zenus:

check here
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-390522.0.html#msg5773147

@Zenus,
I have read that page you referred me to since, the illustrations there do not answer my question of merits and demerits of series/parallell conection of baterries for energy storage in solar power/inverter system. Pls help.

Hotwire:

@Geoge D,
Babajiroro of Nigeria FTA (courtesy Enitan2002) could you pls confirm the merits and demerits of parallel vs series connection of batteries to store energy. Does it have any effect on the inverter, the charge cotroller or the batterry themselves?

hotwire,
when you connect batteries in series, you increase their voltage but current remains the same and when you connect them in parallel, voltage remains the same but current increases. lets say i have four 12v 200a/h batteries, in series they will be 12*4=48v with same 200ah. but in parallel those same 4 batteries will be 200ah*4=800ah but same 12v. remember however that this does not affect the power output from the batteries as the four of them will still give you 200*12=2400w for the rated period.

having said that, whether batteries are connected in series or parallel really depends on what the installer wants to achieve. it does not affect the inverter in anyway, neither does it affect the charge controller.

but there is a problem with parallel connected batteries which has to do with the way they are connected. if paralleled wrongly, some batteries in the loop will be charging better than others and over time, those batteries not receiving enough charge will drag down the rest of the good batteries. that is why from the practical point of view, series connection is always preferred over parallel connected systems.

zenus,
each sharp solar panel of 200w is about 180k and the morningstar ts-45 charge controller is about 60k.

for your 2.5kva inverter, assuming your using 2 batteries of 12v/200ah you will need a minimum 2pcs of these type of modules to enjoy.

Oga George D,
this one na serious budget oh, i cant even do the mental estimate because the overall outlay can break a bank, however, for what its worth you can never spend enough, congrats man and i know you will always be there to give us all the technical & financial advice when our own turn come

George_D:

hotwire,
when you connect batteries in series, you increase their voltage but current remains the same and when you connect them in parallel, voltage remains the same but current increases. lets say i have four 12v 200a/h batteries, in series they will be 12*4=48v with same 200ah. but in parallel those same 4 batteries will be 200ah*4=800ah but same 12v. remember however that this does not affect the power output from the batteries as the four of them will still give you 200*12=2400w for the rated period.

having said that, whether batteries are connected in series or parallel really depends on what the installer wants to achieve. [b]it does not affect the inverter in anyway, neither does it affect the charge controller.[/b]but there is a problem with parallel connected batteries which has to do with the way they are connected. if paralleled wrongly, some batteries in the loop will be charging better than others and over time, those batteries not receiving enough charge will drag down the rest of the good batteries. that is why from the practical point of view, series connection is always preferred over parallel connected systems.

@George D
Is'nt your explanation much better than the page that I was earlier referred to? Thanks, no doubt your explanation will help newbies and professionals alike.

@Zenus
See above explanation bolded by me from George D

Hotwire:

@George D
Is'nt your explanation much better than the page that I was earlier referred to? Thanks, no doubt your explanation will help newbies and professionals alike.

@Zenus
See above explanation bolded by me from George D

You only look @ the picture but not the theory behind it still on the same page.
Must they say the same things over and over again?

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-390522.0.html#msg5487584

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-390522.0.html#msg5487783

@Zenus,
Good diagrams and explanations. But you wrote that series connection will spoil the inverter. See your contribution no. 23 on page one of this Thread. This contradicts the submission of George D which I quoted and boldened above. Zenus, variety is the spice of life.

skalamanga:

Oga George D,
this one na serious budget oh, i cant even do the mental estimate because the overall outlay can break a bank, however, for what its worth you can never spend enough, congrats man and i know you will always be there to give us all the technical & financial advice when our own turn come

skalamanga,
the solar business is a serious one for people thinking more about positioning themselves for a future of energy independence in a society where public power is getting more epileptic by the day even as more funds are poured into the sector.

in this country as of today, when people talk about power and they think of alternatives to phcn, they think generators. so when you compare solar to generators you may be tempted to think solar is too costly. however that is only true with respect to short term projections. in the long term, the seemingly higher cost of solar pales into insignificance when compared with the huge cost savings of not having to run generators say over a 25yr period.

lets do the maths:
personally i have a 5kva petrol generator and when i was running it almost everyday, a 30ltr can of petrol will be used up in a week and that is talking of a maximum 4 hours everyday. anything more than that and the 30litres will not even last that long. there are people who have generators double that capacity and who run them for twice that lenght of time and its your guess how long a similar volume of fuel will carry them.

but lets concentrate on my own experience:

30ltrs in 1 wk is roughly 10 litres/day.
1month = 300litrs
at the present pump price of 65naira/ltr, it becomes: 300*65= 19,500 naira
in a year that amounts to: 19,500*12 = 234,000 naira
assuming pump price remains the same (which will be virtually impossible), in 25yrs, we'll have spent:
234,000*25 = 5,850,000 naira.

now, that's putting it mildly because i haven't accounted for the cost of servicing and repairs of the generator (i'e oil changes, filter, fuel pump). also, there's no guarantee that any generator no matter how rugged will last that long. averagely you'll have to change that gen once every 5 to 6 yrs depending on the brand.
then how do we factor in the constant inconvenience of noise, smoke, etc? when there is fuel scarcity you must get fuel by all means if you must have electric power so sometimes you end up siphoning fuel from your car's tank into your generator and a few times you may even suck in and swallow some of it!

now, when you compare all this to the advantage solar gives you, the higher costs does not seem so high afterall. the secret to it is starting on a small scale. you start with an inverter and battery bank. after a while you then add solar modules to your system. that way the cost wouldn't be as prohibitive as it appears from the start.

for those who have built houses before, if you were to start from day one and look at the overall cost of building that house from foundation to the last pin, the cost alone would be intimidating but when you learn to take one step at a time, you'll discover that in no time, what you thought impossible has become a reality and so it is with a solar system.

Hotwire:

@George D
Is'nt your explanation much better than the page that I was earlier referred to? Thanks, no doubt your explanation will help newbies and professionals alike.

hotwire,
just a little clarification on what i meant by

whether batteries are connected in series or parallel really depends on what the installer wants to achieve. it does not affect the inverter in anyway, neither does it affect the charge controller

if your asking whether series or parallel connection affects inverter or charge controller performance, then the answer is still no but of your asking whether it affects the type/size/capacity of inverter and charge controller used in a system, then the answer is yes.

going back to my earlier example: if i connect 4pcs of 12v 200ah batteries in series, i get a total of 48v so i must use an inverter capable on handling 48v systems. the same goes for the charge controller. if however i connect them in parallel, it still remains 12v but with higher current and so i must use an inverter capable of handling 12v with the resultant higher current. same goes also for the charge controller.

in practice however, manufacturers tend to factor in the different needs of their customers and hence they usually make these products to work across platforms, i.e you can purchase an inverter capable of handling from 12v to 48v also a charge controller with a 12v to 48v range. how you use them will now depend on your system configuration.

@George D,
The clarification you made is consistent with your earlier explanation of merits and demerits of my inquiry. Keep the information flag flying.
I heard about an advert (over the radio) on constructing a Fuel-less Generator that is not solar. It produces electricity without smoke or noise. Any ideas?

hotwire,
i've heard about something similar too but truth is i'm still at a loss as to whether it's real or not.

Hotwire:

@George D,
. . . .
. . . . constructing a Fuel-less Generator that is not solar. It produces electricity without smoke or noise. Any ideas?

A Fuel-less Generator !!!

Men!!! i no fit wait.
TEchnology is fast moving on . . .

@all,pls what is d cost of solar panel,5kw inverter,battery.And to total panel that can power up a 3bed flat.

irapada,
for a 5kw inverter, budget btw 150k to 250k depending on the make.

the number of batteries will depend on total backup power you need.

check out this cyberpower site. you can call them for further discussion:

http://www.computerport.biz/categorylanding/c134

solar power diagrams:

skalamanga,

going back to my earlier example above, it even gets better when you think of solar as a means of continuos power supply and not just like a generator which you start and stop every now and then.
let's say you have a solar power system which supplies you steady power during the day and a back-up system that supplies you power all through the night, the difference between solar and generators becomes just staggering!
if i were to run my generator on a 24hr (or minimum of 12hrs) basis like i was using an inverter, here's what we'll be talking about:

let's rewind:
30ltrs in 1 wk of roughly 3 hrs use daily becomes: 40 litres in 12hrs or 80litrs in 24hrs.
we will stick with the 12hrs minimum use option.
40ltr/day becomes 1,200 litres/month
at the present pump price of 65naira/ltr, this becomes: 1,200*65=  78,000 naira per month.
in a year that amounts to: 78000*12 =  936,000 naira per year
assuming pump price remains the same (which will be virtually impossible), in 25yrs, this becomes:

936,000*25 =  23,400,000 naira.

here it is! if you were to run a 5ka petrol generator for at least 12hrs everyday, you'll end up spending about 23.4 million naira in 25yrs at the present pump price but as we all know, the pump price can never remain the same over that long a period.
now the big one: if you were to run that same generator for 24hrs everyday (which you can achieve with a solar power system) you will end up spending 2 times that amount in 25yrs:

46,800,000 naira!

for less than one-tenth of this amount, you can install a solar power system that gives you trouble free operation for over 25yrs!

now, who still says solar is expensive? 

edited

another one to ponder on:

solar house diagram:

cutting edge yet very earth friendly when you calculate based on your carbon footprint you could be wasting up to 85 million Naira.
George d thanks for checking on me yday

jujukemist,
thanks for the addition. the above calculation was done without regards to carbon footprint fines which could astronomically increase the cost of running fuel guzzling generators, but hey, it'll be some time before that begins to sink into our senses this part of the world.

George_D:

------check out this cyberpower site. you can call them for further discussion:

http://www.computerport.biz/categorylanding/c134

The link is no longer functinal.
Here is the new link
http://www.buyright.biz/categorylanding/c134
enjoy

spaceman,
thanks for the addition.

btw,
i went a milestone further on tuesday by bulking water to my house water tank using power from the sun! also powered up the refrigerator after the tank was filled! now, from fta to water pumps to fridges, who says solar power is still a pipe dream?

solar power for you.

@George_D
these homes are FREEEEEE, so long as day de dark and break
How I wish all these solar panels belong to me.
I for de even supply power de collect money.
who say naija man no de wiser?

spaceman,
wishes have a way of coming true- with a little effort on our part and help from the almighty.

Oga George

Each time i read your posts am ALWAYS DRAWN & FASCINATED by your tag line: Break the myth, dispel the belief - you know you can!

Now know why cos it takes som1 with a lot of dedication financially, physically and with enough knowledge to ACHIEVE what you've done. I pray God to BLESS you so that you can ALSO b a source of blessing to people like "US" AMEN.

Keep up the good work MORE GREASE TO YOUR ELBOW & MORE DETERGENT TO KEEP IT CLEAN ALWAYS.

2legit2qt,
i say amen to that. thanks for your kind words of encouragement.
i pray the blessings will surely go round.

George_D:

2legit2qt,
i pray the blessings will surely go round.

Amennnnnnnnnn

@all,
i've been busy these few days boosting up my solar array and just yesterday i finished with
the installation. testing and monitoring is presently on-going. pictures live as before!

more:

be sure of the label: sharp!

attaching the brackets to the roof.

fixing the modules: