years manufacturer's material warranty/guarantee and 20 years of performance warranty/guarantee - if the manufacturer doesn't go bankrupt!)

2) I am not sure, if it is cost effective to ship just four panels and one inverter. I'd guess that the shipment of a full 20" or 40" with solar panels will be more cost effective, na?

3) I'd suggest to build a sustainable two-tier solar industry in Nairaland. Do-it-yourself is good, but on the other hand you should trust the expertise and the know-how of your solar installer of choice. You find many gurus here in the house. Two-tier: importer/wholesale -> installer/retail vendor.

4) This forum is good to 'educate' potential customers. So they are prepared to ask the right questions and to have a good idea what size/capacity they need, and what budget is required. You get to know how to judge solar installers. The professional solar installers know what fuses, breakers, surge protection devices and cable sizing is required, so that you neither burn your fingers nor your house - in case of lightning!

Eventually, gurus here are happy to provide free, valuable consulting in order to promote solar energy.

At last, but not at least, it's great that you go solar

sunny regards,

It says PV solar kit
Inverter is a 4000W grid tie by Pangea Spain.(8.33)

No warranties as looks like a private seller. Just wanted to make enquiries

Here are some general thoughts.

The advantages buying from my fellow solar installers/retailers:

1) Make sure you buy from a serious vendor who is able to provide you 12 - 24 months of warranty/guarantee.
If something goes wrong, they will be happy to fix it, because their reputation is on the table.
(normally 2 years for workmanship; 10 years manufacturer's material warranty/guarantee and 20 years of performance warranty/guarantee - if the manufacturer doesn't go bankrupt!)

2) It would be great to build a sustainable two-tier solar trade industry in Nairaland. Do-it-yourself is good, but on the other hand you should trust the expertise and the know-how of your solar installer of choice. You find many gurus here in the house. (Two-tier: importer/wholesale -> installer/retail vendor.)

3) This forum is good to 'inform' potential customers. So you are prepared to ask the right questions and to have a good idea what size/capacity you need, and what budget is required. The professional solar installers know what fuses, breakers, surge protection devices and cable sizing is required, so that you neither burn your fingers nor your house - in case of lightning!

Eventually, gurus here are happy to provide free, valuable consulting in order to promote solar energy.

sunny regards,

BlackBaron:

It says PV solar kit
Inverter is a 4000W grid tie by Pangea Spain.(8.33)

No warranties as looks like a private seller. Just wanted to make enquiries

Where do you plan on using a grid tied inverter?

chris81964:


Where do you plan on using a grid tied inverter?

maybe South Africa?

JUO:
maybe South Africa?

Lol @ Juo !

DMerciful:
House,

time to be innovative as the economy is not smiling.
anybody knows a site where i can get used solar panels n mppt?

thanks

Seconded

DMerciful:
House,

time to be innovative as the economy is not smiling.
anybody knows a site where i can get used solar panels n mppt?

thanks

OK i just have 6 pcs of used Chinese 135w solar panels for sale incase you are very interested ..

What are then spec of these panels and price? I have some panels, I want to know if I can combine them

kiekie1:


OK i just have 6 pcs of used Chinese 135w solar panels for sale incase you are very interested ..

DMerciful:
What are then spec of these panels and price? I have some panels, I want to know if I can combine them

Ok its a Suntech brand if i can remember .. you have all my PM info for more details cos I don't really discuss much esp on a fairly used item ..!

Elo House
what n what do I need to power a 2bedroom flat wt electrical appliances n a fridge

Do you have the infinisolar 10kw hybrid inverter? How much does it go for?

Gennextech:
the infinisolar 10kw can take up tp 1000vdc

Hello House, I knew when buying my Prag 3KW 24V inverter that i was going to have to settle for some compromises compaired to the higher quality brands but I never expected to get a No Load Draw of approx. 45W. The power saver mode is about 20W and constantly pulses any loads to try to switch it on. Not comfortable with my modem and router constantly coming on and then going off.

It was running at seriously high temps but a recent firmware update addressed this issue by causing the fan to run permanently thereby increasing idle power draw.

The biggest issue i have with it is the Vdc ripple can be as high as 0.8V and increases with higher current setting. I have set the charger to C/20 to reduce the ripple for my battery protection and rely on my charge controller to properly charge my bank. I have complained to Prag and they have assured me that the inverter is designed to operate that way which I think is very POOR.

What experiences do other people have with their Prag inverter or other inverters?

canadian solar

iLoveTheSun:


Good evening @BlackBaron,

would you like to tell the house what brand of solar panels you may get? I am just curious.

1,131,000.00, it has large mppt that can take 14,850w

Tnycee:
Do you have the infinisolar 10kw hybrid inverter? How much does it go for?

Wazari:
Hello House, I knew when buying my Prag 3KW 24V inverter that i was going to have to settle for some compromises compaired to the higher quality brands but I never expected to get a No Load Draw of approx. 45W. The power saver mode is about 20W and constantly pulses any loads to try to switch it on. Not comfortable with my modem and router constantly coming on and then going off.

It was running at seriously high temps but a recent firmware update addressed this issue by causing the fan to run permanently thereby increasing idle power draw.

The biggest issue i have with it is the Vdc ripple can be as high as 0.8V and increases with higher current setting. I have set the charger to C/20 to reduce the ripple for my battery protection and rely on my charge controller to properly charge my bank. I have complained to Prag and they have assured me that the inverter is designed to operate that way which I think is very POOR.

What experiences do other people have with their Prag inverter or other inverters?

@Wazari,

Sorry to hear that. But thanks that you share your experience with the house.
I guess the Prag is not programmable? I need to check myself...

Does anyone have an osciloscope to put on the inverter? I am curious about the sine wave quality of the so called "pure sine wave" inverters.
I know -for example - that a brand fridge manufacturer does not allow that the built-in compressor to be run on an inverter, the warranty is void then. Why? Because the compressor wouldn't run smoothly if it is not operated with real sine wave. (Even I doubt the quality of the grid.) Before I read about the warranty, I did not know about this issue, that your fridge (or freezer or A/C) could break because of poor AC wave quality?!
Lessons learned.

chris81964:

Where do you plan on using a grid tied inverter?

Good point @Chris81964!

@BlackBaron

In case you are not familiar, in Europe it is required that an on-grid inverter only works when there's light.
I.e. the on-grid inverter "listens" to the grid, the grid is like a "heartbeat" and if voltage and frequency of the grid are within given thresholds (depends on country), then the on-grid inverter will start to operate and "sends" the energy to the grid and to the loads in the house. It is a safety measurement.
(Of course, there are inverters that provide the "heartbeat" as well, so that you can connect an on-grid inverter. Normally you find those type of inverters in the US ...rather small scale for homeowners ... just saying to complete the picture.)

(By the way, sometimes I smile when I read that big investors plan to build 100 MW of solar plants/parks. Those people are financial guys, not knowing about the technical challenges, I guess?! If light is not available, the plant won't operate... = no power = no income.)

Hello Newbies,

for those asking the same questions again and again:
"I have n appliances with x watts power consumption.
How many solar panels, what solar charger, inverter, batteries should I take?"

I will not answer those questions, but I would like to build some sort of foundation, that assumptions and facts may differ sometimes.
(To be honest, I was surprised myself. Like, "Oh, I need a Mercedes ML!" And then after analysing the data: "Oops, a Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit will do!" I hope you get the point. There is a saying: "The eyes are always bigger than your stomach (=real hunger)!" [That's why many people have lots of of leftovers on their plate!])
It's rather a guideline to understand your real power needs.

Here are my recommendations for the newbies:
1) Please do your homework (sorry, to say this) and read this thread from start. There are tons of valuable information by my fellow solar heros.
2) Chris has even built an app. Check it out!
3) Please do not feel disappointed, if you wait for an answer. Be patient!
4) At last, but not at least: here is a real case study to give you a feeling about your demand.
This is some sort of energy consumption audit, in order to understand what inverter and what battery capacity is really required.

Last week, I got a 3-phase digital energy meter with S0 output (it's the 2-wire grey cable in the top). 1000 pulses per kWh. (i.e. 1 pulse = 1/1000 kWh)
And a data logger that can read S0 interface. So the data has been put into a graph.

Real-case scenario:
Small 2 bedroom apartment with 2 persons. One person (breadwinner) out of the house during the day. One person at home.
1 x LCD TV approx. 100-130 Watts
4 x energy-saving bulbs (5 - 8 Watts each)
1 x small refrigerator (don't know - it's too heavy to move around and to check the name/type plate)
2 x fridges (don't know - it's too heavy to move around and to check the name/type plate)
1 x water cooker 1800 Watts (!!!)
1 x micro wave/oven combo up to 2000 Watts (!) it is adjustable from 180 Watts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 x electric stove xxxx Watts(!!!) my comment: shouldn't be powered by battery!!!
1 x washing machine xxxx Watt(!!!) my comment: shouldn't be powered by battery!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, hot water for showering is on a different meter, because the building is a multiplex.

...
Here we go!

Color codes:
Yellow = Surplus solar production put into batteries
Green = Self consumption, solar power directly consumed by AC loads
Red = Consumption from battery (or from grid, if available... in this case, light was on!)

to be continued...

...
as you can see the fridge and the freezer turn on every 80-110 mins. (I have not seen the type/name plate, but those are quality brands, so I guess they are energy-efficient?!)
The baseload in the night is also to charge the phones and one laptop. There is an Internet router, a fax and a conventional fixedline phone. In a 2-person household, LED light bulbs are only lit on in the living room...(of course bathroom as well - just in case ;-)

LCD TV: depending on the show, if it is bright and noisy, I guess the TV consumes more.

Cooking lunch: only one stove was switched on, but it took from 12:10 to 13:00h?!

It was a sunny day with some clouds in between, as you can see. It is a 4 or 5 kWp solar panel array. (don't remember... I need to check)
...

...(corrected)
Solar production in total for that day was: 18.30 kWh
Total consumption: 4.06 kWh (if cooking was done with cooking gas, the electricity consumption would be less!)
whereas 1.06 kWh was consumed directly from solar.
i.e. 3.00 kWh (4.06 - 1.06 kWh) would have been used from the battery within 24h during a more or less sunny day.

So, for this use case a lead-acid battery with 6,000 Wh (c20) with DoD 50% would be required.

House, do you agree?
---
p.s. Watts is a measurement of power; Wattshour [Wh] is a measurement of energy (= power over a period of time like one hour)

iLoveTheSun:
...
Solar production in total for that day was: 18,30 kWh
Total consumption: 4,06 kWh (if cooking was done with cooking gas, the electricity consumption would be less!)
whereas 1,06 kWh was consumed directly from solar.
i.e. 3,00 kWh (4,06 - 1,06 kWh) would have been used from the battery within 24h during a more or less sunny day.

So, for this use case a lead-acid battery with 6.000 Wh (c20) with DoD 50% would be required.

House, do you agree?
---
p.s. Watts is a measurement of power; Wattshour [Wh] is a measurement of energy (= power over a period of time like one hour)

I dont know if I'm not getting something right, like those fiqures are overblown, from the graph, the instantaneous power generated at any point is not up to 3kw, assuming a mean value of 2.4kw over 6hour period will give 14.4kwh, you have 1830kwh up there, consumption of 406, 300 and even a low of 106kwh directly from solar is outrageous to me, did ur comma connote dot? do you actually mean 6000wh for the battery bank? kindly expatiate. thanks

bmdflo:


I dont know if I'm not getting something right, like those fiqures are overblown, from the graph, the instantaneous power generated at any point is not up to 3kw, assuming a mean value of 2.4kw over 6hour period will give 14.4kwh, you have 1830kwh up there, consumption of 406, 300 and even a low of 106kwh directly from solar is outrageous to me, did ur comma connote dot? do you actually mean 6000wh for the battery bank? kindly expatiate. thanks

His comma equals our full stop
His full stops equal our comma

Solar production started just before 8am and went on till a little after 5pm with peaks of close to 2.8kwh over a 4 hour period. I think the 18.3kwh produced should be right on track considering the entire production over the 9 or so hours.

iLoveTheSun:


Good point @Chris81964!

@BlackBaron

In case you are not familiar, in Europe it is required that an on-grid inverter only works when there's light.
I.e. the on-grid inverter "listens" to the grid, the grid is like a "heartbeat" and if voltage and frequency of the grid are within given thresholds (depends on country), then the on-grid inverter will start to operate and "sends" the energy to the grid and to the loads in the house. It is a safety measurement.
(Of course, there are inverters that provide the "heartbeat" as well, so that you can connect an on-grid inverter. Normally you find those type of inverters in the US ...rather small scale for homeowners ... just saying to complete the picture.)

(By the way, sometimes I smile when I read that big investors plan to build 100 MW of solar plants/parks. Those people are financial guys, not knowing about the technical challenges, I guess?! If light is not available, the plant won't
operate... = no power = no income.)

You can do AC coupled solutions. You need a battery inverter to do the job of the grid. There are few that can do it. The three that I know that can are SMA, Schneider and Victron.
Some contributors to this forum have done AC coupled solutions.

chris81964:

You can do AC coupled solutions. You need a battery inverter to do the job of the grid. There are few that can do it. The three that I know that can are SMA, Schneider and Victron.
Some contributors to this forum have done AC coupled solutions.

Yes, on a smaller scale on the AC load side. (Though, according to SMA you can build up to 12 x 3 Sunny Island 8 = 36 in a cluster, up to 300 kW. That would be a nice project!)

100 MW solar plant (upstream) will fail.
(Or you use large battery storage? Is it then economically viable?)

battleaxe:


His comma equals our full stop
His full stops equal our comma

Solar production started just before 8am and went on till a little after 5pm with peaks of close to 2.8kwh over a 4 hour period. I think the 18.3kwh produced should be right on track considering the entire production over the 9 or so hours.

Thanks! now corrected!