hello house I need the Morningstar meter like the one George D uses for the charge controller in Portharcourt. pls contact will be appreciated thanks

kiretiv: hello house I need the Morningstar meter like the one George D uses for the charge controller in Portharcourt. pls contact will be appreciated thanks

I got mine from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007NMUM2E/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can place your order online using your credit card.

Alternatively, you can call vitus (08039644115) and discuss with him to get it and send to you in PH

kiretiv,
i got your pm and i already sent you a reply. your best bet is to get one
from vitus (08039644115). in case you are new to this we can discuss on
how to go about dealing with him. cheers!

Ending the month of february of just 28days with 1736Ah harvest from the sun. I always like to say the value in watt hours....43.4Kwh!!!

Close to two weeks after the storm, there's been no public power....the fridge still chilling and that's the sound of my wife's blender, she no even dey bother tell me again before turning it on....

Charge controller counter reset...here comes the month of march.

Congrat @bodejohn, when 'madam' is happy, everyone is happy abi?. Out of interest, with how many panels are you getting such a harvest?

ile naira: Congrat @bodejohn, when 'madam' is happy, everyone is happy abi?. Out of interest, with how many panels are you getting such a harvest?

6 panels....2pcs of 120watts and 4 pieces of 100watts.
I will be buying 4 more 120watts by the weekend.
I plan to change the whole array to 120watts and rest all the 100watts panels till I get another charge controller.

bodejohn,
congrats! you're doing great. for the month of february, i think i should be crossing into the 4,500ah
range for my set up. i'm yet to do the maths but will soon get down to it. now that i'm using 2 controllers
it becomes more complex to add the harvest together.


p.s: by the way, i think the dust issue seems to be abating as i noticed a significant improvement in my
panels performance this time around compared to the month of january.

i'll keep an eye on the trend.

Nice one Bodejohn,
I got mine installed last weekend. (3 panels x 250W). For the whole week, I havent bought a litter of fuel nor powered my Gen. The combination of Solar & PHCN has kept the batteries alive even with PHCN holding power for over 24 hrs (in the name of shedding or rationalzation).

I have to figure out how many AH I harvested in the week and then reset it for March.

I however need one clarification, on the MPPT there is the dip switch for setting up batteries for equalization. I set it on auto (28 days). Is that recommended?

pdozie: Nice one Bodejohn,
I got mine installed last weekend. (3 panels x 250W). For the whole week, I havent bought a litter of fuel nor powered my Gen. The combination of Solar & PHCN has kept the batteries alive even with PHCN holding power for over 24 hrs (in the name of shedding or rationalzation).

I have to figure out how many AH I harvested in the week and then reset it for March.

I however need one clarification, on the MPPT there is the dip switch for setting up batteries for equalization. I set it on auto (28 days). Is that recommended?

Who needs a gen? I even sold mine off in January.
I have not had public power for two weeks now and honestly I don't seem to bother. With a total of 720watts installed capacity and another 400watts waiting the day I will buy a second charger controller, I have more than i need sef.

You should have a menu on your mppt charger where the daily harvest is accumulated. You can easily track from there.

I am not sure if battery equalization is needed on sealed deep cycle batteries. You can google....

all,
confirmed! seems my panels are gradually getting relieved of the dust issue.

casual monitoring this afternoon shows my combined harvested amps clocking 40!

as the days go by and with the weather becoming clearer i think it can only get better.

and, when the rains finally start pouring down, the remaining crusts of dusts on the panels

would have been washed away and by then i won't be supprised to be back into the 50a+

range!

pix:

more:

bodejohn:

Who needs a gen? I even sold mine off in January.
I have not had public power for two weeks now and honestly I don't seem to bother. With a total of 720watts installed capacity and another 400watts waiting the day I will buy a second charger controller, I have more than i need sef.

You should have a menu on your mppt charger where the daily harvest is accumulated. You can easily track from there.

I am not sure if battery equalization is needed on sealed deep cycle batteries. You can google....

Thanks Bode. At exactly 7 days, I harvested 309AH (15KW). I've cleared the logs for March now. Just out of curiosity, how many batteries are you running with? With 720 Watts solar capacity you have uninterrupted power for 2 weeks? with freezer and blenders firing on? I should be doing same with my 750W capacity but i doubt I can last for 3 days without PHCN complimenting...

Prag ServoStab, Sukam inverter and battery desulphator gadget (between the inverter and PRAG)

8 batteries (4 x 100AH AND 4 x 200AH) - Still observing behaviour. So far so good.

@pdozie, congrats, I'm especially glad you're using all of your batteries. With some more panels and and increased battery bank, NEPA can get lost for even more than three days.
Well done.

pdozie:

Thanks Bode. At exactly 7 days, I harvested 309AH (15KW). I've cleared the logs for March now. Just out of curiosity, how many batteries are you running with? With 720 Watts solar capacity you have uninterrupted power for 2 weeks? with freezer and blenders firing on? I should be doing same with my 750W capacity but i doubt I can last for 3 days without PHCN complimenting...

I do not have uninterrupted power but i have coverage for what i need. 2hrs in the morning and about 5 to 7hrs every evening and some 15 - 18hrs during the weekends. i think there could be an issue with your solar array setup, are you using a MPPT charger? I got 246AH in just two days after changing all my panels to 120 Watts, a total of 720watts. With 309Ah in 7days, you get an average of 45Ah per day although it could be that you rarely use you battery bank.

I still think it is not a good idea to use your batteries the way they are combined. It might not breakdown immediately but i am sure that continued use will make some issues for them.

309Ah should be 7725WH or 7.725KwH, how did you make your calculation?

pdozie,
nice set up there. one thing though: that prag stabilizer belongs on the wall and not
where it is sitting on the table. you can do it. just get some concerete nails and
fix the installation bracket on the wall then hang the stabilizer on it. pronto!

Error

Hi Bode,
I thought you were having 24/7 supply . With my setup, I run the inverter my from 6pm till day 7am next day (13 hrs). But the freezer gets turned off by 10pm leaving light points and fans.
Since everyone leaves home in the morning, we usually turn off the inverter. Normally if the inverter is turned off and PHCN comes up, the inverter still supplies and powers all gadgets, but if PHCN goes off, every gadget switches off. And I have two freezers and 1 fridge, with water dispenser that will be on (with PHCN). If all of them should hang off the inverter, the load will be too much for the batteries. Or what do you advice?

So in my case the solar ends up charging the batteries alone (with no load). that may be why the AH is smaller (My thoughts!!)

@George, Sure I will still hang the Stabilizer. I tried hanging it when I was setting up but the wall was too loose. The nails wouldnt hold tight. i spent so much time even getting the MPPT controller and the other ones hung. But I will tackle it.

pdozie: Hi Bode,
I thought you were having 24/7 supply . With my setup, I run the inverter my from 6pm till day 7am next day (13 hrs). But the freezer gets turned off by 10pm leaving light points and fans.
Since everyone leaves home in the morning, we usually turn off the inverter. Normally if the inverter is turned off and PHCN comes up, the inverter still supplies and powers all gadgets, but if PHCN goes off, every gadget switches off. And I have two freezers and 1 fridge, with water dispenser that will be on (with PHCN). If all of them should hang off the inverter, the load will be too much for the batteries. Or what do you advice?

So in my case the solar ends up charging the batteries alone (with no load). that may be why the AH is smaller (My thoughts!!)

@George, Sure I will still hang the Stabilizer. I tried hanging it when I was setting up but the wall was too loose. The nails wouldnt hold tight. i spent so much time even getting the MPPT controller and the other ones hung. But I will tackle it.

How much PHCN do you get in a day? Does your inverter charge your batteries when there is public power?
If you hardly get power from PHCN, then something is not right in the setup. With my setup of 450Ah battery bank, I had 111Ah on saturday, 135 on sunday, 88 yesterday and 121 today, I have already harvested 519Ah month to date.
I also switch off my inverter when I step out in the morning leaving the charge controller to pump current into my batteries. I have even removed the cable supplying the house from the prepaid meter because it's running into almost 3 weeks that we got power here.

@all, a general question for those of you with an inverter with dual input (DC from solar array + AC from either NEPA or a generator), where you are relying on NEPA for additional (or sole) input for charging your batteries, how do you protect your inverter from low currents, fluctuating voltages, incorrect frequencies and all the other forms of professionalism from NEPA?

I'm trying to decide whether to forget NEPA completely and just use a generator if I go beyond my system level of autonomy or hook it up to NEPA and save the expense of an auto-start generator but risk damaging the inverter. Any thoughts, experiences?

ile naira: @all, a general question for those of you with an inverter with dual input (DC from solar array + AC from either NEPA or a generator), where you are relying on NEPA for additional (or sole) input for charging your batteries, how do you protect your inverter from low currents, fluctuating voltages, incorrect frequencies and all the other forms of professionalism from NEPA?

I'm trying to decide whether to forget NEPA completely and just use a generator if I go beyond my system level of autonomy or hook it up to NEPA and save the expense of an auto-start generator but risk damaging the inverter. Any thoughts, experiences?

I stay in an area with a generally poor power supply, I have not seen more 120V at any peak period. I just passed my power supply directly from the prepaid meter into a 5KVA stabilizer and from there to my inverter and the whole house. Maybe voltage can fluctuate but our gadgets have very little tolerance for frequency fluctuations. I think you only need protection for fluctuating voltages which a voltage stabilizer can easily give.

@bodejohn, thanks for the reply. A stabiliser between Nepa and the inverter is a good thing. I'm assuming it would have to be a 'whole house' stabiliser rather than one for a single appliance. What's the typical cost for one?

ile naira: @bodejohn, thanks for the reply. A stabiliser between Nepa and the inverter is a good thing. I'm assuming it would have to be a 'whole house' stabiliser rather than one for a single appliance. What's the typical cost for one?

Go for Servo Voltage stabilizer. More efficient than relay types and should serve your whole house. The last time I bought mine (PRAG) it cost me N45000 (for 10KVA). Here is the link: http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=64

Thanks @pdozie

ile naira,
bode john and pdozie are correct. all those itemised issues with public power will be
solved simply by getting a voltage stabilizer. and if you're planning on deploying a single
stabilizer to supply the whole house then it is best to get a minimum 10kva type.

i am presently using the prag 10kva servo type that pdozie mentioned although the price is now
50k and no longer 45k that it was when he bought his.

Noted @George_D, thanks.

Hello house, pls i checked out this site solarshopnigeria.com,what do you think about thier products & prices. Is high or ok. I want to buy solar panels for a 12v320ah combine batteries.

hi zobo-i-zee,
looks like almost everthing on that site is 'out of stock'.

but other than that i think their prices are not too bad.

hi,
i am new in this forum, read some of your post and would like to contribute to this topic, i have been in renewable business for some time, i would say i have a little experience about this topic. i would like to answer some questions that might be of help.

@pdozie : please you cannot equalize sealed deep batteries, only Flooded batteries can bee equalized, flooded meaning maintenance batteries(where you can open to caps and fill in distilled water).

@bodejohn : (6 panels....2pcs of 120watts and 4 pieces of 100watts., I will be buying 4 more 120watts by the weekend.
I plan to change the whole array to 120watts and rest all the 100watts panels till I get another charge, controller.)

like to ask, those that us MPPT controllers how do you connect your panels, example i guess the for you to have sukam 3.5kva you would be running 48volt dc, how did you combine "2pcs of 120watts and 4 pieces of 100watts" on your MPPT controller.

just asking to know, cause i do not think you might be maximissing your MPPT controller on the HOT days.

@ Totalgreen, you are welcome on board.

I have since changed all my panels to 120watts and the results were very impressive. The 100watts panels are resting now till i can buy another charge controller and 2 more 100watt panels or maybe I OLX it.

My battery bank is 24v and I am not using a Sukam inverter. My panels are connected in 2 strings, each with 3 panels giving my MPPT charger an average of 60v.

Our "Oga at the top" (George D), it's been some time.