@javid4me, honestly speaking I no fit comment.
You have done very well sir.
Will comment after reading the wind turbine link.
Congratulations.

I am sure you are now feeling like hitting a Phcn pole... Lol.
My current set up of 4kw solar array, 4kw inverter and 48v450ah Trojan Batts is firing well too. Hit absorption as early as 1pm. 16 to 17kwh daily harvest. Location is Ilorin.
I now live off grid.

@Earthrealm, let Me answer your question from the other thread. I have been considering a DC pump but I will get one next year. I decided to use the 0.5hp due to cost.
About the discharge rate of the pump I have not been able to get an accurate measurement. I assume it takes approximately 50 min to fill my 2000 liter tank. I am not sure of this sha. But I am sure it take less than 1hr to fill the 2k liter Tank.
My next plan is to increase my PV strength to 5kw bcoz of pumping water for the neighbors whose prayers keep coming all day.
"Oga how much be this solar if I wan do"...the rest na 1 minute silence. Lol

kolnel:
Merry Xmas to y'all
I need to put my external security lights on timer
So that it comes on at 6 goes off by 7
Who has an idea

I have got an idea but for fast deliveries kindly contact and VERIFY these TRUSTED nairalanders.
1. juo
2. kiekie1

They both sell various types of those timer switches u mentioned.

Merry Christmas to you too.

foonshur:
I think some peeps here deal in used deep cycle rechargeable batteries. I have 2 I want to dispose off. 12v/200ah. cant really hold charge anymore and I've replaced them. contact me tru kobi4anite @ yahoo dot com.
location abuja

Kindly post a review of those battery performance.
Thanks.
Call Kiekie1 for urgent purchase of those batteries .

Attached picture is that of the control board of my 0.5hp submersible pump.
Somehow I misplaced the factory placed capacitor
I replaced it with a 30Uf but discovered it was drawing too much power from my inverter.
I had to call other knowledgeable people who told me that a 0.5hp pump comes with 20uf capacitor. I changed it to 20uf. The power consumption reduced noticeably but it's still above 370watts on the label.
I need pros like Twinskenny and other Electrical gurus to tell me the relationship between the capacitor and the power drawn by the pump.
When we were still growing up, we use capacitor to increase the speed of ceiling fan without caring for the power consumption.
Now that I am using solar, I need to conserve as much as possible.
I await your response.

No one has responded on my fence matter as well.

Qc1:



What you said is the truth, however this happened in Ghana and not in Nigeria.

This was the reason why I moved on with my life. It could have been worse. We need to thank God for everything we take for granted in life. You won't believe my mansion now if you see it now. I can sell it for N200m if I wanted to.

When I see the way people derailed this thread intentionally for whatever selfish reasons best known to them, I just look up the the heaven and thank God even more.

One million likes.

@angelicbeing : You're God sent to this thread at this crucial time.
God bless you.

@lastpage, the person who destroyed the pvc pipe came around to apologise. Apology accepted and the broken pipe has been fixed earlier.
Kindly drop few lines regarding my fence matter.

@Hajji, as an agbalagba ,the girls don't need your turanchi to be impressed. Your user ID is enough sir.

@Twinskenny, well done sir. Good job

[quote author=EgunMogaji post=52105115][/quote]
Thanks our Mogaji, the wooden car park is where the panels are on. Plan to replace them with galvanized pipe later in future.

As per security, I am considering using galvanised barb wire fence. Me thinks a block fence might not but sutable since my house is the only one in the street. Other houses are on the other street.
Professional advice is needed Pls.

NL1960:


Oga, how do you want us to view these pictures?. They are up side down now. Abeg, adjust them and repost. I may be interested in this solar option.

Kindly Whatsapp 08090658808,
What's app only.
I can give u d correct images. I should av rotated them.

erico2k2:

Well water is life and you giving water is facilitating life, so from my little Grammar acquired fru the years I can from a height of safety promulgate that You acknowledge good will never bragitate to dissatisfaction of the general populace
chey I try smalllllll

Yes Oga me you try. But let u and I leave that English to the masters.
Thanks for your kind words.
You will not believe that few minutes ago, that pvc pipe has been broken by an unknown person.
That's one of the reasons other Borehole owners dey lock up. Some people are just destroyers.
Anyway, I shall not be discouraged. My plumber has been notified accordingly sha.

AngelicBeing:


As we are in the Christmas mood & season, let us reflect in the quintessential modus vivendi of Jesus Christ who peregrinated this incarnation as an exempli gratia of puritanical, spartan discipline, mental, magnitude, honesty, sincerity , qualities which has become a desiderata for property section Risorgimento

Your English grammar came at the right time.
Pls continue to run every noise maker down with your turanchi.

By the way, my solarsystem is running optimally .
Got no biz with NEPA.
Due to my 24hrs power, neighbors now can fetch as much since other borehole owners lock up immediately Nepa goes off.

Qc1 Wrote this:

I would like to believe that most of us here reside in USA/Canada/UK/Europe. While others are either those that come here to do business with us by enlighten us on how/where/what/when on most subjects relating to properties/materials/contractions. Yet, there are others that come here to learn something new through posts of exchanging ideas between the two groups and more importantly they do contributes too because they live in naija and they know the current price of building materials too. By doing this, we all appreciate each other and it’s a win-win thread for all of us.

To my diaspora brothers and sisters, I know how much time and energy it takes to go out there and get the “9 to 5” thing out of 24/7, especially this time of the year when it’s freezing like Antarctica. No doubt the hustle is real, painful and long thus, nobody wants to their “papers” down the drain. I get that!

What I don’t get though, is why we made this forum our second home, after a long painful day at work, only to come here to misbehaves. Y’all c’mon menh! …don’t be telling me y’all ain’t gotta berra thang to do? We’ve fished out the maggots on here already, moreover, by now we all know who is who? Thirdly, I’m sure we will not hesitate to stop future fraud on here before it even commenced. We really should clap for ourselves and move on! Why? The fraudster amongst us is apprehended and now facing the music. Why can’t we just go back to do what we used enjoy? The same thing that brought all of us here! We represent the civilized amongst us buy yet acting uncivilized! Let’s sheath our swords already and move on! Trust me, I should know. I’ve lost a lot by conducting a business with someone I met here. But to God be the Glory, moving on have pushed me to higher level in life.

Let’s stop this behavior already. We are men. If I want to read about boys dissing one another, I will go to the front page. Most of us here are grown-ups, more importantly; the leaners come here to learn. Let’s keep it that way.
To my engineers/builders here, you need to do more by quickly identify the bad eggs here before a business is transacted. If things continue to go like this trust me, it will affect your family directly or indirectly because even though we hustle abroad, yours begins here. You don’t sh!t in where you eat! Now please, don’t get me wrong, we know the good ones among you, but you need to do more to protect your business here. Please protect our investments too. We thank you for your enlightenments on building talks.
To others, we are sorry! We will stop these bad behaviors ASAP and get back to why we are here again.
Let’s move on.

Kopel replied thus :

Thank you, as we can see most time age is not wisdom. I believe these guy was one of the one that get hit badly, he as since move on. Many of us may have learn 1 or 2 things from his experience of giving bad people second chance though. Pls don't get wrong on second chances, one just have to be very sure if that person really deserves that opportunity.


All insults should be stopped in the name of the God you all serve.
We're all elders in our own capacity. Let's allow the past Pls.

Just look at the meaningful discussions we had for almost 3 days before the peace was truncated by a highly respected elder of the house.
With all due respect to rival parties, kindly embrace peace.

Solardepot is actually one of the best renewable energy stores you can rely on Nigeria.
Personally, I have made a number of purchases for myself and my numerous clients.
They're d Sole importer of us batteries.
So those panels u saw with 5 busbars I have touched personally and felt d design. Very good product.

dicksonadams:
for 200ah battery what would you recommend so that I can charge and use

Simple maths....
Your 12v 200ah battery ~ 2400wh.
Your panels should be able to generate 2400wh in 5hrs or less.
2400wh /5hrs is 480w (assuming a 100% efficient design)
If I were you, my starting PV array for one unit of 12v200ah battery will be 600w. With this you're sure of quality charging in few hours.

You may lplease read up previous pages. I was once a jjc, them chief George and Co inspired me.

adanny01:


To properly design a solar back up system, one needs a lot of info from the client. The design is a hypothetical process but the equipment quality is key to achieving the design.

If i were to make the plan for you, i would need to know the average grid supply time in your location. I also need to know your geographical location to estimate the amount of sun rays as this is not same every where. The client also has to provide the least back up time he expects, some want 12hrs others 24, 48hrs etc. The load description has to be more detailed such as LED TV, LCD Tv, Plasma TV or cathode ray - LED being the least power saving and cathode ray the worst. A 40" LED could consume as little as 50w while a 40" plasma as bad as 200w. So it makes a difference to know the specifics. Ultimately, your budget needs to be put in mind during the design.

A solar back up system is like a desert trip, you have to properly estimate the quantity of water to carry. Too much, and you have yourself a deadly burden, too little and your life is at risk. When you get stuck in the desert, you manage your resources.

With the current rate of equipment, N1million wont give you a system that you will be comfortable with AC and fridge together. So with 1m forget the AC, 2m is workable but 3m is convenient. The more M's the better. The basics for design is choosing an inverter/charger and the number and types of battery. Every thing boils down to 2 things, back up time and charging time.

You're very correct sir.
Even with my 16 units of 250w panels, I still eye 5kw mark.
5kw means 20 units of 250w. Now the issue is how much and how I managed to acheive this. I started small and maintained quality pace. My charge controller is one the best worldwide anyone can buy, it currently sells for above 300k whereas I bought mine 250k early this year.

So our friend needs to put quality first bearing in mind his final destination.

Solar is sweet... ..it is disappointing if you fall in to the wrong hands for advice.

Remember to include solar water heater in your building desins too pls

Thinking of a fence.
Barbed wire fence, wired mesh fence etc... Any benefit over traditional block fences. Since I prefer see through fences and want to cut cost Atleast for now.
Kindly advise accordingly.

FastShipping:


I started looking at that solar option again since yesterday. 10KVA solar power backup is still manageable for me.

I am glad you had a rethink follow addanys post. If you observe my previous posts, I currently run a 5kva inverter with a battery bank capable of storing 21600WH. My solar panel size is 4kw and shall be extended to 5kw in few months. I av been living off NEPA for quite some time now.

For you to make better decisions, Pls visit the solar fta thread.
I am also an installer www.facebook.com/apexsolarnigeria
I don't want to derail the thread unnecessarily, many other experienced brains are in the thread to guide you properly.

Those diesel generators are not pocket friendly in the long run.

earthrealm:


i even forgot, the batteries were used on a solar system with ep solar set to equalize every month for abt 1yr, so am guessing they may have seen their fair of unsupervised equalization. batteries are 3yrs+ old, and i hv tweaked them, and hope to get 5yrs from them, b4 i noticed the 10.7v issue , which is the same thing that killed my first set of luminous batteries--- making me conclude that luminous inverter somehow kills off 1 battery, i have seen about 2 other people with the same issue...

i put my clamp meter on the luminous, and the max current i got was 9.2amps, not even upto 15amps to cater for 2units of 150ah battery which the manufacturers recommended

The reason why I would love to generalise, most Indian Inverters are not what they ought to be. I may be wrong though but as you said I have seen a number of cases. In my quest to solve this problem is where I stumbled upon Trojans.
Even though many senior friends here have some reservation for Mustpower Inverters, I think that's all in the past as mine still does fine for 2 yrs now, installed a number for clients too. The secret is a good servo stabiliser. Unlike the Indian Inverters, Mustpower charges fine with very good amperage depending on the capacity you bought.

As for your luminous batteries, from my experience I doubt if you have any chance of reviving them.

Installers here can bare witness of what they go tru when those batteries die in six months after commission. Na serous embarrassment. .client trouble no be better one Oo.

I appreciate your kind words.
My house project is almost done to my budget size(recession things) ..
Last week I was able to put up a wooden (temporary) carport that can hold 5kw solar array (20 units of 250w panels). It will serve as my car park when I eventually move in.
I wish I could afford galvanised stellar constructed solar carport which is durable.

chris81964:


Do you equalize? I had the same experience and after a series of equalization routines they stopped. Turn the inverter off and let your midnight classic equalize at 32.4 for 1 hour. Repeat every thirty days.
Also move the batteries around or change your connections. I do mine once a year. I run my strings through a bus bar and I have had better results since.

Oh there you go again. One of the benefits of this forum.
Thanks sir for the tip. I shall pm you for guide.

As per harvest,
I am fortunate to have a 4kw PV array being controlled by a classic 150 mppt device. My battery bank is 48v 450ah Trojans. My inverter is also a 4kw Mustpower Inverter charger. From lessons learnt from seniors, I had to add 2 MNSPD for extra protection against surges, ligthnenng etc.
I have been living off grid for almost 6 months now.
My harvest has between 10kwh and 16kwh daily.
By 6am my battery voltage is usually not less than 49v except for few instances where I recorded 48.5v.
Even though I recently observed some slacks in 2 of my Trojans (bought June 2014) but the overall performance is still like new. I observed that each time I drain the battery bank below 47V, those 2 batts will drop to 3.8v while others remain at 5.9v. Since I observed this I have always avoided deep discharge though once in a while I have to. But I can comfortable discharge my battery to 47v without any worries. The problem starts when I go deeper than 47v which should be totally avoided.
So I plan to remove the the 2 batteries over time but replacement is not an option for now due to unavailability of the batts nationwide. (interested seller can pm me if you have 2 spare T105 Trojan for sale).
Saipro was kind enough to share a solution to me(not battery repairs) I am yet to implement his ideas but I am sure it's going to work since he uses d same.
Owning the classic mppt was one of the best decision I have taken thanks to Saipro.

For those who think most of us are not sharing enough about our set up, kindly direct specific questions to individuals, others can contribute too.
Fortunately for some of us here we have taken our relationship in this forum beyond nairaland. Nothing stops you from being more diplomatic in asking for help, trust me many will be willing to help.

Daboomb:



Nice one!
Dont worry, you are almost there. God will continue to bless your purse for finishing and completeness.
I was on the lookout for your Car Port with its Solar arrays but did not see anything like that in the pictures.
Did you miss to post it?
Make we see now?

As to your Arrestor, you can run it on the surface wall using plastic to attach it to the wall without any breaking after placing it inside plastic trunking or pipes.
The important thing is for it to be far higher than the highest point in your building and to make proper earthing connection.

Good luck

Thanks for the kind words sir. The whole thing is under construction. Plan to complete it by the end December by His grace. I'll post pictures of the final set up once done.
Kindly post a pic of the type of trunking pipe that can withstand harsh weather.
I equally want to appreciate allcopacetic for his numerous educative posts about Electricals. I missed my chance of purchase of Coleman wires from him. A local dealer dealer offered me a flexible repayment plan in exchange for a professional service though, since it was a win win I took the offer, and the guy supplied several colils of Coleman and thunder arrestor materials for me.
I am saying all this because I gained a lot via this forum so I have to give back. Thank you everyone.

earthrealm:


congrats!!!, saw ur temprorary setup on the solar thread, 4kw panels no be beans, at the present market price of 300naira per watt, your 4kw system is roughly 1,2m naira!.
solar is the way to go.
george_d has shown the way with the splar powered water heater

Solar is just the way to go. About 5 months ago, I switched to 100% off grid. I began my off grid life with just 3kw(12 units of 250w poly). The feeling made me struggle get another 1kw. 3 weeks ago I installed 750w out of the new 1kw I bought, the extra power was significant. My daily harvest rose from 12kwh to 16kwh daily. I still have extra 250w lying on the floor due to space constraints. Imagine when I finally move to the new house and unleash the 4kw (to be installed in a 4 by 4 configuration using the classic 150mppt) it's gonna be a whole new experience. This made me make provision for an extra 1kw so that I could easily hit my 5kw target just in case buhari pays. A very good side of the classic is it's ability to self protect anytime you exceed 150V voc which is very unlikely with poly panels.
George _d has been the one inspiring most us I must agree. I had to thank him personally for posting his solar water heater plans. He did it at d right time exactly 24hrs to the E day my plumbing works will commence. I had to restrategize before my plumbers arrived. They even argued that it can't work but I insisted they implement my design.
So hopefully next year God's willing, I'll installe a solar water heater. The cost savings as analysed by George shows that many home owners have been ignorant of this for a long time.
My only regret is not making my tank stand as high as possible. So I will have to get an extra 500litre tank to serve the water heater only. So future home owners should take note, the metal tower tank stand is the best and ensure the 20ft or 6m height as recommended by Abdulwastecx and co.

I need ideas from Oga spyder, topsy and other elecrical gurus. I plan to install a thunder arrestor on my roof. Plan to use 25mm Copper tape, copper mat and 2 units of 4ft rods.
Since I have some roofing and plastering, kindly gimme ideas so as not break already neat walls.
Thanks

Borehole digging also successful. The water reserve was encouraging. We pumped for over 1hr nonstop.
Here's my temporary submersible pump which consumes 0.5hp that's 375 watts. Plan to Change it to solar later. With my present 4kw solar panel strength, I can afford to pump water for my immediate neighbors for 2 or 3 Hrs daily with an extra tank yet to be installed.
Provision was also made for solar water heater during the plumbing works which is the best stage to incorporate it.

To God be the glory, we had a a successful plumbing and plastering exercise. As usual Abdulwastecx and Rotech77 were there for me behind the scene.
Aluminum windows are also ready to be installed.
As part of my plans to do away with PHCN here's my wooden solar carport system which has the capacity to hold 5kw solar panels. It will also serve as car park for my cars.
This economic recession is biting hard. So many finishing works will be postponed till further notice.

GeorgeD1:


dicksonadams,

you can use the regular philips pressing iron. but make sure it's one of the modern type.
i use mine with my inverter regularly and have found it to be very economical in terms of power draw.
once the element gets hot, the thermostat cuts off and it hardly cuts in again except intermittently
for few seconds at a time.

Kindly show is the name plate showing the power consumption. I use one that is similar to this but consumes 2200watts. Thanks.
How is the water heater doing.

@desiji, kindly post a link to getting your type of 100litre water heater.
I am of the opinion of you getting a solar water heater. But since you are sure of the energy consumption.
I am interested in your type of heater.
Kindly post or send it to
assidiq123 AT yahoo.com
thanks in advance

rotecch77:
Oga maverick, you are right, the issue with Nigeria pressure pipe is that most of them can't withstand medium or high pressure most domestic houses needed, due to low and surbstand materials used to manufactured them, (no standard control of product in Nigeria any more) so once you place 2-5bar pressure on them they will boast so also the China made fitting they with it. ( some Nigerian like cheap thing sha).more so most copper pipe in the market now are not real copper as you might think, so thinking of encho pipe and technogreen pipe now are just the best for standard house. ( this is Nigeria we have sub standard structure) .

They design encho pipe and technogreen in a way that if tonsion force act on a structure (although this doesn't happen much in Nigeria expect where there is a bill board) the pipe will still go back to its position withouts any breakage . so if you are building a medium , high rise or towal building or you need medium or high pressure of water in your building go for tech or encho product, if its bungalow with low pressure bar use Nigeria pipe ( although all hand are not equal)

Thanks Alhaji Rotech, I remember last month you took your time to explain this to me.
I am glad I took your advice based on my budget so I used made in Nigeria pipes.
I tested before and after plastering work no leakage.
I used the white type of 3 quarter pipe for hot line bcoz I intend to use a central solar water heater system.
Thank you for your selfless service to humanity.

EndiaSami:


Yes boss, there is the central water heating system that is been installed outside the building and it's serves all sections of the building. It is available here in nigeria. In using the central heating system, provisions for it has to be made right from the building plan. So as to know where and where it will be channeled to. It does use electricity and it saves money. In 150, 200, 300 litres. People prefer the single ones( 10, 15,30 litres) because of individuality

Pls what's the cost of the listed water heaters. 50 to 300litres.
Tx

mank1234:
A friend's morningstar ts-mppt-60 solar controller got damaged. He suppects that the damage might have been caused by accidental disconnection of battery power to the CC before the disconnection of the solar input.

His solar setup Voc is around 90V and his battery bank is 24V. Does a disconnect of battery before disconnecting solar damage morningstar mppt charge controller?

YES.
YES
YES.
Its clearly written on the controller itself and in the manual.
Most mppt controllers require PV disconnect before battery..
Sorry for the loss.

JohnKester:


I have the 300 liters mounted on my rooftop and centrally connected to all the bathrooms and kitchen! I can tell you that the water sometimes gets very hot and you have to be careful with the mixer so that your skin does not get scalded.

Imagine the cost of running gas cooker to boil hot water, or the cost to fuel the generator so your heaters can run. This is what I call green living. No need to worry about hot water except of course during those periods in the rainy season when it rains continuously for several days in a row.

Cheers

Johnkester, I am very lucky you guys are discussing solar water heaters now.
Time to follow chief Gorge.
Green energy all d way